sales; at least until the farm-loan bonds have themselves become somewhat seasoned through prompt payment of interest over a series of years, the building up of land-bank reserves, and a more accurate general understanding of the financial status of the Federal Land Banks. It is likely, therefore, that the first issues of bonds will have to carry a somewhat higher rate of interest than will be demanded after the system is more firmly established and better known to the investor's mind. This in turn leads to another embarrassment which aggravates the situation. If it is likely that future bonds will be issued at a rate of interest lower than that carried by the first issue, it follows that when that happens the farmers will be able to borrow at a lower rate and the first borrowers will want to refund their loans into new loans carrying the lower interest rate. This they can do, as their mortgages are payable at their option after five years. The probability that a large number will be refunded after five years into new loans at a lower rate makes it necessary that the bonds now issued must be callable at the option of the land banks at par after five years. This in turn makes the present bonds less desirable as an investment, as the market value could not go very much above par when the bonds are callable at par in so short a time. This in turn tends to necessitate a higher interest rate on the bonds first issued. In view of these considerations, it seems likely that the Farm-loan Board will at the outset fix rates of interest on the bonds at the maximum rate, 5 per cent. This would make the interest rate to the farmer 6 per cent and would be a great relief in nearly every section of the country. But will these unseasoned bonds, which are so far not very well advertised, sell sufficiently readily, even on a 5 per cent yield, without the services of brokerage houses or bond salesmen for whose compensation no direct provision is made in the Act? In one respect the situation is most favorable. So much money has been made in the course of the existing industrial prosperity, and so much is still being made, that great accumulations must of necessity be seeking

investment now and in the near future. There could hardly be a more favorable time so far as financial conditions are concerned for marketing bonds of this character. It is to be hoped that under these conditions a sufficient number of the bonds will readily be absorbed to insure the success of the system.

As

The provision of the Hollis-Bulkley bill for purchase of bonds by the Secretary of the Treasury would have solved this question beyond doubt. It might have created sufficient public confidence to assure the purchase of the bonds by the public, so that no call whatever would have been made upon the Treasury. But if it had resulted in making a substantial call upon the Treasury in the course of the coming spring, it would of course have been necessary to increase correspondingly the United States bond issue, which seems likely to be necessary in any event. the law now stands, without any provision for the purchase of farm-loan bonds by the Treasury, it is difficult to say just what would be done in the event the market should fail to absorb farm-loan bonds sufficiently rapidly to meet the demand for loans. It would seem that a government system having been set up, supported by Treasury subscription to capital stock of land banks and deposits of Treasury funds to tide over emergencies, the opposition to government aid has more or less frankly collapsed, and the only question remaining is as to the kind and amount of government aid which shall be afforded. This will not be determined by any theoretical considerations; it necessarily follows from the mere establishment of this government system that the government must and will give it support to whatever degree and in whatever manner may be necessary to make it a success. The government, having subsidized the system by purchasing millions of dollars of capital stock of land banks upon which it cannot get a dividend, could hardly refuse in case of necessity to purchase farm-loan bonds, a preferred security paying the market rate of interest.

The establishment of an entirely new system must at best be in part an experiment, and it is to be expected that experience

will point the way to many changes and improvements in the Farm-loan Act; yet it is certain that a very auspicious start has been made, and the very anticipation of the establishment of a Federal farm-loan system has already caused interest rates on farm mortgages to come tumbling down to a very marked degree throughout the length and breadth of the country. This is as it should be. There is no reason why banks and insurance companies or private investors should be driven out of the farmloan business, but it is most important that they should be held in check by the active competition of a coöperative system under efficient government supervision and control.

The Farm-loan Act provides adequately for the mobilization of farm-mortgage credit; it establishes the amortization system of repayment; it provides adequately for care and conservatism coupled with real sympathy in the making of loans; and it provides some safeguards against the undue use of the benefits of the system for land speculation. It has given us a wellqualified and efficient Farm-loan Board, and has committed the government, without party division, to the great task of establishing an adequate American agricultural land-mortgage system. A great reform, agitated and labored with for years, has already begun to bear fruit, and bids fair in the course of the next few years to fulfill most of the hopes that have been aroused by the discussion of it.

THE PROBLEM OF THE RURAL WOMAN1

KATE WALLER BARRETT

I LISTENED With profound interest to the discussions of the problems of rural life, from its many angles, during this meeting of the American Sociological Society.2 To my mind, almost all of the problems presented react with particular force upon the woman in rural life; at the same time it is interesting to note that the woman, as a definite part of the problem, has not been mentioned by any of the speakers.

3

From my observation I believe that the depletion of the rural population is due more to the dissatisfaction of women with living conditions in the country for them and their families than it is to that of the men. The old adage Cherchez la femme 3 is particularly true in this case, and to one familiar with rural life there are many reasons which justify women in their desire to leave the country.

Men, as a rule, have very little respect for the amount of ability that is required in a woman to accomplish her task. Possibly women have just as little respect for the necessary qualities which are demanded of men in fulfilling their vocations, but women are a little more polite in the way in which they express themselves on the subject. Men must be more intelligent in regard to the value of women's contributions and more willing to look upon the investments in the improving of the home as they are in other departments of farm life, and must

1 Copyright. Reprint from the Publications of the American Sociological Society, by permission of the publishers and of the author.

2 Held at Columbus, Ohio, December 27-29, 1916.

3 Look for the woman.

consider the standardizing of the home as important as that of other departments of the farm. It is not difficult to find the reason for the exodus of women from the country.

The love of the country is in my blood, having come to me through generations of country-loving ancestors. I still own a piece of the original tract of land which came to my great-greatgrandfather, through a colonial grant, from Charles II, my paternal ancestor being a direct descendant of one of Captain John Smith's colony. Ever since those early colonial days every member of my family, whether in the professions or not, has been also a farmer. I was the oldest of eight girls, but in spite of this inherited love of everything pertaining to country life, I cannot remember a time when I had not made up my mind that I would never rear a family in the country. My seven sisters remained in the country, but not one of their children, thirty-four in number, has either married or settled in the country. It would seem that in seeking city life I was only a generation in advance of the exodus of the family from the country. While I have had a city home always, I have had a country home as well, and much of my time and thought have been given to the consideration of rural problems. So convinced am I of the possibility of the development of rural life to a point where it will not demand sacrifice on the part of the individual, that I have spent many years in travel, investigating rural problems in farm lands, as well as in every state in the union, to try to find what is the solution of the problem. I am still in the dark. But in spite of this I am organizing a Farm Industrial Training School for girls, twenty miles from Washington, D.C., where I can have expert advice from the Department of Agriculture, and where my object is to educate both town and country girls, of their own volition, to seek country homes. I am dubious about the results. The obstacles are so formidable and require so much character and ability to overcome, that unless I can find a group of super-women to make farmers from, or else can produce a social cataclysm which will