THIRTY-THIRD BIENNIAL SESSION 
2VJ 
JOINT SESSION: E. F. G. A. AND A. P. S. 
President Lupton: The meeting will please come to order. As 
was stated to the Society this morning, there is a rather peculiar echo 
in this hall; you could hear better if you were suspended from the ceiling, 
but I hardly think you will need to do that if you come down front. It will 
be much easier to talk to you, and I am sure you will enjoy the proceedings 
much better. 
As you are doubtless aware, today’s meetings are joint with the Ameri- 
can Pomological Society and the Eastern Fruit Growers’ Association. This 
morning you heard from the American Pomological Society; this afternoon 
you will hear from the Eastern Fruit Growers’ Association. There has been 
a good deal said in the public press and elsewhere lately about rural cred- 
its, how to frame some sort of legislation which will enable the farmer to 
borrow money profitably and satisfactorily on the only form of estate which 
he has, namely, his land. The President of the United States has become 
interested in this subject and not long ago appointed a commission to go 
abroad and study the formation of rural credit societies in Europe, where 
they have been in existence for some time I understand. A member of that 
commission is with us this afternoon, and I think I am violating no confi- 
dence when I say that his remarks will be a treat to you. 
It is a very great pleasure for me to introduce to you Dr. John Le© 
Coulter, who has charge of the agricultural statistics of the United States 
Census Bureau and is a member of the President’s commission which has 
just returned from abroad to study rural credits. 
RURAL CREDITS. 
John Lee Coulter, Washington, D. C. 
If I do not speak loud enough for you to hear, you can do 
as the Chairman has suggested or else come forward. (Laughter.) There 
are a number of things that are, as a matter of fact, gained when you com© 
forward but I will do the best I can. 
There are so many sides to the subject that it is really impossible t© 
give you anything very exhaustive on all phases of it. During the last cen- 
tury, practically, in this country all of the effort has been to teach farmers 
how to raise more of all kinds of farm products— make two blades of grass 
grow where one grew before, or, as the facetious young farmer put it, 
“make two drops of milk flow where one flew before.’’ But today we afe 
passing to the next big problems in agriculture, — financing and marketing. 
Really, the financing and the moving of the crops includes the entire farm 
problem, and it may be that when we get through with these problems we 
will have to decide that it was just as important to reduce the rate of in- 
terest from ten to five per cent as to double the production in some cases. 
