THE SPIRIT OF DAN BROCK By Arup N. Garson | Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 | Clara Frodahl & Nils Garson Page | HOME | |
| Page 6 bulk station purchases. It seemed after a few months as if to be in debt was to be in style. A banker's ability was guaged by his eagerness in granting loans. If he did not show a trace of Dan Brock in him he was not considered fit for his job. He was out of line with the times. Most bankers therefore quickly conformed. Many of the retired farmers who had seen booms collapse in previous years uttered notes of warning. The bitter lessons of post-Civil War days still haunted their memories. But their Jeremiads were hooted down. We were on a new plane. Prosperity was with us to stay. As the maelstrom of inflation widened and gathered strength, even most of the skeptics caught the spirit, especially when they saw a farm they had sold for nominal prices sell twice in a year for more than double the amount they had received. Some of them therefore climbed on the golden band wagon and bought farms, investing all available cash as down payment, and mortgaged the land for the balance. The loans and discounts accounts of banks rose to new highs, and bank totals trebled. When the first agricultural slump came in 1920-21, the farmers who had mortgaged their original farms to buy more land could not understand at first that a correctional period had arrived. Some saw their mistake in time and immediately took their licking, selling their surplus land for what it would bring, and reducing operations to pre-war levels. They were the ones that shook off the spirit of Dan Brock and went back to the road of the pioneer and ultimate solvency. The post-war Dan Brock however saw only one way out: borrow more money to meet expenses. A sub-conscious feeling told him the day of reckoning was at hand, but the spirit of old Dan told him if he could borrow enough, the day of reckoning could be forever put off, and that was by far the most pleasant thought. So borrow he did. If one banker refused, there would always be a competitor who would come to the rescue (?), and when the loan with the latter fell due, Dan went to the next town and borrowed there. By the time that loan matured, the interest on the mortgage was due, plus taxes, and no money to meet either. The cream checks were eaten up with orders given various creditors, and the hog checks did not even pay the lumber bill for the new hog house. The post-war Dan Brock did like his forbear, consolidated his various debts |