RURAL PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 149 



shows the distribution of cost of the thirteen billions of dollars paid 

 in 1911: — 



Amount Per Cent 



Received by the farmers $6,000,000,000 46.1 



railroads 495,000,000 3.8 



Legitimate expense of selling 1,200,000,000 9.2 



Waste in selling 1,560,000,000 12.0 



Dealers' and retailers' profits 3,745,000,000 28.9 



$13,000,000,000 100 



The value of the field crops alone in Canada in 1910 was $597,- 

 926,000, but the proportion of this production that reached the con- 

 sumer would probably cost twice as much. 



In Germany, farmers obtain cheap loans by pooling their credit. 

 They obtained money before the war up to two-thirds the value of 

 their security at from 3^ to 4? per cent. In France, money was 

 then obtained from the Credit Foncier at 4.3 per cent. Financial 

 aid is also rendered to the settlers in all Australian states at cheap 

 rates. In evidence given by the late Mr. A. F. Mantle, Deputy 

 Minister of Agriculture for Saskatchewan, before the Standing Com- 

 mittee on Agriculture and Municipal Law of the Legislature in Sas- 

 katchewan, he pointed out that the great disparity between the rates 

 paid in continental Europe and in western Canada could not be re- 

 garded as inevitable or unavoidable. Money for loans was provided 

 through too many different sources in Canada, it was indiscrimin- 

 ate and ill-regulated, it was too static, i.e., it was borrowed on 

 mortgage to meet current expenses. "Were the farmers," he adds, 

 "banded together in suitable organizations for the purpose, they 

 could obtain all the money they required." 



Next to the question of increasing production comes this ques- 

 tion of reducing the cost of production so that the farmers of Canada 

 may survive the test of bad times. It is during bad times that 

 loans are most wanted. 



The term "rural credit" is generally used to denote some govern- 

 ment or co-operative scheme for lending money to those engaged in 

 rural industries, — particularly agriculture. In considering the im- 

 portance of providing cheap capital to the fanner, too little regard 

 is paid to what may be called the "credit" side of the transaction, 

 namely, the capacity of the industry, to pay interest upon the capital 

 involved in its development. There must be security for the invest- 



