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2 g 2 American Agriculturist, October 20,1923 
Ho w a Banker Vie ws Farmers’ Problems 
A WEAF and American Agriculturist Wednesday Evening Radio Talk 
I HAVE been asked, as a banker, to talk 
about farming. Just how competent 
bankers are to discuss this subject may 
be open to question, but so often have 
I heard farmers—and others—express their 
opinion of bankers, that I could not resist a 
chance to get even. And if I can raise any 
interest in farming by talking about it— 
well, some will say that raising interest is 
my business. 
What I have to say, though addressed 
primarily to the farmers of New York State, 
may apply with equal force to farmers in 
many sections adjacent to metropolitan cen¬ 
ters.' The food problem is perhaps the knot¬ 
tiest in all economics 
offers a bigger and 
more promising op¬ 
portunity for or¬ 
ganization than 
this. Agriculture is 
the oldest industry; 
in many ways it is 
also the most con¬ 
servative, the slow¬ 
est to come into line 
with the present fi¬ 
nancial organization 
of society. The 
farmer is an indi¬ 
vidualist. Farms 
are owned and run 
by individuals, not 
by corporations. It 
follows, therefore, 
that the manage¬ 
ment does not have 
the benefit df the 
collective judgment 
of a board of direc¬ 
tors. The farmer, 
so to speak, is the 
whole show. And 
he is a busy man. 
Is it to be wondered 
that he does not find 
time to become a 
specialist in 
marketing as well 
as in production? 
The distribution 
of food is a disor¬ 
ganized and waste¬ 
ful business; that 
is how it looks to 
bankers. The money 
ours; it is the money 
No field of business 
By WILLIS G. NASH 
President, New York State Bankers’ Association, Vice 
President, Irving Bank-Columbia Trust Co.,N. Y. 
the farmers plan their crops and deliveries 
with special reference to the consumer de¬ 
mand of . that region, simply because there 
is no organization, no intelligent research, 
no exact information and system. Guess 
work, lack of precise knowledge, assump¬ 
tions not verified by research and analysis, 
and such slipshod business methods are be¬ 
yond question responsible for more waste and 
loss in trade, commerce and industry than 
anything else; and this neglect of economics 
is just as unfortunate among farmers. 
investment is anywhere near as large. Only 
a small percentage of the State’s farmers re¬ 
ceive adequate information or service^ from 
the Department of Agriculture. Ohly a 
small percentage of our cultivated acres are 
tilled according to the science of maximum 
crop security and maximum crop returns. 
I know that incalculable benefits would fol¬ 
low an aggressive, business-like campaign 
of publicity that would bring home to the 
minds of the New York farmers an under¬ 
standing of the profitableness and security 
of modern methods of production and faith 
in them. Modern methods, of course, mean 
more than machinery. We lead the world 
in the use of agricultural machinery, but ma¬ 
chinery is only one 
Some scientists claim the Japanese people are of small stature because they have never used dairy 
products. If that is so, it will not be true in the future. These delegates from the land of cherry 
blossoms to the World’s Dairy Congress at Syracuse show that Japan is becoming a cow country 
we have to loan is pot 
of our depositors. To 
safeguard their interests, we must have se¬ 
curity for our loans. Now, which is the bet¬ 
ter security, a carload of apples from Ore¬ 
gon, all neatly packed, graded, labeled, all 
uniform in size and quality, bearing the name, 
of a brand which consumers have been edu¬ 
cated to know and like, or a carload of apples 
from somewhere in New York State, badly 
packed, ungraded, unlabeled and widely 
varying in size and quality? In taste and 
food value the two carloads might be very 
similar. But in money values, the stand¬ 
ardized western product is an incomparably 
better security for the bankers’ loan. New 
York City banks have no predilection for the 
financing of fruit from the Pacific Coast. It 
would be more feasible to lend on foods 
nearer home if the eastern farmer would ap¬ 
ply knowledge, intelligence and cooperative 
effort to the task in hand as his western 
rivals have done. 
Cooperation in marketing the products of 
agriculture should be fostered, not only 
among larger groups, as represented by the 
prominent State associations, but particu¬ 
larly in sections and communities. Cooper¬ 
ative plans may well include purchasing and 
expert service as well as selling. I venture 
to say, there is scarcely a single region where 
In every sizable town and every city, 
farmer-owned-and-operated stores, depots 
and markets should be established. There is 
no reason why the same organization should 
not deal in feeds, fertilizers, machinery and 
supplies for its members, and thus make 
money going and coming. The sell-at-whole- 
sale-buy-at-retail business methods of the 
overwhelming majority of farmers have ab¬ 
solutely nothing to commend them or justify 
their long existence among intelligent, edu¬ 
cated men. Sound, reasonable, economic 
methods need only energetic leadership of a 
kind which commands general community 
confidence.—why not the local bankers ? 
Marketing is by no means the only aspect 
of the subject where systematic group action 
by the farmers themselves can bring about 
a profitable result. Production itself needs 
the results of pooled experience. Few farm¬ 
ers produce crop and animal husbandry re¬ 
sults which approximate first-class attainable 
practice. A great number of the State’s mil¬ 
lion and a half dairy cows do not pay. Pre¬ 
ventable animal diseases sweep away mil¬ 
lions of dollars in profits every year. New 
York’s average acre yields of the great grass, 
grain, root, vegetable and fruit crops are far 
below the standards of good practice. The 
average farmer’s income is much less than 
that of the town or city business man whose 
side, of the produc¬ 
tion problem. When 
it comes to coordi¬ 
nating the other 
modern and scien¬ 
tific factors, such 
as the study of 
soils, of a n i m a 1 
heredity, we must 
p u t the available 
knowledge in work¬ 
able form before 
the individual farm¬ 
er in such a way 
that he guides his 
activities thereby. 
A friend of mine 
once said that the 
farmer’s life was 
b e s t described by 
seven W’s: Work, 
Weather, Weeds, 
Worm s, Waste, 
Wages and Worry. 
Unless means are 
foun d to remedy 
this, the farmer, by 
tens of thousands, 
is going to quit his 
thankless battle for 
a decent security of 
living and an eco¬ 
nomic square deal, 
and that spells eco- 
nomic unbalance, 
tension, trouble, 
loss and needless 
hardship in the 
complicated structure of society. The time 
for talking is long past. What is needed 
to-day is action. 
New York ranks fifth among the States 
of the Union in the value of its agricultural 
products. New York’s commercial and in¬ 
dustrial undertakings are well coordinated 
with its banking, but there is an opportunity 
for the banker to encourage, assist and coop¬ 
erate in the much greater development of 
agricultural wealth. 
The subject of increasing and securing the 
farmer’s profits, and of cheaper food for the 
city dweller assured by more economical 
methods of distribution, has been discussed 
for years in glittering generalities and so¬ 
norous platform phrases, but little progress 
has been made beyond the talking stage. Cer¬ 
tain bald facts remain after the smoke of 
political speeches has cleared away. Food 
prices are excessively high in the cities; 
farmers are having a hard time to make both 
ends meet, and thousands of farmers are 
discouraged to the quitting point by their 
struggle to get and keep labor and to con¬ 
tinue their fight for sustenance. 
Let me tell you about a plan which has 
been set before the Governor of New York 
State. This is to vest in the State Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture the authority (supported 
(Continued on page 270) 
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