case is absolute. On an average loans made on farm lands in Indiana, based upon the census valuation, would not exceed $37.42 per acre. Upon the same valuation, the loans made on North Dakota lands would not exceed $14.47 per acre. For the amount loaned, the North Dakota mortgages would be just as secure as the Indiana mortgages. It may be said that values of land in the West - the new portions of the country are not so stable and well settled. There is some force in this suggestion at least according to the popular conception in the older settled States. The situation now is far different from what it was in the years immediately following the settlement of the Western States. The agricultural possibilities of every State have been ascertained. Whatever may be the uncertainties, the limitations, the drawbacks, and the hardships in any of the Western States, such limitations are well known. All these things would be considered in making loans. Besides it must be remembered that in every State in the Union, there is a vast variety of land values. Illinois has lands worth $250 per acre. Illinois also has lands not worth $10 per

acre.

In fact the Union has a vast amount of lands almost worthless. The census of 1910 shows that even in our choice agricultural States there is a vast amount of land that is waste, unproductive land. Seventeen and one-tenth per cent. of Iowa lands and 21.8 per cent. of the lands in Illinois are unimproved. So in all the great agricultural States, a large percentage of the lands is unimproved and unproductive and would be uncertain security for mortgage loans. The whole question goes back then to the safeguards provided by law and by governmental administration to provide against over-valuation. All these can be applied in one State the same as in another. On an average loans of $100 per acre upon lands valued at $200 per acre are no more secure than loans of $25 per acre upon lands valued at $50 per acre. The Western lands have this one great

advantage. The present selling values of lands in the new States are largely controlled by the density of population. The Western States are not so densely populated as the Eastern and Central States. There is not so great a demand for land. There is less accumulated wealth to invest in lands. All these things affect the selling price of the land but do not affect the productive value of the land. There is a tendency to obtain an equilibrium. From the beginning of our history, down to the present time, the tide of population moved westward, where the population is less congested. So it will be. Farming population will drift to those States where land is cheaper. This not only augments the price of land in the West, but tends to prevent the rise of prices of lands in the more thickly settled sections of the country. The cheaper lands in the new States will naturally rise in value. This certainty of growth in the value of the lands in the West, South and Southwest, adds immensely to the security these lands offer on farm loans made at the present time in amounts not exceeding one-half their existing value. With the certainty that these lands, on the whole, will for many years constantly increase in value, a mortgage which now represents 50 per cent. of the value of the land, in 10 years will probably not represent one-third the value of the land, and, at no distant date, will not represent more than one-fourth the value of the land. As a rule this growth in value will be more marked in low priced lands than upon high priced lands. Indeed, there is more danger in shrinkage in value in land rated at $200 per acre than in lands rated at $25 per acre. For many years to come, the tide of emigration to the new and less developed agricultural regions will add to the security of the farm-mortgage bondholders. The general growth of population — making greater demand for farm-homes and an absolute necessity for ever-increasing supply of food products — is an

other mighty force that will add constantly to the value of farm lands in every section of the country, and thus add to the value of farm mortgages and farm-mortgage bonds secured thereby. In practice, at least, scientific farming is only in its infancy. Science with all its mystic and mighty power is coöperating to give additional value to every bond based upon a farm mortgage, regardless of the location of the land. The development of better business methods among farmers is a movement which promises to add to the profits of our farmers and thus contribute materially to their ability to meet the interest and principal of their mortgage obligations. Even the vast wealth centered in commerce, trade, transportation and industrial enterprises -through the expansion of these great fields of human endeavor becomes a factor in augmenting the value of farm lands even in the newest and remotest States of the Union. So the improvement in the means of transportation, communication, and education within the reach of our farming population, and every advance in social uplift of our people engaged in agriculture and every improvement which adds to the attractiveness of the farm, or to the health and happiness of the farmers and their families

all are factors which will work unceasingly to give to farm mortgages and bonds issued thereon safety, security and stability. All these mighty forces are working for no particular section of our country — but reach out to every State, to every section of the country. Agricultural prosperity can not be and will not be confined to the East or to the West, to the North or to the South. Seasons will change. Climate, soil, local conditions will vary somewhat. But there is safety and security in every State. All are entitled to equal advantages, opportunities and privileges. All our farmers, regardless of the State in which they reside, are entitled to the same credit facilities, at the same interest charge. The national government can

not justly establish a system of land credit which does not give to all the same credit and a like rate of interest. Any system that does not provide for equality in the extent of the credit, and in the interest charge for such credit, is unfair, unjust, discriminatory and sectional.

CHAPTER XII

GOVERNMENT AID

GOVERNMENT aid was the rock upon which rural-credit legislation stranded in the Sixty-third Congress. It was the proposition upon which the administration forces divided. It was the one big bone of contention which agitated the whole country. It was not settled. It will not be settled until the final vote has been taken in Congress and the Chief Executive of the nation shall have indicated his approval or disapproval. It is of the highest importance that this question shall be settled right. Too much attention can not be given to it. The subject can not be studied too thoroughly. In brief, all those in Congress, or out of Congress, should bring to the consideration of the question the most careful, painstaking, conscientious and patriotic investigation, with a view to reaching a conclusion that will be fair to the farmers, and just to the non-farmers, and that will give to agriculture the proper aid, without injury to other industries, and that, in the end, will contribute most largely to the prosperity of all classes, and add the greatest strength to the nation. The subject will be discussed under the following heads: I. Brief history of controversy in Congress.

II. Views of the United States Commission, the American Commission, the Sub-committees on Rural Credits, the Senate Committee, and Members of Congress.

III. The Federal government should render all the aid that is necessary to provide agriculture with adequate credit at a low rate of interest.