The Washington times., 1915-04-21

loan. Is asked to fill in the sheet.
showing what he is planting for the
The sheet shows the expense and the
income of the average farm of this size
II devoted entirely to cotton farming;
and In contrast with, this, the expense
and returnssif 1t Is handled on the lines
Of more general farming.
All this Is pointed out to Mr.. Farmer
when he comes IN to the bank to talk
about loan After he has had chance
to familiarize himself with the PROPOSE
ton, he is asked to make out his own
schedule. In this he shows his total
acreage; number and kind Of livestock.
poultry, ETC. area In vegetable garden,
IN pasture, In sweet potatoes, cowpeas,
etc; amount of fodder shocked, and
finally, the acreage in cotton
The model scheme, as worked out for
the Texas Bankers Association COM
mittee on agriculture for the guidance
of farmers and bankers, looks to put
farm In cotton. and to dividing the rest
among pasturage, garden. and food
crops The results Of the two plans Of
managins a farm of this size are
planting cotton exclusively and buyins
food and stock feel, the farmer gets
ssoi less than when operating under
the general farming plan. This as
pound. with cotton at 10 cents, the
differs nee In favor Of the general farm
Ing plan Is $l3S. Not Until the price OF
tottoh gets up to l5 cents does the al
for the farmer as the farm which is
half in cotton and half in food and
feed crops.
Adoption of this rate sheet plan Is
ture to be Absolutely necessary to cor
treatment OF their farm customers in
the past. The bankers have got into
the habit OF basing credits on tho cot
ton acreage exclusively. The man with
forty acres OF cotton was supposed to
have twice as much bankable credit as
the man with twenty acres; yet. ac-
cordng to the calculations OF the Texas
Bankers Association committee, tho
man with twenty acres in cotton and
twenty in food and feed crops actually
was producing more value. and would
be very much better off at the end Of
his year.
Favored BY U. S. Department.
Reform in this regard must come, it
Is pointed out, from the bankers, who
must be led to realize that the general
farming scheme is safer as We'll as gen
orally more profitable. bad cotton
year, either for yield or price, may
wreck the whole scheme of the farmer
who produces nothing but cotton;
whereas the farmer who raises his food,
meat, milk, etc. will have a good deal
to his credit even If cotton is a partial
failure; and he will not need so much
money because he will have so much
less to buy.
The rate sheet would have to be
varied according to the farming
methods, crops, etc, of different sec
tons but the Texas Bankers Assocla-
tion committee. after working out their
sheet for Texas, report that the plan is
perfectly practicable in every section,
and that 1t would make both farming
and banking vastly more safe than they
are now. r. l.. Bennett, of Paris, Tex,
writes the Department of Agriculture.
detailing the whole plan. and urging it's
bankers to adopt the rate sheet gener-
ally. He believes the Federal Reserve
Board could and would give its appro-
val to the plan, and that thus backed
Its adoption would be rapid. The de-
partment Is strongly disposed to back
the Texas people to the limit.