1 A. A. RECORD— May, 1933 



Inflation Move 

 Improves Picture On 



F 



arm 



Aid 



Farm Mortgage Legislation Would Lighten Burden On 

 Debtors, Provides Big Refinancing Program 



GEO. PEEK 



THE legislative picture as it 

 affects agriculture and farm 

 prices is changing so rapidly 

 from day to day at Washington that 

 any forecast as to what may happen 

 in the coming weeks must be largely 

 conjecture. 



At this moment, the stock markets 

 and commodity exchanges are in great 

 excitement over the embargo on gold 

 and President Roosevelt's reported 

 statements favor- 

 ing controlled in- 

 flation. Stocks 

 have advanced 

 sharply, wheat 

 and corn futures 

 in the past two 

 days have shot 

 upwards from 

 seven to ten 

 cents per bushel 

 or more, and 

 there is talk that 

 the proposed fed- 

 eral farm mort- 

 gage re-financing program will be un- 

 necessary if inflation restores 1928- 

 29 price levels. 



The emergency farm bill has been 

 pending in the Senate for more than 

 a month while minority groups have 

 wrangled over amendments. The vote 

 this week to remonetize silver lost by 

 only six votes, and only then when the 

 President announced he would present 

 his own inflation program. 



It now seems probable that in- 

 flationary legislation may be hooked 

 onto the administration farm bill in 

 the form of an amendment. Sentiment 

 in both houses on the question of con- 

 trolled inflation is strong enough to 

 indicate prompt and favorable action. 



When the emergency farm bill de- 

 scribed in the April issue of the 

 RECORD is enacted, Secretary Wal- 

 lace will need able assistance to help 

 administer such measures as are taken 

 to raise farm prices. Prominent among 



those being considered for an im- 

 portant post to work with the Presi- 

 dent and Secretary of Agriculture is 

 George N. Peek of Moline, 111. who 

 has been an outstanding leader in the 

 fight for farm equality during the 

 past 10 years. 



Mr. Peek is an able executive with 

 plenty of courage and drive, qualities 

 that are necessary in the difficult task 

 of restoring pre-war parity prices for 

 agriculture. 



The administration of the farm 

 mortgage bill, if and when enacted, 

 will be supervised by Henry Morgen- 

 thau, Jr., chairman of the Federal 

 Farm Board, and designated to be 

 Governor of the Farm Credit Admin- 

 istration. This measure has been com- 

 bined with the emergency farm bill 

 which at this writing is pending in the 

 Senate. 



The Farm Mortgage bill provides 

 for the issuance of Federal Land Bank 

 bonds in an amount not to exceed two 

 billion dollars, the bonds to be a joint 

 obligation of all 12 federal land banks. 

 They will bear interest of 4% or less. 

 Payment of interest en bonds is to be 

 guaranteed by the treasury. The 

 banks will have authority to exchange 

 the bonds for approved first mort- 

 gages on farm property, or to pur- 

 chase such mortgages which would 

 bear 4%% interest. The purchase 

 price of any mortgage shall not ex- 

 ceed its face value nor 50% of the 

 normal value of the land mortgaged 

 plus 20% of the value of permanent 

 improvements thereon. 



The bill also provides for reducing 

 the interest rate on existing federal 

 farm loans to 4% per cent. An ap- 

 propriation is provided for reimburs- 

 ing the federal land banks to cover 

 loss from reduction in interest rate. 

 Also amortized principal payments on 

 federal farm loans would be deferred 

 for five years. Thus a farmer could 

 keep his federal farm mortgage in 

 good standing by paying only 4%% 



Kirk And Larry At 

 Carthage 



D. KISEFATBICK L. A. WILLIAMS 



A mass meeting attended by 

 more than 600 Hancock County 

 Farm Bureau members and their 

 guests was held at the Carthage 

 College field house the night of 

 April 6. The meeting was called 

 by Burton E. King, president of the 

 Hancock County Farm Bureau. 



Chief speakers were Donald Kirk- 

 patrick, counsel for the I. A. A., 

 and Lawrence A. Williams, man- 

 ager. Country Life Insurance Com- 

 pany. Mr. Williams delivered an 

 entertaining and dynamic talk 

 playing up organization as the 

 basis for all farm progress. Mr. 

 Kirkpatrick discussed the state 

 sales tax, the amendments secured 

 by the Illinois Agricultural Asso- 

 ciation and its friends in the state 

 senate, and other legislation of 

 interest to farmers pending at 

 Washington and Springfield. 



Hancock county business men are 

 up in arms against the sales tax 

 and wrongfully accused the I. A. A. 

 of sponsoring the measure. Mr. 

 Kirkpatrick cleared up the misun- 

 derstanding by showing that when 

 it became apparent that the admin- 

 istration had the votes to pass a 

 state sales tax the Association 

 strove to amend the bill to make it 

 primarily a replacement tax in 

 downstate counties, and to distrib- 

 ute the revenue equitably among 

 the counties. With the help of 

 friends in the senate, it succeeded 

 in this task. 



annually instead of the present 6%%. 

 Another provision makes possible 

 loans direct to farmers by the farm 

 loan commissioner on the security of 

 farm mortgages, chattels, or crops. 

 The amount of such loans is limited 

 to $5,000 and may not be in an 

 amount more than 75% of the normal 

 value of security pledged. The inter- 

 est rate on these individual loans is 

 to be 5% or less and they are to be 

 amortized in 10 years. This provision 

 is to help farmers regain possession 

 (Continued on page 18) 



