ADMIMSTRATITE ORGAMZATIOyS 297 



be strictly rural, it has been determined that the 

 poorer farm lands that are on the border of profitable 

 utility are assessed at a value of $G to $15 an acre 

 on the average. The bulk of good farm land reason- 

 ably well situated is assessed at a value of $30 to $80, 

 while laud assessed at a higher value is more favor- 

 ably located or devoted to special purposes. The to- 

 tal tax rate ranges from $1 to $8 a thousand. The 

 great bulk of the land is assessed at a rate ranging 

 from $1.50 to $2.25 a thousand. 



EUEAL CREDIT FACILITIES 



A state law enacted in 1914, that may have con- 

 siderable value to the farmer, is the arrangement by 

 which the united credit of a group of individuals 

 may be pooled for the benefit of persons in the group 

 that may need financial aid. It has sometimes ap- 

 peared that the farmer was at a disadvantage in 

 securing funds and credit to carry on his affairs, and 

 that these facilities were not available to him with 

 the same freedom that they may be had by the busi- 

 ness man in the city. Unqnestionably this condition 

 has prevailed to a degree, not because there was any 

 desire to discriminate against the farmer but because 

 his business has often not been conducted in such a 

 was as to insure stability in the values back of his 

 credit. As a matter of fact, the reason for much 

 of this uncertainty and even the loss that has resulted 

 has been in the general downward shift in rural 

 values that has prevailed in eastern states during 

 tlie last forty years. When to this is added the com- 



