American Agriculturist, September 1,1923 
141 
Credit For Feed—Cash For Automobiles 
Two New York Banker-Farmers State How Banks Can Serve the Farmer 
O NE of the most instructive charts 
exhibited by the Department of 
Agricultural Economics of the New 
York State College of Agriculture 
on the occasion of the Banker-Farmer Con¬ 
ference in Ithaca on July 23-24, 
was the one printed herewith. - 
A glance at the chart will show 
that feed dealers receive but 15 
per cent in cash for V^hat they 
sell. These dealers, however, buy 
on a sight draft with bill of lad¬ 
ing attached and cannot get their 
merchandise until the draft is 
paid; in other words, they pay 
out 100 per cent in cash and 
receive only 15 per cent. A 
moment’s reflection will show 
that this condition cannot con¬ 
tinue indefinitely. 
A glance at the chart will in¬ 
dicate where the rest of the milk 
check has gone; for the survey _ _____ 
that furnished these figures was 
made in a dairy district. Notice the cash 
share that was received by the automobile 
industry and yet it contributes nothing to the 
production of the wealth represented by the 
milk check unless perhaps more rapid trans¬ 
portation of the product from the farm to the 
milk station with a resultant economy of 
time. 
Without holding any brief for the feed 
dealer, it is obvious that if he is carrying the 
luxury of indulgence in motor transporta¬ 
tion, whether such transportation is con¬ 
sidered from the point of view of pleasure or 
profit, he must be adding the expense to the 
cost of his merchandise; he must be borrow¬ 
ing capital of his banker and his borrowings 
must be continually increasing. Sooner or 
later the banker will be compelled to refuse 
further extension of credit to 
the dealer and that time is al¬ 
ready here. 
Even without the information 
given by the chart, bankers have 
become more conservative in 
their business with feed mer¬ 
chants because they have been 
forced to realize that such mer¬ 
chants were not making prog¬ 
ress in the matter of'liquidating 
their obligations and increasing 
the rapidity of their turn-over. 
Milk is now paid for regularly 
in cash every thirty days and 
the feed that has contributed to 
the production of milk should be 
settled for every thirty days. If 
the milk check will not pay the 
feed bill, the producer should 
discontinue his dairy operation. 
Too often the milk check is ex¬ 
pected to finance the entire 
farm operation: this expectation 
is entirely unreasonable, es¬ 
pecially as milk is being sold at 
less than the cost of production 
due to the fact that the unor¬ 
ganized elements among produc¬ 
ers are in sufficient volume to 
continually depress the price by 
undermining the market in their 
individual efforts to dispose of 
their product. 
The purpose of this article is 
not to criticise any group, either 
dealer, producer, banker or feed 
manufacturer, but to bring 
graphically before each the exact 
conditions at present existing. 
If the conditions are recognized, 
the corrective is simple. Let 
every producer resolve and keep 
the resolution, to settle for feed 
By HENRY BURDEN 
President of the Cazenovia National Bank 
purchased during any month with the cash 
that he receives for milk produced during 
Do You Use the Banks? 
'T'HE two articles about farmers and the country banks on this 
-*■ page were written by men whose interest and sympathies are 
wholly with farmers and their problems. Both of them have had 
long personal experiences with both banking and farming in New 
York State. Mr. Burden is president of the Dairymen’s League Coop¬ 
erative Association of Madison County and Mr. Mellen is president of 
the Farm Bureau of Seneca County, Mr. Mellen’s farm is the old 
John Johnson place where the first tile drain were used in America, 
Both of these men have said something for every farmer to think 
about. Obtaining credit from the feed dealer helps to make the 
farmer’s hard times harder. Have you had satisfactory or un¬ 
satisfactory experiences with banks? How could country banks be 
of more service? Do you use the banks? Let us have a short letter 
from you on the subject giving your experiences. Names will be 
considered confidential. Address the Editor, American Agriculturist, 
461 Fourth Avenue, New York City. 
force, it would be but a short time before 
feed prices would respond—feed dealers 
would be paying off bank loans and bankers 
would be anxious to put that same money 
out to farmers who might wish to purchase 
stocks of feed in excess of what 
they might need for a current 
monthly supply. 
To put the matter bluntly, per¬ 
haps producers should be more 
scrupulous in their ethics in deal¬ 
ing with purveyors of feed. 
that month. If there is anything left it can 
go for other things. If this plan were put in 
CHART 
How Farm Expenses were Financed on 
94 Tioga County Farms 
% 
Annual Outlay 
Cash 
Acct. 
Note 
Feed. 
76 
9 
Fertilizer, Lime, Seed. 
... 51 
46 
3 
Labor. 
59 
New Machinery.. 
. . . . 58 
18 
24 
Animals Bought. 
6 
44 
Threshing. 
33 
Autos Bought. 
. . . . 81 
0 
19 
Auto Upkeep. 
.... 97 
3 
Other Farm Expenses . 
... 86 
14 
# # 
Food Bought . . 
... 67 
33 
Other Personal Expenses. . . 
. . . . 97 
3 
Average. 
.... 60 
34 
6 
For cash to pay expenses . . 
.... , . 
~5 
) H I B ITI O N 
BALI 
OF THE 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
Are You for the Strict Enforcement of the 
18 th Amendment as It Now Stands ? 
Are You for a Modification of the 18 th 
Amendment to Permit Light Wines 
and Beer ? 
Designate your opinion by placing an X in the square opposite Yes or 
No on each question. Sign your name and address. Your name will be 
kept strictly confidential. 
Name. 
Address , 
Why You Should Vote 
Do the American people want prohibition? The Wets emphatically say 
“No” and the Drys are even more emphatically for it. Both sides claim 
a majority. Which is right? What do farm people think about it? The 
opinions of farmers on any problem, if they will express them, go far in 
determining the outcome of a controversy. 
American Agriculturist is taking a vote of farm families on the ques¬ 
tion of prohibition. It is a vital issue and whether you are for it or 
against it, be sure to vote in the spaces above. Mail this ballot to the 
American Agriculturist, 461 Fourth Avenue, New York City. 
Get your friends to vote—Mcyre ballots furnished on application 
The Advantages of a Check 
Book 
CHARLES R. MELLEN 
President of the GenevaNational Bank 
M ORE than fifty years ago, 
when a lad on the farm in 
Wayne County hills, I was often 
— interested to see my father make 
out a check. While my father 
was a good farmer, he was also a good 
business man, and it was a source of great 
pleasure to me to see him draw up a 
check, and hand the long, narrow insig¬ 
nificant looking piece of paper to a man for 
husking corn, or days labor or perhaps for 
some sheep or cows. He always was careful 
to make a plainly written notation on the 
dated and numbered stub of his check book 
which showed exactly what the transaction 
had been between him and the person the 
check was given to. These stubs are interest¬ 
ing reading to-day, and I shall never forget 
how the cancelled checks marked “Paid” 
came back to the old farm desk from the 
local bank, bearing the endorsement of the 
hired man. 
My father explained to me how Simple, 
and safe, and satisfactory a 
thing it was to maintain a bank 
account. My father was careful 
also to explain how he never 
overdrew his account by issuing 
checks for more than he had de¬ 
posited in the bank, for this 
made trouble for him as well as 
the bank. He further showed 
me how much safer the money 
was in the bank vault than there 
on the farm in the old wooden 
house we lived in. 
it was these early lessons from 
my father that caused me never 
to be without a bank account. 
Sometimes a small one, but al¬ 
ways a bank account. How I 
wish that every farmer in this 
and other States could learn the 
lesson as I learned it, for if they 
once saw the simplicity and use¬ 
fulness and satisfaction of the 
bank account, they would readily 
see how they could not afford 
to do without one. 
Another advantage, derived 
from the account with your local 
bank is the fact that you come 
in touch with your bank men. 
You get to knowing them and 
they to knowing you, and this 
means that when you really need 
some financial aid, you are bet¬ 
ter able to explain to them the 
exact situation. Don’t get the 
idea, brother farmer, (for though 
president of a bank now, most of 
iny life has been on a farm), 
that the bank president is going 
to treat you as if you were a 
beggar. Don’t think that be¬ 
cause he asks you many ques- 
(Continued on page 142) 
YES 
NO 
YES 
U NO 
