COMMUNITY PRODUCTION OF DURANGO COTTON. ' 15 



agement as important to follow during the growing season in order 

 to provide the association with marketable cotton. 



THE BANKER AND STABILIZATION. 



The stabilization of the long-staple cotton industry should enlist 

 the support of the banker, because cotton on a standardized basis, 

 with one variety grown intensively, means the best there is financially 

 in the cotton industry for the community. Durango cotton grown 

 from pure seed provides an exceptionally good basis for crop loans; 

 such cotton will command a good premium in the market and is thus 

 first-class collateral. 



Good business demands the elimination of the precarious elements 

 from agricultural practices as far as possible. Sentiment for the 

 general production of large yields and for the proper handling of a 

 superior class of cotton can be fostered largely by the banker. Fur- 

 thermore, the growing of cotton of known high quality does away 

 with the risk attending an industry based on cotton of an unknown 

 or inferior quality. To the grower the raising of cotton of unknown 

 or inferior quality represents waste ; to the banker, unnecessary risk. 

 It is of economic interest to the banker to understand the nature and 

 importance of pure planting seed; also to know where it is obtain- 

 able and that his patrons are taking the precaution of planting the 

 best seed in order to provide his bank with reliable collateral. 



It is of no less importance that the banker take a constructive inter- 

 est in intensive culture, in order to further the production of maxi- 

 mum quantity and quality. A man growing but half a bale of cotton 

 per acre may be a safe patron because of his innate honesty, but his 

 business is worth little to the bank. Intelligent discussion of the mat- 

 ters of variety, good planting seed, and intensive culture by the 

 banker financing his crop will go far to make the farmer not only a 

 prosperous but a profitable patron. 



It is good business for the banker to encourage the stabilization 

 of the cotton industry, since a bale of high-quality cotton to the acre 

 means good deposits, while a half bale per acre of any sort of cot- 

 ton means the bare payment of loans. 



Stabilization would make it possible for the banker to finance the 

 patron's operations, so that the patron might meet all his expenses 

 dining the growing season by credit extended by the bank. The 

 present practice is to permit the grower to incur indebtedness with 

 various merchants, the idea being that the grocer, the implement 

 man, and the Lumberman should carry their share of the temporary 



debt. 



Willi agriculture as the one basis of prosperity in the com- 

 munity and cotton growing an important branch of that agriculture, 

 it i- to be expected that the banking interests will take a construe- 



