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Facts About the Land Bank 
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T HE literature sent out by the Whit¬ 
man campaign committee and pub¬ 
lished in the county papers said that 
the farmer would be required to pay the 
loan association, according to the Gov¬ 
ernor’s own figures, $135.86 each year 
on a loan of $1,000. He must pay this 
in equal monthly installments. If lie 
fails to make his monthly payments 
promptly he will be fined. Twelve pay¬ 
ments every year must be made regard¬ 
less of weather, crops, sickness or diffi¬ 
culties of any kind. It also said that the 
Land Bank will impair the saving and 
loan associations, and reduce them to 
the condition of the old national associa¬ 
tions through which people lost their 
money. Will vou tell us about this.' 1 
New York. u. h. g. 
Under the Land Bank system when 
the interest rate is five per cent., a 
$1,000 mortgage will be liquidated in 
about 11 years, on an annual payment 
of about $110, and not $135, as stated. 
This includes both interest and payment 
on the principal. For a 40-year mort¬ 
gage the annuity would be about $60. 
Then again, the man who says the pay¬ 
ments must be made monthly or suffer 
a fine either does not know what he is 
talking about or wilfully misrepresents 
facts. Under the Land Bank system, 
payments may be made weekly, month¬ 
ly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually. 
The average loan now on New York 
State farms pays six per cent, interest, 
and if cost of revenue is considered it 
probably runs above this rate. Some 
mortgages in the State have been in ex- 
istance TO years. When one stands for 
40 years, the farmer pays $60 a year for 
40 years on every $1,000 of the mort¬ 
gage, and the face of the mortgage must 
then be paid in one bulk sum. 
In Germany and France tbe farmer 
pays 5.2 per cent, per year for 40 years 
and the mortgage is then wiped cut, and 
the farm is free and clear. Y\ hat is 
true of farms is equally true of the town 
home. The Land Bank system simply 
tries to bring the German and French co¬ 
operative credit system to the farm and 
the home. We will undoubtedly have 
to pay a higher rate for a while, because 
interest rates here arc higher, but the 
higher the rate the greater the advantage 
from the amortization features. When 
our system becomes established and the 
soundness of the Land Bank bonds are 
appreciated, they ought to sell at as low 
a rate of interest as national or State 
bonds, and when they do. the rate of 
interest to the borrower will be reduced 
accordingly. This is what the money 
lenders do not want. It is what at¬ 
torneys who handle money for loans do 
not want. Men with money to loan have 
been able to exact high rates from small 
farmers and small home owners because 
large institutions do not care to make 
these small loans. These loans are made 
for short periods, and with each renewal 
there are bonuses for the lender and ex¬ 
tra fees for the lawyers. I come pretty 
near knowing what I am talking about. 
Last week I wanted a three-year renew¬ 
al of a mortgage, and the lawyers re¬ 
fused to renew it for less than a bonus 
of $600. Reinforcing this I have the re¬ 
collection of bonuses and expenses con¬ 
nected with my father’s farm since boy¬ 
hood. 
The money lenders and lawyers who 
oppose the cooperative credit system are 
the stumbling blocks that always ob¬ 
struct the road of progress. Some of 
them do it cunningly and selfishly; others 
because they cannot see ahead. Both 
classes fail to understand that any sys¬ 
tem that helps the producers and the 
toilers and builds up the neighborhood 
in which they live cannot fail to bene¬ 
fit themselves also. Cooperative credits 
will ultimately benefit these opposing 
classes in the same measure that it will 
help the producer and the mechanic; but 
even if it did not,- it would not be any 
calamity if some of them had to go to 
work. 
It is unfortunate that this cooperative 
credit movement came up at a time when 
it figured as an element of politics. As 
a matter of fact the people recognized no 
politics in it. The three leading na¬ 
tional and State parties recommended it 
in their platforms. Just before the last 
national election President Taft advo¬ 
cated it for the whole nation. Governor 
Glynn’s favorable activities resulted in 
the first cooperative system in New York 
State that has yet been adopted in this 
country for mortgage credits. The hys¬ 
terical opposition was not against the 
measure or the principle, because the 
criticisms showed that the critics had not 
studied either, and understood neither 
the law nor the principle. In reality the 
effort to discredit the system was the 
best assurance of its merits. Knowing 
its possibilities of good, they feared that 
it would make votes for Governor Glynn, 
and for that reason they felt the ne¬ 
cessity of opposing it. In reality a Re¬ 
publican Assembly passed the bill creat¬ 
ing the Land Bank, under pressure from 
farmers and home owners of all political 
tendencies; and a real honest policy 
would have been to support it and de¬ 
mand their share of credit for it. We 
make this plain now because some read¬ 
ers are evidently confused by the argu¬ 
ments pro and con for political effect, 
and we do not want farmers to have any 
illusions about farm mortgage coopera¬ 
tive credits. A sound safe system of 
credits cannot be built up in a few 
months. It cannot show its possibili¬ 
ties short of years of patient develop¬ 
ment. But the development may begin 
at once, and benefit will be immediate 
and substantial. When the Land Bank 
of the State of New York has developed 
to its full possibilities the people will 
appreciate its benefits as they are now 
unable to do, and Governor Glynn will 
need no other monument. J. J. D. 
SEILING A CARLOAD OF POTATOES. 
“Happy Days” in Buffalo. 
HE COMMISSION MAN’S DEAL¬ 
INGS.—The past Spring, not feel¬ 
ing satisfied with the difference in price 
of potatoes offered here by buyers, and 
those quoted in the Buffalo markets. I 
wrote to two commission houses in that 
city, making inquiry as to the actual con¬ 
dition of the market. The next morning 
I received a telephone call from one of 
the firms, whom I will call John U. 
Dont, saying potatoes were worth 85 
cents per bushel and that they could han¬ 
dle them to good advantage. The fol¬ 
lowing day, I think, a letter came from 
the other firm, saying potatoes were 
worth about 75 cents, but as their busi¬ 
ness was mostly in fruit they could not 
handle to good advantage. We sent sam¬ 
ples of both varieties to John U. Dont, 
and began loading the two cars of po¬ 
tatoes. Upon receiving samples John U. 
Dont wrote us that they could handle 
the potatoes to good advantage, making 
as a further inducement the statement 
that potatoes were worth 85 to 90 cents 
per bushel. When this letter came I was 
at the depot waiting for train to Buffalo, 
the first car already shipped and the sec¬ 
ond partly loaded. Fortunately the pota¬ 
toes were not consigned to John U. Dont, 
as while he appeared to be a clean, hon¬ 
est man himself, his potato business was 
in charge of a man who leaves anything 
but pleasant recollections to one strug¬ 
gling in a strange city to do the best he 
could with his crop. Notwithstanding 
the fact that he had so recently written 
us after receiving the samples, that he 
could handle them to good advantage at 
85 to 90 cents per bushel, supposing he 
had me in a tight place, before he even 
saw the potatoes in the car, he began 
finding fault because we had not shipped 
them the week before, and said that 60 
cents was the best they could get for 
them then. From this would be deducted 
six cents commission and also cartage, 
which I think was about three to five 
cents per bushel. The matter was all 
treated in a cold, hard, I suppose one 
might say “business” way, caring noth¬ 
ing for the fact that he had done all he 
could to get us to ship to him, with his 
glowing promises, simply assuring me 
that I would have to take my medicine, 
which I did, and the one dose from him 
was enough. It is the operations of such 
men as this who hurt the commission 
business, for they are far from being all 
alike. 
The Outsider And The System.— 
I spent over a day visiting large grocery 
firms, hotels, and then the smeller gro¬ 
cers, and in doing this it was not possible 
to overlook the system an outsider is up 
against in going into that market. Of 
course, it was impossible to consider 
reaching the consumer direct; in the first 
place on account of the time required, 
and next that a license is required to 
peddle, or still more expense to fight it, 
and above all the fact that Buffalo wom¬ 
en have telephones and use them. I think 
I am correct in saying that the private 
telephone exchanges in some of the large 
department stores in Buffalo, who have 
grocery branches, have more girls em¬ 
ployed in answering calls than are to be 
found in the telephone exchange in many 
large towns. 
The Farmers’ Market. —Buffalo has 
its farmers’ market, of course, but the 
small proportion of farm produce that 
goes direct to the consumer is only too 
evident. A few large growers have their 
regular stalls the year round in the small¬ 
er market up-town, but as near as I 
could see, a large part of the stalls were 
occupied by those who bought their 
goods. Business in the big open Elk 
St. market, which is really the only 
farmers’ market there worthy of the 
name, is mostly over too early in the 
morning for the majority of the women 
of Buffalo to be out. The farmers’ wag¬ 
ons, auto trucks, the latter much in evi¬ 
dence, were to be found lined up to the 
curb at 5 A. M. or before, and as one 
goes down from the hotel before that 
hour, he is passed by an occasional horse- 
drawn or auto delivery grocer wagon, 
heading for the Elk St. market also, but 
it is a fact that not even all the grocers 
buy at first hands. The small propor¬ 
tion of the produce sold on the Elk St. 
market, that goes direct from grower to 
consumer, is not worth mentioning, judg¬ 
ing by what I could see. Jobbers seem to do 
a good business buying of the growers and 
delivering to grocers, and the hucksters 
sell a great deal of it. With such com¬ 
modities as potatoes, of which such large 
quantities are used in Buffalo, the pro¬ 
portion sold on the Farmers’ Market is 
probably quite small. 
The Credit System. —The credit sys¬ 
tem is at the bottom of the whole trouble 
in going there a stranger to sell one’s 
own produce. The commission men and 
jobbers trust the grocers, and the gro¬ 
cers carry the consumer, and the consum¬ 
er pays the bills. Too large a propor¬ 
tion of the business so far as the cost 
of living is concerned is done by ’phone 
and the expensive delivery system. The 
large department stores and grocers can¬ 
not maintain for nothing the long rows 
of delivery vehicles one sees early in the 
morning drawn up to the curb or wait¬ 
ing for a load. The man who goes to 
Buffalo, or perhaps it is the same in 
any large city, to sell one or two cars 
of any produce, is under a handicap he 
has not figured on, for he must, unless his 
product is scarce and in strong demand, 
sell cheaper to the grocers than they can 
buy from the jobbers and commission 
men, who have been supplying them reg¬ 
ularly. _s one buyer in the grocery 
branch of a large department store ex¬ 
pressed it, “It would be hardly fair for 
me to buy this car of potatoes of you, 
and turn down the man who has been 
taking care of our business regularly, 
delivering a load on 20 minutes’ notice, 
sometimes, if I run short, or during 
freezing weather.” And at a time when 
the grocers were not carrying a large 
stock, depending on the jobbers and com¬ 
mission men to deliver in small quanti¬ 
ties, the problem was especially difficult 
Experience With Hucksters. —After 
studying the situation carefully, and be¬ 
ing determined to do .better than John 
II. Dont’s ma.., on the basis of 50 cents 
per bushel or less, net, above cartage and 
commission, I went early one morning 
with a sample bushel of the potatoes to 
the Elk St. market, and it seems that in 
less time than it takes to tell about it, I 
was surrounded by what now sticks out 
in memory as a “howling mob.” I sup¬ 
posed they were Italians, but they proved 
to be Jewish hucksters. One man 
grabbed the bag, threw it into his wagon 
and I followed. He wanted to see the 
car of potatoes, but before he could get 
started there was a partner who had a 
lot to say and there seemed likely to be 
a fight. I attempted to withdraw, and 
I heard them say to one another “fraid,” 
but it was only their way of yelling at 
the top of their voices, not pleasant to 
remember. We finally got to the car 
and sold one of the gang a few bushels 
and the news seemed to spread, fior I had 
more experience in the next few hours 
than I care to go through again. In one 
case I sold a man .a few bushels at 75 
cents per bushel at the car, and before 
he got away another bought half the car¬ 
load at 70 cents. When the other fellow’s 
load was weighed he refused to pay more 
than 70 -cents, as I had sold to “mein 
brudder” at 70 cents for the big lot, and 
rather than stand and be yelled at, I let 
it go. Big Sam who bought the half 
car kindly warned me against some 
crooks who wanted the rest of the car, 
doing it on the sly, however, for while 
they were near he assured me they were 
good fellows. He told me, as I after¬ 
ward learned to be true, that these fel¬ 
lows w-ork in pairs; one goes to the car 
and gets a load in sacks, and between 
the car and the public weigh scales as 
many sacks as they think will not be no¬ 
ticed are transferred to the other wagon. 
The same crooks were at the public 
scales as a grocer wagon drove past, and 
seeing I was a stranger the driver 
warned me to keep away from them. 
After Big Sam had given me much val¬ 
uable information as to these methods of 
the other fellows, and invited me to his 
house to attend his daughter’s wedding 
the next day, he proceeded then to try 
to do me himself in his own and an en¬ 
tirely different way. 
The Square Commission Man. —That 
was enough for me, a stranger, single- 
handed, trying to deal with such people, 
watching this one and that one, and in 
danger of being tricked at every turn. 
I went to James T. Pensquare as we will 
call him, a commission man highly re¬ 
commended by the buyer at one of the 
large department stores, then handling 
about 1.000 bushels of potatoes per day 
with his auto truck, and turned over to 
him to finish delivery of those sold to¬ 
gether with the balance of the car. also 
the second car then on the way, with 
the result that he proved a friend in¬ 
deed, for after deducting his commission 
and cartage he returned to us 75 cents 
per bushel for the very same potatoes 
John U. Dont’s man would have re¬ 
turned but about 50 cents per bushel. 
While the experience was anything but 
pleasant, I was glad to have had it, es¬ 
pecially as the returns for the two cars 
were about $200 more than the local buy¬ 
ers offered, and we now have 1,500 bush¬ 
els in cellar for which we hope to find 
a market where we can meet the con¬ 
sumer face to face, if we can find such a 
place. i. c. n. 
LOCAL MILK CONTESTS. 
FEW months ago The R. N.-Y. sug¬ 
gested local milk contests. The plan 
was to get the local farmers who 
supply milk to a town or city to com¬ 
pete for prizes, the object being to in¬ 
crease interest in the local milk supply 
and encourage the production of clean 
milk. The first response to this that we 
have heard of comes from Schuylerville, 
N. Y. Dr. T. E. Bollard was largely in¬ 
strumental in organizing such a contest 
at the Local Grange Fair. Prizes were 
offered for the best and cleanest milk, 
and Dr. Bullard was put on the commit¬ 
tee which awarded the prizes. Tlu- milk 
had to be at the hall by 11 A. M. There 
was only one test for its cleanliness, and 
that was the result of a bacteriological 
examination. It was thought that the 
number of bacteria found in a sample 
of milk at a certain age would be the 
fairest test of its quality. There were 
15 samples submitted, each sample con¬ 
sisting of two bottles. One bottle from 
each lot was taken to the Warren County 
Laboratory. All labels or marks were 
removed, and the milk examined by its 
number, so that there could be no favorit¬ 
ism through knowledge of the dairymen 
who produce it. The milk was then ex¬ 
amined by scientific methods and the re¬ 
sults were reported. Westfield Brothers 
of Saratoga Springs took first prize, their 
sample containing only 25,000 colonies of 
bacteria. C. A. Hall of Greenfield Cen¬ 
ter came next, with 30,000 colonies. 
Then came John E. Leonard of Sara¬ 
toga Springs, and J. M. Eddy of the 
same place, each with 40.000 colonies, 
and these two divided the third prize be¬ 
tween them. Other samples were nearly 
as good as these four, and all would rank 
as high-grade milk. This contest shows 
that at least some of the milk supplied 
to Schuylerville patrons is exceptionally 
good. It forms a first rate way for milk¬ 
men and patrons to get together and 
know each other through the milk, and 
certainly the man standing well in a con¬ 
test of this kind wins advertising which 
is sure to prove very valuable. These 
local contests ought to be encouraged, 
and they would make a most interesting 
feature of many a local fair. 
