The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, May 19, 1919, Page 14

reperey P i Mention the Leader When The Facilities for Distribution of | The Standard Company v * (Indiana) HE service which, at all times, the Standard Oil Company (Indiana) is prepared to render its patrons, rests securely upon a solid foundation of complete distribution. ; To perfect a system which shall make every product manufactured by the Company instantly available to any- one, anywhere, any time, has been the goal toward ~ which this Company has been working since the day of its organization. As yet this ideal has not been achieved; but the system as it stands is conceded to be the most perfect of its kind in the world. : The present equipment for distribution, including grounds, buildings, storage tanks, motor trucks, wagons, etc., represents an investment of more than $30,000,000. There are 27 main stations where complete stocks of all products are kept on hand. Supporting these are the bulk stations located at 2881 carefully selected points in 11 states. These states are equipped with storage tanks having a combined capacity of 86,113,650 gallons of gasoline, 66,115,300 gallons of kerosene, and 4,300,000 gallons of lubricating oils. It is necessary to carry this tremendous stock — total 156,528,950 gallons — at all times to imsure quick, con- venient service to the patrons of the Standard Oil Com- pany (Indiana) wherever they may be, regardless of transportation difficulties or weather conditions. To enable the Company to fulfill its obligations to patrons, and deliver to them the products they require, it is necessary to maintain a fleet of 3700 motor trucks, ‘and a caravan of 3500 horse-drawn wagons, either active or in reserve. These tank wagons are so organized that they, at regular intervals, can reach 75% of the homes ‘in the territory at present served by this Company. . Supplementing the wagons, an equipment-of 530,000 iron barrels, representing an investment of more than $7,000,000, is kept in service to insure the safe delivery of oils and gasoline, even to those remote places where the dark-green tank wagon never has penetrated. For the convenience of the motoring public, a2 chain ° of 1300 service stations has been organized and many others are in the course of construction. These stations are prepared at all times to supply the motorist with his requirements of gasoline and lubricating oils in any quan- tity and at the lowest prices. This, in outline, is the distribution system upon which the service of the Standard Oil Company (Indiana) rests. It is the hope of the Company that the time is not far distant when no person in the territory served will be more that five or six miles from a Standard Oil Company (Indiana) service station if he lives in the country, or more than one mile away if he lives in a town or city. Standard Oil Company (Indiana) . 910 S. Michigan Avenue, ‘Chica'go,flIll. Writing Advertisers 1811 - (Continued from page 8) the money. The states must have a little looser and easier method of get- ting money. Not that they must loan on poor security, but the restrictions should be less rigid. “A state such as North Dakota, with so great an amount of tillable land, has so many cpportunities for the young man to carve out a living. But there’s got to be somebody to help him get started, to give him the capi- tal to get him started. “Why, I believe the Bank of North Dakota would be able:to use a fund of $40,000,000 or $50,000,000. This would serve as a revolving fund. The moment a farmer is able to get his money from the national land bank, his loan from the state bank would be turned back to it, and given to some other man who wants to get started. There will be a never-ending string of such borrowers waiting for the state’s money, just as there will be such a string waiting for money from the federal land bank. : “The North Dakota bank is fine. It is built on the right lines. “Mr. Cathro, who, I understand, is to be at the head of the rural credit system of the bank, I know to be a most valuable man for the place. He has made a scientific study of rural credits and is enthusiastic for the fed- eral land bank and for a state rural credit system.” Mr. Quamme then-told something of the fight that the federal farm loan system has on its shoulders. Congress, which first authorized the establish- ment of the bank with the expectation that it would never operate success- fully, never has been friendly to the system, and friends of the measure have had to watch it with a jealous eye. P “They’re going to.get it if they can. in the law to give us greater power, almost, because we know that instead of extending the scope of our oper- ations, congress would do everything gress is antagonistic to us. “Just now they are complaining that we are lending more than 50 per cent on the value of the land. I deny it. We could do it safely, but we are try- ' ing, and I believe succeeding, to come | as near the 50 per cent mark as is humanly possible. “However, after two years’ experi- ence with the bank, I believe we could safely lend to 65 per cent of the value of the land. We expect to change and improve our system and enlarge our activities from time to time as cir- cumstances and the congress of the United States permit. FORCES SEEKING TO DEFEAT LAND BANKS “But we are always under fire, and are forces in the United States which are mightily interested in accomplish- ing our, failure, and there is. being waged an active propaganda to that end. Bankers, mortgage men, every one that in any way has an interest flooded with pamphlets attacking.the federal land bank system. “The newest and one of the hardest . fights of this kind, as you pointed out in a recent issue of the Nonpartisan Leader, is the effort being made in Washington now to obtain the repeal of the tax exemption provision on fed- eral farm loan bonds. If they can accomplish this, it will mean a heavy blow to us. > . “But we are fighting tooth and nail to defeat all this and I be- lieve we will succeed. If we don’t -it will be the biggest blow to the farmers of the country that they “have received in many years. The . farmers and the farmers’ or We are afraid to ask for any change- possible to limit" it still more. Con- . will be as long as we succeed. There ' in banking and money lending is being ° Federal Farm Loans and State Banks zations must take up the fight to see that the movement to wipe out ~ the farm loan banks does not succeed. “Just another word about your North Dakota rural credits. I believe they are organizing in the right way. I do.not believe that the farm loan associations scheme is a good one for _state institutions. The county ap- praiser and the county auditor should be the persons to administer the laws in each county. The obtaining of loans should be as simple as possible. To erect a complicated machinery such as is necessary in such a vast insti- tution as the federal land bank would be fatal to a state enterprise. “You can tell your farmer readers of North Dakota that I am for their rural credit system all the way. It will mean a lot to the state of North Dakota in getting prosperous farm- ers, better crops and more farms, and to the farmers in getting a better start toward independence and bigger pro- duction on their farms.” FARMERS ARE EXPECTED TO CHOOSE STATE BANK Mr. Quamme’s sanguine predictions for the rural credit department of the Bank of North Dakota bids fair to be exceeded, according to present in- dications. There is every prospect that many farmers will choose the state ‘bank rather than the federal land bank for loans. This probably will be due to the less delay through the state bank. North Dakota already has an organi- zation of appraisers who have been appraising land for the state school fund and who will be used for the work under the new state banking law. It will not be necessary for the farmers to set in motion such an un- wieldy mechanism as the farm loan - associations. The borrower will make . application for a loan in person. Under the federal land bank system, a borrower must be a member of a farm loan association. His applica- tion must be approved by the secre- tary-treasurer of such an organiza- tion, and his application and an ab- - stract of his land must be passed upon by the nearest federal land bank. The federal land bank, upon approving the loan, sends back the abstract with a note to be signed by the farmer. This note is then sent to Washington, and . after it is sifted through the. official channels there, a check is sent from Washington. If the secretary-treas- urer is efficient, and if he rushes the application and the note through with sufficient speed, the farmer will get his check within 30 ‘days. : However, in some sections the. sec- retary-treasurer of an association will neglect to hurry to the farmer with the note, probably waiting until the applicant is in town again. -This.may be weeks, and in the meantime the farmer is waiting for the money. Un- der the state system, the farmer will get his money as fast as his applica- tion and¢his securities can be exam- ined and passed upon. The biggest borrower, probably, and the one the state aims. primarily to reach, is the man who needs a lift at the beginning. There is every reason to believe that thee opening of the rural- credit 5 department of the Bank of North Dakota will mean an end of the high interest rates for mortgage loans in the state, and the obtaining of cheaper . money for the producer. S In this way, the new state banking law not.only will mean cheaper money- ‘to the farmer through the Bank of North Dakota, but cheaper money at other banks, since these banks, in or=:: - ‘der to:compete, will be forced to meet: ;l;;l:?w rate established by the state: