22 BULLETIN 1048, U. S. DEPAKTMEFT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Crop liens come next in importance, being relatively conimon all 

 over the southern, central, and western part of the country, but 

 practically unknown in States of the East. As the practice of crop 

 insurance develops, crop liens will no doubt become more common as a 

 form of security. 



Considerable interest has been shown recently in an improved 

 system of warehouse receipts. The fifth column of Table 6 indicates 

 that although some loans are secured by this type of collateral, it 

 as yet plays a minor part. As improved marketing systems are 

 adopted for the various farm products, greater attention undoubtedly 

 will be given to warehouse receipts. Their acceptability as security 

 has been demonstrated particularly in certain southern States where 

 warehouses are operated under the joint supervision of the State and 

 Federal Governments. 



The flotation and wide distribution of Government bonds during 

 and after the war, which were bought by farmers largely on patriotic 

 grounds, will no doubt explain the relatively large and uniform per- 

 centages of loans reported as secured by stocks and bonds. Unfor- 

 tunately, the farmers as a class have not yet attained a position where 

 they have an appreciable amount of earnings to place in investments 

 outside of their own business. 



TERM OF LOAN. 



One of the most frequent complaints heard with reference to bank 

 loans to farmers is that the term is too short to meet the needs of the 

 producers of agricultural products, particularly those producing live 

 stock. Table 7 presents the average maximum term of personal and 

 collateral loans to farmers as reported by 8,008 banks. For the 

 United States as a whole, nearly one-half of the banks reported a 

 maximum term of 6 months or less, and most of the remaining banks 

 reported a term ranging from 9 months to a year. The shorter 

 maximum term prevails to a larger extent in the East, but in the 

 geographic divisions where agriculture is considered of chief impor- 

 tance the longer maximum term is more common. 



Table 8 presents the average term of such loans. As might be 

 expected, the average as well as the maximum term was reported in 

 approximate periods only. For this reason, it was not possible to 

 tabulate the replies in groups which are mutually exclusive. For 

 the United States, the average term falls between 3 and 6 months. 

 Practically one-fourth of the loans run for 6 months or more. In 

 the Eastern States, more loans are made for a term of 3 months or 

 less, than for 6 months or more, but in the central and western sections 

 the reverse is true. 



