FCS Financial: One Hundred Years July 2016 | Page 24

Chapter Two
Getting Underway

Even though tractors and threshing machines had been invented
years before, most farms were still being worked primarily by
horses, mules, and manpower. Eager to purchase those laborsaving
inventions, farmers now had access to the capital they needed to
purchase the equipment that would improve their production and
profits.
The first task in implementing the new law providing
production credit was the creation in each district of a Production
Credit Association. Each district’s board of directors met to adopt
organization papers, review policies and programs, and select officers.
As associations were chartered, two schools of thought existed as to
their size. On one side of the issue, keeping the associations small
would keep them in close relationships with their members. They
even discussed the possibility of staffing the offices with part-time
and even unpaid personnel. On the other hand, larger territories
would likely mean greater chances for profitability, if only by
nature of the volume of loans they could make, and the sooner the
associations were profitable, the sooner the initial capital could be
repaid and control could shift from the government to the local level.
Larger territories would also make it easier for the associations to
attract and retain qualified employees, provide competitive interest
rates, and create adequate capital and reserves. Ultimately, the goal
was simply to carve out territories large enough for sound operations
without overlapping from one association to another.
Field representatives went out from Washington, D.C., to assist
corporation officials in each district, holding meetings to explain the
associations and what they could do for the farmers. No matter where
they went, organizers discovered the disappointing reality that very

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Selected References