Vrtl TXXVTTT. Published Weekly by The Rural Publishing Co., 
333 W. 30th 8t., New York. Price One Dollar a Year. 
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 22, 1919. 
Entered as Second-Class Matter, June 28, 1879. at the Post 
Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. 
No. 4561 
What A Farm 
Loan Association Did 
And How They Did It 
H ERE is a true story of the Federal Land Bank. 
We want you to read it and think it over. 
There has been some criticism of the Land Bank in 
various sections. We have been told that a poor 
man or a tenant has no chance to obtain a loan. 
Others have said that most of the loans thus far 
made have merely relieved former mortgages and 
transferred a private obligation to one connected 
with the Government. Ofttimes such a transfer will 
mean all the difference between discouragement and 
encouragement to a farmer. 
Some four years ago an elderly couple of the back- 
to-the-lander type fell into the hands of a real estate 
agent in Dutchess County, N. Y. These old people 
were nearly 70 years of age, and not very keen in 
business matters. They had about $1,500 in cash—a 
tempting bait for a sharp agent and a grasping 
land-owner. Now these two characters, working so 
close to deceit and misrepresentation that you could 
not see between, made these old people believe that 
they wanted a certain farm of 200 acres, more or 
less. They were actually induced to pay $5,000 for 
this place, on a contract, or about 20 per cent more 
than it was worth at the time. At their best these 
old people could not have handled such a farm, and 
of course the agent and owner knew it. Yet they 
got the old folks to give up practically all the cash 
they had and to sign a contract which simply bound 
them into financial slavery. Any man who has ever 
done business in real estate would know at the be¬ 
ginning that these old people never could meet that 
contract from farm proceeds. They were sure to 
lose all their cash and then lose the farm, which 
could be sold again to others like them. A form 
of pure, straight legal robbery. 
These old folks went on the farm without adequate 
The Village Blacksmith—a Busy Man Winter and Summer. Fig. 550 
