DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE


total. It cannot be because of the fact that some of the
units of the Farm Credit Administration still have Gov-
ernment capital, because that capital is intact. As a mat-
ter of fact, no Government capital in any unit of the Farm
Credit Administration is impaired, and much of it has
been repaid to the Federal Government. Enemies of the
system cannot claim that cooperative units lend Govern-
ment money or that they make Government guaranteed
loans, because our funds come mainly from the sale of
bonds and debentures which are not guaranteed by the
Government either as to principal or interest. They are
backed by the notes and mortgages of the thousands of
farmers who borrow from these cooperative organiza-
tions plus the strength of the cooperative credit units
themselves.
 It would seem, therefore, that those who are trying
to make it uncomfortable for the cooperative credit units
are attacking them because they want the FCA units to
charge a higher rate of interest so that they themselves
can do the same.
 So if farmers and ranchers want cooperative credit to
continue to serve with specialized forms of loans fitted
to their particular needs, it will be necessary for them
to come to its support in an active manner.
 Since the units were set up the farmers have used
them extensively, and this use to a marked degree has
resulted in their ownership of stock. As of June 30, 1954
farmers and farmers' cooperatives in the United States
owned $187 milhon in the capital stock of the national
farm loan associations, production credit associations,
and banks for cooperatives. Farmers had an investment
of $76 million in the capital stock of national farm loan
associations and $93 million in that of the production
credit associations. Farmers' cooperatives had invested
$18 million in the capital stock of the banks for co-
operatives.
 As of this same period, 2,050 farmers' cooperatives