The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1920-06-16
The Farmer and the Banker.

/ a decade, | see coming to our shore in
increasing quantities food and feed
stuffs with which the American farm
err will be forced to compete, in such
quantities as we never thought or be-
lieved possible. =
And the bankers part in this prob
lem OF the farmer1
Banking has gone from one OK
treme to the other In olden days Il
was a cold austere, dignihed profess
sion. Now il is strickly a commercial
dollars and cents proposition handled
as is other business. But conditions
are changing and many bankers are
changing with il and .he commercial
prompting sees many of them spend
ing more days on the farm than they
do behind counters, associating with
farmers on farms, discussing live
stock and crops rotation, balanced ra-
ton, the value of fertilizer and lime,
and the clovers, building soil and in
and introducing system. They are Civ
creasing production, reducing cost
ing the benefit of trained business
minds to farming problems, posting
themselves by reading agricultural
books and papers, associating and CO.
operating with County Agents and
specialists.
Agriculture Necessary to Banks.
What has agriculture to do with
banking? Everything. II is the Capital
and Surplus and Undivided Profits and
total assets of the banking business.
| Without agriculture there would be
no banking and no need of banking
Eliminate agriculture and the world
is ended.
81 made this statement some time
] past in an address before a company
of New England bankers and the
statement was promptly challenged.
Look at our factories and maniac
turtles, what have we to do with
| agriculture, we are strictly and es-
! sentially a manufacturing section, we
know nothing of tilling the soil But
had they stopped to think of the
/ dependent the factory hands were for
source of their raw material, and how
their full dinner pals on agriculture?
Evidently not.
West KY, Bankers Views.
But you say that is an extreme
illustration, others see il in its true
| light. A few months past in discuss
IlR llfC tODdIOO SlludtlOn III liC QdIk
patch | was talking to a West Ken
lucky banker who disclaimed any in
terest in farming in his section. Why
| he said If | had to depend on agri-
culture my bank would have to go out
, from the big tobacco companies. The
American Tobacco, the American
! Snuff, Ligget and Myers and such
,,,.1I.oae 1f IA1ta
me, my merchants and business men
are my best accounts; my farmer ac-
counts are practically nil, | have little
, of that business
II asked this man if the farmer of
his section did not produce tobacco
what would the big tobacco companies
do towards carry an account with him.
He had never thought of it in that way
before.
Interviews With Chicago Banker.
rs that an extreme illustration?
Another, Mr.. f. f. Miller in his little
book, tells of an interview with
Chicago banker, trying to interest him
in agriculture and the banker replied
that he was not interested in agri-
culture. My institution said he is
strictly city bank doing business
with and catering to city trade. |
have no farmer accounts and do no
business with farmers When asked
what accounts carried probably the
best balance he replied that it was the
international Harvester Co., and yet
he had no interest in agriculture and
was not interested in farmers.
II have stated repeatedly and am
not inclined to Withdraw the state
ment that the bankers need to be en-
lightened as to the farmers view point
that they need to think more seriously
of their relation to agriculture.