30 ADDRESSES 



and loan societies amounted to about $400,000,000, the assets of the co-operative 

 purchasing societies to $13,000,000, and the value of the merchandise purchased 

 to $22,500,000. The dairy societies have for their object the selling of dairy 

 products for the members of the societies. Some idea as to the importance of 

 these societies can be gained from the fact that the total value of dairy products 

 amounts to $46,385,649. The dairy societies are typical of those societies belong- 

 ing to the Imperial Agricultural Organization that have for their purpose the 

 selling of the products of the land. The development of Agricultural societies in 

 France has been very similar to that in Germany. It is impossible to overestimate 

 the advantage of such societies to the agricultural interest of Germany and France. 

 They constitute the connecting link between the farmer and what he produces 

 and the large public, that buys and consumes. Similar societies in this country 

 undoubtedly would add to the independence, contentment and prosperity of those 

 \vho cultivate the soil. 



The permanent improvement of farming methods, whereby the yield per acre 

 may be substantially increased, demands two things. Farmers must be made to 

 appreciate the possibilities of scientific methods, and taught how to use such 

 methods, and they must be supplied with funds to make the needed changes and 

 improvements. We can not hope for an increase in the production of foodstuffs 

 in this country equal to the increase in consumption, unless the deserving tiller 

 of the soil can be supplied with the funds he needs, at low rates and for long 

 periods. It is as necessary for the farmer to have cheap money as it is for the 

 railroad builder or the manufacturer. The availability of cheap money for loans 

 on farm land will make it possible for may farm tenants to buy farms for them- 

 selves. It will, encourage many others to purchase land and take up farming as 

 a means of livelihood. At the present time 37% of all the farms of the country 

 are cultivated by tenants, an increase of 16% since 1900. The cultivation of 

 the soil by owners is essential to the highest agricultural development. Tenants 

 will not use the same care and skill that owners do. The young man of today 

 who scans the field of human endeavor will see, in the cultivation of the soil 

 with the aid of modern science, w T hat was not there thirty or forty years ago. 

 Profit, plenty and peace will be his portion of he makes agriculture his pro- 

 fession, and is equipped as well as he must be to make a success in other voca- 

 tions. Farm life today is immeasurably more attractive than it was twenty, or 

 even ten, years ago. Improved roads, the telephone, rural free delivery and other 

 conveniences, to a large extent have done away with the depressing isolation of 

 country life, and it is now possible for the farmer and his family to take part 

 in the social life of the community. Of those engaged in industrial pursuits, 

 less than 5% can ever hope to "own their own jobs and employ themselves," but 

 of those that look to the land for their living, provided they are well trained and- 

 work with energy and intelligence, 95% can reasonably hope to be their own 

 masters. 



Experience in France and Germany conclusively proves that the development 

 of successful scientific farming in large measure depends upon the existence of 

 facilities whereby land owners can obtain funds on favorable terms to finance 

 improvements. In France and Germany there are numbers of organizations, uni- 

 formly successful, that loan money to farmers particularly to those owning and 

 cultivating small tracts of land, on long and easy terms. These organizations have 

 been so successful that they can loan funds to land owners on terms as favorable 

 a.s those secured by large railroad and industrial corporations in this country. 

 In this country loans on farm land as security, witk few exceptions, have re- 

 tained their prirm'tive immobile form. The farmer when he needs funds for 

 improvements, additional stock or new implements only can borrow, if at all, 

 in his own immediate neighborhood and for short periods. The consequence is 



