“The point is, I haven’t got any property,” says Novak. “That’s why I want the loan – so I can get the property!”

Al scratches his head. “I see,” says Al. “No collateral – – that makes things difficult.”

“I’m a good farmer, Mister Stephenson,” says Novak. “Well, even during the war, I kept my hand in. Used to spend my spare time down in those little islands, grading truck gardens, so my outfit could have fresh tomatoes and green corn, and all that. And before the war, I was a sharecropper, like my father before me. And now I – I feel like I’d like to have a piece of my own to work.”

“You like to grow things, eh?” says Al.

“Yes, sir,” says Novak. “With the food shortage all over the world, it seems to me that farming’s about the most important work there is! I mean – well, don’t you think so, Mister Stephenson?”

Al pauses. “Yes,” he says.

“You see, Mister Stephenson,” says Novak, “I don’t feel that this is asking the bank for a handout. I feel it’s my right.”

In This Episode:

• Frederic March as Al Stephenson
• Dean White as Novak

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