2l8 
AMERICAN POMOEOGICAE SOCIETY 
In other words, there is a financial problem and there is a marketing prob- 
lem. There is a common saying now on the lips of all who are studying 
the various sides of agriculture, quoted from one of our best books on the 
subject, “Better farming, better business, better living.” The better busi- 
ness side has been included. The better business side includes all phases 
of marketing, of financing, etc. 
The president of this organization asked me to take one small branch 
of this subject and discuss it for a few minutes this afternoon. That small 
branch was referred to as rural credits. Now the farmer has many credit 
problems to face. These problems range all the way from the buying of 
the farm to the equipping of the farm; the establishment of the farm on a 
running business basis; and then the current needs of the farm during the 
crop season, during the going day by day, week by week, month after month 
until the crop is matured. 
At the Very beginning I wish to compare agriculture with business gen- 
erally. If you should want to start a store you will find all along the streets 
vacant buildings, and you do not need to buy a lot and a building on it and 
all of the equipment but you can rent them, rent them for a cash rental. 
And not only that; you may rent them for a few weeks or a few months. 
You do not have all of the problems of wearing out the soil, annual fertili- 
zation, etc. You can start in with your store any day, any week, any month. 
It is just as profitable probably to start it in December as in the spring of 
the year. You do not have to wait five years probably before you reap your 
harvest, as the fruit grower does. The merchant opens his store Monday 
morning with his shelves loaded with goods for sale, and buyers start in at 
once and he commences taking in money. He establishes his credit at once, 
his business begins at once, and it is very probable that within a very few 
weeks he may have practically sold all that he had in the store and may 
have a new stock of goods except some things that were left unsold. 
The fruit grower may start the same way, and what are his problems? 
There is the land. He may rent the farm, to be sure, but he must wait. 
He must plant his trees and they must grow; and after the first year they 
must grow some more; and after the second year, they must grow some more; 
and still he has nothing to sell. It is a slow wait, a tedious undertaking, 
as compared with the position of the merchant. 
Farmers’ Problem vs. Merchants’ Problem. 
- 
The farmer’s financial problems are quite different from the financial 
problems of the merchant. It is a much more difficult question to finance 
farm activities, than to finance those of a merchant. In this country the 
banks have established themselves supposedly as an aid in business, but 
they have all established themselves not to look after the business of the 
farmers, but to look after the business of the merchants. 
John Doe is a merchant. He buys his stock of goods and puts it in his 
store and starts to sell. He needs $1,000. He goes to the bank and bor- 
rows the $1,000, and as it requires security, giving his note— and what as 
collateral? Merely his storeful of goods. And the bank knows that during 
