be set up "in the most appropriate places due to the unnatural nature of the land, its proximity to the roads of communication and transportation facilities to the centers of consumption, for which 'the necessary facilities of the railways would be opportunely managed, and around the Agronomic Stations, as a means of taking advantage of the progressive impulse of the high agricultural education and the suggestive example of the experimental farms." Under an Act of January the 19th 1912 a rural credit section was established within the Bank of the Republic and the formation of local rural credit banks was authorized. By the law of January 11, 1912, the effects of a provision of 1906 that authorized the Executive to import cereal seeds for resale at cost price, free of customs duties, were extended. In 1912 the government purchased control of the National Mortgage Bank "and proceeded to liberalize the bank’s loan policies. More attention was given to small loans and loans on rural property." Ownership of small farms was encouraged, with the bank purchasing large tracts of land and selling them to settlers in parcels usually 60 acres or less, and purchasers of such parcels were granted a tax exemption of 10 years. According to a 1956 study, since the time the Mortgage Bank was converted from a private to a government-owned and –operated status, "it has been active, though by no means monopolistic, in mortgage financing both in urban and rural areas." A State Insurance Bank was opened in 1912 which assumed a prominent role in the fields of fire and workmen’s compensation. As noted by one study, Batlle sought to centralize insurance services "through a state monopoly to lower rates and increase public confidence." Under the State Insurance Bank, insurance was provided for risks such as death, labor accidents, fires, and hail. The State Insurance Bank was established on 11 January 1912, and started operations in Fire insurance on 1 March, in workmen’s compensation 15 March, and in hail, human life, pedigreed-animal life, marine, glass, and automobile civic responsibility insurance later that year. In 1914 it initiated a campign to promote old age provision among the poorer classes. As noted by one study, this type of insurance, known as Seguro popular, “was offered without medical examination and without rigid requirements for payment of premium. The poor man was enabled ‘to substitute an insurance policy for a savings