American Agriculturist, August 4,1923 
71 
Farmers and Bankers Meet 
Credit Increases Prices—New York Farm News 
B ANKERS need to know more about 
farming and farmers need to know 
more about banking. In recognition of 
this fact the farmers and bankers of 
the Second Federal Reserve District 
got together on July 23 and 24 at the 
New Yoi’k Sfate College of Agriculture 
and freely exchanged opinions, criti¬ 
cisms, and suggestions. 
On the first day D. H. Otis, director 
of the Agricultural Commission of the 
American Bankers’ Association, pre¬ 
sided, while G. F. Warren, Leland 
Spencer, and W. R. Myers, all of the 
Department of Agricultural Economics 
of the New York State College of Agri¬ 
culture, and R. W. Thatcher, director 
of the State experiment stations, 
taught the bankers some agriculture. 
Then came a tour of the agricultural 
college, followed by a banquet in the 
evening at which both bankers and 
farmers were guests of the Ithaca 
bankers. W. A. Boyd of the First Na¬ 
tional bank, Ithaca, presided as toast¬ 
master. M. C. Burritt, director of ex¬ 
tension at the State college, gave an 
account of the work of his institu¬ 
tion. H. E. Babcock, chairman of the 
New York State Cooperative Council, 
discussed the financing of cooperative 
associations. Enos Lee, president of 
the New York State Farm Bureau Fed¬ 
eration, and Albert Manning, master 
of the New York State Grange, made 
suggestions as to better relations be¬ 
tween bankers and farmers. The even¬ 
ing closed with a masterly address by 
R. H. Treman, director of the Federal 
Reserve Bank of New York, in which 
he outlined the organization and opera¬ 
tion of this greatest of financial 
institutions. 
On the second day the bankers had 
their innings. Presiding was W. G. 
Nash, president of the New York State 
Bankers’ Association and vice-president 
of the Irving Bank-Columbia Trust 
of New York. What their institutions 
are doing in a practical way to meet 
the credit needs of farmers was told 
by Henry Burden of the Cazenovia 
National Bank, Cazenovia; P. II. Sal¬ 
mon of the Second National Bank, El¬ 
mira; C. R. Mellen of the Geneva Na¬ 
tional Bank, Geneva; Donald New¬ 
comb, Hilton State Bank, Hilton; 
Heber Wheeler, Ontario County Trust 
Company, Canandaigua; H. B. Ward, 
Leroy National Bank, Leroy; Marc W. 
Cole, Farmers’ Fund, Inc.,' Rochester; 
Otis Thompson, National Bank of Nor¬ 
wich, Norwich; George Wallace, Herki¬ 
mer National Bank, Herkimer. 
Myers Presents Facts 
A program so full of good things is 
difficult to report. Space does not per¬ 
mit even summarizing all the papers 
which were presented, to say noth¬ 
ing* of reporting the extemporaneous 
speeches. One address, therefore, has 
been chosen which is representative of 
the occasion; it is an accurate reflec¬ 
tion of present relations between bank¬ 
ers and farmers. W. I. Myers, who 
gave it, talked from facts drawn from 
a recent first-hand study of farm 
credit conditions in Tioga and Genesee 
Counties, New York. He said that in 
making the study he started with no 
intention of criticizing bankers, farm¬ 
ers, or any one else, but of securing 
a true picture of the situation, a state¬ 
ment of things as they are. 
Farmers Must Use Banks More 
As a result of what he learned Mr. 
Myers declared that the most impor¬ 
tant farm credit problem in New York 
State is to promote the greater use 
of banks by farmers. In a measure, 
he said, this situation is caring for it¬ 
self, as farmers are each year using 
banks more and more, especially the 
more progressive men. “Bank ac¬ 
counts,” said Mr. Myers, “should be 
kept by every farmer; a savings account 
is, of course, desirable when a man 
can have one, but a checking account 
is essential to the businesslike opera¬ 
tion of a farm. Bankers do farmers 
a service as well as themselves when 
they get them to start checking ac¬ 
counts. Figures show that the balance 
in. checking accounts usually grows; 
this makes them good business for the 
banker and means that the farmer is 
getting ahead. 
All present, bankers and farmers 
alike, were impressed when Mr. Myers 
stated that the short-time credit to 
Tioga County farmers came 76 per 
cent in the form of charge accounts; 
16 per cent in notes to others than 
banks; and but 8 per cent from the 
banks themselves. “Much of the store 
credit,” Mr. Myers pointed out, “is 
indirect bank credit, but there is inter¬ 
posed a third party, the dealer, be¬ 
tween the farmer and the banker. This 
makes this type of credit expensive 
and inefficient and not a good thing 
for either dealer, farmer, or banker. 
Part of the high cost of retailing is 
the credit cost.” 
Mr. Meyers recommended that deal¬ 
ers sell on a closer margin for cash, 
and that farmers, to get cheaper credit, 
should borrow direct from the banks. 
Bankers should sponsor both develop¬ 
ments, he declared, because they can 
prosper only when thef community pros¬ 
pers. “A feed dealer’s business is to 
sell feed. The feed store is probably 
a good place to buy feed, but it is 
an inefficient place by all measure¬ 
ments to buy credit. One does not go 
to a hardware store to buy feed, nor 
should one go to a feed store to get 
credit.” 
Summarizing, Mr. Myer said that 
there should be more personal contacts 
between bankers and farmers; that 
country banks should have at least 
one man thoroughly familiar with farm 
conditions; that banks should distin¬ 
guish between individuals and not re¬ 
quire endorsers for men whose credit 
is good and for whom their wives’ sig¬ 
nature is sufficient. Terms of credit 
should correspond with the slow turn¬ 
over of farm business. Farmer repre¬ 
sentatives on the board of directors 
might be advisable. 
COUNTY NOTES FROM AMONG 
THE FARMERS 
Essex Co.—All crops are looking 
fairly well except corn, which looks 
rather sick on account of the late 
spring cold weather. Hay is good and 
being put in the barns in good shape. 
Showers broke the dry spell in the 
middle of July, which helped pas¬ 
tures greatly. June butterfat, 39c per 
pound at the Crown Point Creamery; 
eggs, 35 to 40c; fowls, 25c per pound, 
live weight.—M. E. B. 
Central New York Counties 
Wyoming Co.—Dogs are again mak¬ 
ing trouble for men who keep sheep. 
In several cases a number of sheep 
have been killed and others so badly 
bitten they have died or had to be 
killed. State troopers are trying to 
round up the dogs. About 600 peo¬ 
ple attended the annual G-L-F picnic 
at Silver Lake on June 29. S. J. 
Lowell, master of the National Grange, 
delivered the address of the day.— 
L. F. F. 
Delaware Co.—Hay and oats are 
looking very poor and lack rain. Po¬ 
tatoes are looking fair. There are 
very few bugs for this time of the 
year. Potatoes are very poor on ac¬ 
count of no rain to speak of in most 
parts of the county for three weeks. 
Milk flows below normal, although up 
to June 25 it was fair. 
Broome Co.—Potatoes are not show¬ 
ing up very well. The weather has 
been so hot and dry that old meadows 
and pastures are beginning to show 
the effects of the drought. Hay is fair. 
The oats and corn crops are not show¬ 
ing up so well. Milk flow seems low 
for the flush season. 
Tioga Co.—A trip through the Che¬ 
nango and Chemung Valley shows poor 
hay, oats and corn crop, but potatoes 
are not doing so well either. The hot 
and dry weather is affecting old 
meadows and pastures. For the flush 
season the milk flow seems rather short. 
Chenango Co.—Hay and oats in this 
section are looking the best of most 
of the Central New York districts. 
Potatoes are fair and quite a large 
acreage seems to have been planted. 
Prices on most farm produce are gen¬ 
erally good. Rain is needed here for 
practically everything. 
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