Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907 edition. Excerpt: ...not the principal--of the causes for the continued depression in agriculture is the extreme difficulty which our farmers find in financing their holdings. The same was found in Egypt, before an intelligent and enterprising Government consented to assist the agricultural classes in the only practical manner possible, namely by establishing, or at least encouraging, agricultural banks. Other nations have found such institutions not only a great factor in the prosperity of their peoples, but indispensable to it. In Mexico, as in most other places, the prevalent banking system, while it serves to secure credit to the average trader, is insufficient to supply the wants of agriculture for several reasons--among others, because loans are generally needed for a considerable length of time, on occasions extending over some years, depending greatly upon the nature of the crops--cotton, sugar, tobacco, coffee, etc., etc., and thus incurring exceptional risks; because the planter as a rule has no security to offer, such as bankers demand or care to recognise; and because the borrower's capital and resources are all sunk in the property itself. Agricultural banks are only legitimate so long as they do not press the borrower too much, or act as usurers and oppressors. While no bank could well stand the strain of lending money for several years upon a risky business, such as agriculture undoubtedly is, judicious selection and moderate advances are seldom found to be misplaced or unproductive. Worked upon the Raffeisen System, agricultural banks have proved eminently successful on the Continent of Europe; why therefore should a somewhat similar attempt conducted with a due regard to the purely local conditions not prove successful here or elsewhere?...
