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Show THE FARMERS AND THE BANK Tho s gnlflcanco of the farm mort-gngo, mort-gngo, It appears Is just now disclosing disclos-ing itself to bankers. Tho hend of a largo bank In tho east, who has boen mnklng an Investigation, hns found that farmers nro not, ns ho supposed, borrowing monoy becnuso farming Is not profitable. They aro profitable. Now and then, of course, crop failure, duo to ono causo or nnother, sent tho farmer to capital for a loan, but, In most Instances, tho banker lenrncd, farmers borrow n order to extend tholr operations, Increaso their acreage, tnko In more land under tholr control and mnn-ngomont. mnn-ngomont. Ho had bollovcd- with n good many others that farmers sought loans when driven to It by tho pinch of necessity, and that thoy wero, ns n rule, mortgaging tho futttro to mako up for a loss of tho past. Now ho sees things In a different light. Ho could havo had this vlow of farm ng and farm loans long before, per-haps, per-haps, if tho farmer was not poor at explanation, nnd not very doflnlto with figures. Tho banker, on tho other hnnd, has not been Inclined to acquaint himself sufficiently with tho farmer's business. Neither has understood under-stood tho other. Tho fault lies mainly w'th tho banker, however. He hns been slow to realize that farm conditions havo changed. A quarter of n century ago, It wns probably truo that a majority ma-jority of farm loans wero negotiated becnuso crop expectations wero not realized and tho farmer needed capital capi-tal to flnnuco tho crop of tho future And thnt was risky security for tho banker. But this Is no longer tho rulo. Advanced methods, increased knowledgo of soil nnd crop roqu re-monts, re-monts, rotation, seed, selection, Improved Im-proved tillage, modern machinery, bigger returns nnd higher prices for tho produco all theso havo combined to glvo a now aspect to farming. It I Is loss a speculation now and moro of a business than It used to bo. And ns such it Is beginning to bo nccepted oven in tho most conservative conser-vative quarters. Capital is far moro friondly toward it today than it was ten or ovon five years ago. It understands under-stands it better. It will profit, moreover, more-over, if It continues to Improvo its knowledge of farming nnd farm finance fi-nance It needs to know what farm-ors farm-ors aro doing. Tho eastorn banter has sot a Good example Ogdon Ex-am'ner. |