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. 
Tt 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 te finance the 
patron’s operations, so that the patron might meet all his expenses 
during 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. ; 
With agriculture as the “one basis of prosperity in the com- 
munity and cotton growing an important branch of that agriculture, 
it is to be expected that the banking interests will take a construc- 
