Page Ten
THE CAROLINA UNION PARMER
The High Cost of Farming.
The Literary Digest.
ers to settle is whether they will be
satisfied to fight other trusts or put
themselves on a strong financial basis
and operate their own trusts.”
You have not fulfilled every
unless you have fulfilled that o
ing pleasant.—Charles Button.
One thing that helps to make the
cost of living about 10 per cent high
er in the United States than in Eu
rope is “an undue interest tax of
$210,000,000 a year on the American
farmer.” This phase of the “great
est problem at present confronting
us” is discussed in The World’s Work
for September by President B. F.
Yoakum of the St. Louis and San
Francisco Railroad. Food and cloth
ing, the fundamentals of life, cost
more and more each year, and ac
cording to Mr. Yoakum “it is this
simple fact that underlies nearly all
the disturbing phenomena of an era
full of disturbances.” Dismissing
those factors which are internation
al in their effect, he names four “pa
ramount causes” of soaring prices in
this country, the first of these being
“the excessive burden of Interest
charges laid upon the agricultural
producers of the country because of
inadequate money-lending facilities.”
The other three may be grouped as
“the excessive cost of distribution.”
Cheap money for the small farmer is
“the first of our agricultural prob
lems.” As things stand, this class of
citizen, “the fundamental wealth pro
ducer of the country,” is given poor
er service by our banks than almost
any other man In American industry.
And when we compare the financial
accommodation given him with that
accorded his brother agriculturist in
Europe the discrepancy is still great
er. The story is told concisely in the
diagram at the top of this page.
Mr. Yoakum estimates the aggre
gate indebtedness of American farm
ers, including mortgages and cur
rent loans on crops, at $6,046,000,-
000. On this they pay interest at an
average rate of 8 1-2 per cent per
annum, whereas were they farming
in France or Germany they could get
the same accommodation at . a rate
never higher than 5 per cent. The
reason is that France and Germany
have systems of agricultural co-oper
ative banking. Italy, Switzerland,
Denmark, England, Ireland, and In
dia have to some extent followed the
example set by Germany and France,
with the result that “the German,
the French, the Italian, the Irish, the
Danish, and even the Egyptian and
Hindustanee farmer borrows on cur
rent account against his crop, his
equipment, and even his chattels at
an Interest rate a little more than
half what the American farmer has
to pay.”
Mr. Yoakum finds that the indebt
edness of the American farmer is
about half on account of fixed capital
—mostly mortgage loans—and half
on account of current loans. The to
tal for all our farmers, as already
stated, amounts to about $6,046,000,-
000, and the number of farms in the
United States is about 6,000,000.
Therefore the average farm has a
mortgage debt of $500 and a current
debt of about the same amount out
standing against it. Wo read fur
ther:
“The rate of interest paid on this
tremendous volume of borrowed
capital is, according to the best esti
mates I can find, between 8 and 9 per
cent pef annum. The actual rate of
Interest itself is only a part of the
burden of borrowing. To it must be
added the constant drain of renewals
for mortgages 0/n faj^is, of loans, fees
for re^rdlBS mof^ages, and other
g^*»most of which are
^m, and commission
compulsory insurance on
From all I have been able
from the best available
estimate that an average
rate paid by our fanners is 8 1-2 per
cent per annum, which Is a conserva
tive estimate of the full cost paid on
loans t!l|^
feeS^and
renewals,
to gather
sources. I
farm oney used in the financing and
capitalization of the farms of the
United States.
“The annual interest bill, there
fore, paid by the farmers is about
$510,000,000. The total value of the
wheat crop of the United States as of
December 1, 1911, farm value, was
$543,000,000. Practically the inter
est account of the farmers ate up the
total wheat crop of the entire coun
try.”
No thinking man, looking the facts
fairly in the face, believes that the
rate to the farmer is a just and rea
sonable rate, declares Mr. Yoakum.
Comparing the rate the farmer pays
for loans with that paid by American
rnerchaonts and manufacturers, Mr.
Yoakum finds it double. Although
“he has the finest security for cur
rent loans there is in the world,
namely, products that go into imme
diate consumption and that sell, in
all the markets of the world, every
hour of the day,” yet “he pays dou
ble the rate paid by manufacturers
of industrial products that have to be
marketed with great skill, often on a
treacherous and delicate market.” The
only reason, we are told, is that the
farmer stands alone while the manu
facturer is a member of an organized
trade. So, too, in the case of the Eu
ropean farmer, the advantages are
due to organization and co-opera
tion. Turning to the object-lessons
supplied by those two countries, we
learn that the German farmers in
given territories form co-operative
societies, “syndicating their farm
lands under negotiable bonds which
are offered jointly as security for
the credit they need,” and that the
individual then borrows from this
co-operative society. “It is just as
if all the small farms in a Texas
county, no one of which is more than
160 acres, were pooled into one great
society which borrowed on a single
bond against all this property, and
then lent to any individual farmers
forming this pool as they needed
money on mortgage.” In France the
Credit Foncier, in Paris, lends mon
ey to farmers for periods of from ten
to seventy-five years, these loans be
ing retired in very small installments
year by year.
What these systems do for the
farmer who wants money on a mort
gage the co-operative rural banks do
for the farmer who wants to borrow
money against current needs. In
Germany at the present time there is
a Federation of German Agricultural
Societies, numbering more than 19,-
000 farmers’ banks and including in
its membership more than 1,750,000
farmers. This is “an agricultural
money trust, the object of which is to
see to it that the farmer gets his
money when he needs it and at rates
that are commensurate with his se
curity.” Applying the lesson at
home, Mr. Yoakum goes on to say:
“The work of re-organizing the
farm finance of the United States is
sure to come. The rapidity of its
realization depends upon the farmers
of the United States. They are the
first to receive the benefits. If they
do not rouse themselves to wipe out
this terrific annual tax upon their in
dustry no other man can accomplish
the purpose for them. If, on the con
trary, they through their organiza
tions and through their representa
tives in Congress, demand legislation
to accomplish this purpose, I have
no hesitation in saying that the an
nual interest saved ten years from
now will bo enough to pay the ruling
rate at that time on more than $4,
000,000,000 of additional money-
enough to open and cultivate every
section of the country to its full ca
pacity.
“The great problem for the farm
(ADVERTISING.) ^
VOTE YOUR CONVICTIONS.
Clark is Now in the Lead—Get Busy for a Majority
for Clark,
Vote your convictions. Get on the Clark Bandwagon and help
make it a majority for Walter Clark in the first primary. Clark is
already in the lead. The political bosses are trying now the last des
perate trick of politicians—trying to fool sensible men by predictions
against Clark. The Charlotte Observer, which is notorious throug
out North Carolina as the enemy of the farmers, is making prediction
that Clark will be beaten. They have tried the same trick before-
They predicted Woodrow Wilson would be defeated, but Wilson won^
Judge Walter Clark when shown the article laughed and '
reminded him of old times. He recalled in 1902 when
Ctiarlolte Observer was supp«/rting the nomiflcc
the R«'publican party against him for Chief
that, just before the election the Observer trl^® -
fool people by saying that Judge Walter Clark
lose by 25,000 majority. The day after the
in 1902 the Charlotte Observer stated that
Walter Clark had been elected by 63,000 majoriiy*
The error in their prediction was only 88,000.
The Charlotte Observer knows that Judge Clark is in the ^
now. Get busy and lef s make it a Clark landslide in the first^rin^ '
GREAT STATE FAIR
RALEIGH, N. C.
October 15,16,17,18,1912.
H Gets the People. It Gets the Products. It Gets the
Attractions. It Gets the Shows.
, peS'
BIG MONEY on corn contests, cotton contests, girls’ tomato pontes • .
ignated this year to furnish exhibits to National Corn Exposition, bpe
^ease in premiums on Tobacco and Fruit. $350 00 on Tobacco „
forced concrete building for agriculture and horticulture. Modern f
house just equipped with best steel wire coops.
MORE PRIZES ON LIVE STOCK THAN EVER^^^^;
Running Race restored this year, in addition to the harness races, on ^
track in South Atlantic States.
GRANDSTAND CAPACITY INCREASED 80 PE^
Best List of Free Attractions in 53 Years
History of the Fair.
Balloon races, two balloons, man making double parachute drop,
single parachute drop; New York hippodrome races on tracR ; Noinai
and standing bareback races, teams of two to six horses; Jas. E. Haroy,
the high-wire walkers; Gillmor Troupe of two women and three ny tricj
trapeze and casting acts in mid-air; clowns and comedy woman in noj «
pantomime; Cycling Herberts, riding unicycle down ladder blindfom jgbt,
velous modern Midway, clean, interesting, dazzling; great White a/ vVes
Bill Miller’s Wild West, life-like reproductions of the scenes of the goi«
of old; Great State Fair Ball Friday night, Oct. 18, in New Auditori^^^^ki^^
of miniature road machinery from U. S. Department of Agricultur^
models; Third Regiment Band and other bands. Long experience o
ment and wisdom won from many sources concentrated in one.
GREATEST STATE FAIR TO DA‘E.
Special Rates and Extra Trains on the Railroads.
FAIR GROUNDS WILL BE OPEN TWO Nl
Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 16 and 17.
Midway and Free Attractions in Full Blast. Admission at Nigh^> "
For all information, address Secf^
IT PAYS TO KNOW HOW T9
Grow and Market Chickens
w
cent
HAT would it mean to you in dollars and cents to raise P p they
of your chickens; to have them weigh half pound more m get
ever weighed before at market time ? What would it meau
of
20 per cent more eggs from each hen i au ^ a diseases
What would it mean to be able to overcome the dread
cholera, roup, white diarrhea, sore head and canker. ve^uis
To tell you and show you about these things, we have puy„ This
GXpcrisncG into our “hfindsoiTiG” illustrfltcd booklet, OCU
booklet “OCULUM” is yours for the asking.
Price per bottle, 50 cents and $1-00.
Your money refunded if not satisfactory.
Box 24
HANCOCK INOCULATUN CO . ,
SALEM.
L