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Show PRESENT CLAIMS FDR FARM' LOI BANK Salt Lakers Discuss Location Loca-tion With Federal Commissioners Com-missioners Here. I TWO MEMBERS ABSENT Secretary McAdoo and Charles E. Lobdell Unable Un-able to Attend, The Federal Farm Loan board, minus two of its members, listened attentively last night to the claims of Utah's representative rep-resentative agriculturists, irrigation experts ex-perts and many farmers that the logical logi-cal location for tho intermountaiu federal fed-eral loan bank is Salt Lake City, and the reasons advanced were many and varied. The two missing members of the federal fed-eral board were Secretary of tho Treasury Treas-ury McAdoo and Charles E. Lobdell. The members present were George W. .' orris, farm land commissioner; W. S. 1 A. Smith and Herbert tjjuiek. The meeting meet-ing was held iu tho federal building, one of the courtrooms being given over for tho purpose. Commissioner Nonig, in opening the session, spoke of the benefits accruing to the farmer by reason of the "Federal "Fed-eral Farm Loan Act." He stated that the underlying principle of the act was that the farmer needs capital, and that the legislation was for his sole benefit, or anyone about to be engaged in the cultivation of the land upon which he proposes to secure a mortgage. The commissioner dwelt at length upon the fact that the government was endeav-,1 oring to assist the farmer, who in the past has been forced to pay extortionate sums for- interest. Present Utah's Claims. Those who presented the claims of LTtah for ono of the banks were introduced intro-duced by Glen Miller, and included Secretary Sec-retary of State David Mattson. , Mr. Mattson said the loan' act was one of the. most substantial propositions that has ever come before the public. He stated that Salt Lake City, was the logical point in. the intermountaiu section sec-tion to place one of the banks; that it was a pioneer city and afforded every facility for an institution of this character'. char-acter'. John T. Caine, III, director of extension ex-tension work of the Utah Agricultural coiiefie at Logan, spoke about the products prod-ucts of Utah and gave some of last year's figures, which showed that the state raised S, 250, 000 bushels of wheat; approximately 4,000,000 bushels of oats, 1,000,000 bushels of barley, 2,600,000 bushels of potatoes, and also large quantities quan-tities of sugar beets and hay. He spoke of the livestock business and its extent. There wore, in the state, hn said. lOO.OOfl I horses and 96,000 cattle. The sheep business, ho said, is scattered, but there were hundreds of thousands within the state 's borders. In answer to the request re-quest of Captain Smith to "let us have some of your .bad points, ' ' Mr. Caine i stated that the alkali land created a problem. Dr. George Thomas spoke about the operations of banks and mortgage companies com-panies with regard to their method of doing business with the farmers. He informed the board that the farmers 1 usually got from these banks loans for from one to three years, usually paying pay-ing interest, at rate of 8 to 10 per cent. The local lender, he stated, sometimes some-times lent on 50 to 60 per cent of the value of the land, and eastern lenders made a maximum valuation of $100 per acre and loaned not more than $40 per acre on it, so that the orchard growers could not compete with the Michigan growers, which meant that the land in time, if no remedi' was eueeted, would have to be used for a different kind of; cultivation. All for the want of money to cultivate it. Speak on Irrigation. Francis W. Kirkham- spoke on the value of irrigation. James Melville, a farmer of Delta, spoke of reclaiming lands by irrigation; that 120,000 acres had been reclaimed in Millard county , in six years. The farmers, he Baid, nno.lpd mnnpv nn lnny tJmn on1 ot Intw rates of interest. He said private banks charged 8 to 10 per cent. He spoke of tho formation of water companies and how the farmers secured an adequate water supply. He thought it would be a safe proposition to lend money on dry farming lands, J. L. Farrell of Logan also addressed the board, telling that he owned 2000 acres of dry farming land, which was once sagebrush and prairie land. With a rainfall of from 18 to 22 inches a year wheat and barley have been his principal crop, and for the past five years he lias had no crop failures. George Austin, Agricultural superintendent superin-tendent for the Utah-Idaho Sugar company, com-pany, told of the beet sugar industry. Another speaker was A. P. Bigelow, cashier of the Ogden State bank, who stated that for twenty-seven years his bank has loaned money to farmers and haa- no vp had f a fnrnMn-n o mortgage. X. P. Peterson of Sugar station, John B. Hendricks, in charge of the department depart-ment of national banking at the Utah Agricultural college; A. M. McPherson of Delta, Utah; James Spatlev, W. B. Livingston, L. M. Windsor, irrigation expert, state department of agriculture; Uriah Jones. Cedar City; J. L. Robinson of Weber county, and George Farrell of Vernon, Tooele county, also addressed tho board and expressed the hope that the bank would be located in Salt Lake. The board will leave this afternoon for Cheyenne. Prior to their departure they will be guests of honor at a j luncheon at the Commercial club. |