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Abstract
This paper reviews the establishment and funding of the W. I. Myers
Professorship of Agricultural Finance and the activities and accomplishments of early
chair holders. Because considerable time has passed since the formation of the Chair,
this record will undoubtedly be incomplete in unknown ways.
William I. Myers (1891-1976) was born and reared on a dairy and tobacco farm in
Chemung County, New York. He received his Ph. D. from Cornell and was appointed to
the faculty in 1918. In 1920 he was the first person ever appointed full professor of
agricultural finance. In 1932, during the depth of the depression, Myers was asked by
Henry Morgenthau to prepare recommendations for a legislative program to solve the
agricultural finance problem. His ideas were approved by president-elect Roosevelt who
asked him to come to Washington to assist with development of the Farm Credit
Administration. In 1933, Myers was appointed Governor of the Farm Credit
Administration, succeeding original Governor Henry Morgenthau, when Morgenthau was
appointed Secretary of the Treasury. As Governor of FCA he was the principal architect
and top administrator during the revitalization, reorganization and expansion of what
beacame the Farm Credit System. In 1938, he returned to Cornell as head of the
Department of Agricultural Economics, and he later served as Dean of the College of
Agriculture from 1943 to 19592.