Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 309, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 December 1916 — NO FARM LOAN BANK FOR INDIANAPOLIS [ARTICLE]

NO FARM LOAN BANK FOR INDIANAPOLIS

Louisville Takes* Care of District Including Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and'Tennessee.

Washington, Dec. 27.—The federal fagrn loan board today announced the •twelve farm loan district and the cities in which the twelve branch bariks of the farm loan system will be situated as contemplated by the rural credits act. Indiana was assigned with Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee to the Fourth district. The branch bank in this district will be situated at Louisville. There was some disappointment in the Indiana delegation that Indianapolis did not get the branch bank. Those who supported the claims of Indianapolis for a branch practically gave up hope of obtaining a bank some time ago, since it was evident that the board was considering Louisville or Cincinnati rather than an Indiana city. Following are the branch bank cities: Springfield, Mass.; Baltimore, Md.; Columbia, S. C.; Louisville, Ky.; New Orleans, La.; St. Louis, Mo.; St. Paul, Minn.; Omaha, Neb.; Wichita, Kas.; Houston, Tex.; Berkely, Cal., and Spokane, Wash. The twelve districts into which the country is divided were announced by the farm loan board as follows: No. I—Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts!, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. No. 2 —Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. No. 3—North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. No. 4—Ohio, Indiana, % Kentucky, and Tennessee. No. s—Alabama,5 —Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. No. 6—lllinois, Missouri and Arkansas. No. 7—(Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota. No. B—'lowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming. , • .No. 9-—Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico. No. 10—Texas. No. 11—California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona. No. .12 —Washington, Oregon, Montana and Idaho. In determining the federal land bank districts and in designating the cities within such districts where the banks shall be located, the board has given careful consideration to the farm loan needs of the country. The board held public hearing's in nearly every state in the union and in this manner collected information of great value in determining its decision. ~ , The banks will be established as soon as practicable. Under the law, each will have a capital of $750,000. Applications for loans have been pouring into the board in great volume recently, and it is estimated that a sum more than twenty times in excess of the combined capital stock could be used in making loans. Almost the first work of the banks after approving and issuing loans, will be the issuance of farm loan bonds, a new form of security in this country. The bonds will be issued in denominations as small as $25, it is expected, and will bear interest at a rate of 1 per cent less than the interest rate charged farmers oh their loans! What this interest ratfe will be has not definitely been determined. It is limited by law to a maximum of 6 per cent. The expectation is that it will not exceed 5-% per cent at first, and subsequently may be lowered. Loans on farm land are limited by the law to 50 per cent of the value of the land and may be payable in from five to forty years. As fast as loans are made bonds will be issued to cover them so that at no time, under the present plan, will a bank’s entire capital be tied up in loans to the detriment of other applicants. One of the chief tasks now confronting the board is to find experienced employes for the new banks. The board intends to assemble a corps of men experienced in banking. The head of each bank will be designated as the registrar. The registrar probably will be a resident of the district involved and preferably an attorney. The banks will be organized temporarily by the appointment of the board of five directors for each bank, who shall be residents of the district in which the bank is situated. The directors will select from among their number the bank’s officers. The capital stock of each bank will be open to public subscription for thirty days. If it is not entirely subscribed at the end of that time the government is authorized under the law to take the unsubscribed amount. Through a process of having borrowers subscribe in small amounts to the capital stock, it is expected that the banks not long after beginning operations will be virtually co-opera-tive institutions.