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IN OUR VALLEY ESLACO needs street paving and W needs it now, is the verdict of business men of that thriving little city as reported in a series of interviews in the Weslaco News, Weslaco is asking only what most other towns in the Valley already have much of, more in proportion probably than can be found in most of the older portions of Texas, or even of other states. Weslaco is still a very young town. Its assessable valuations are just beginning to reach paving proportions. It's only a question there of starting the agitation, and in a few months Weslaco's streets will be paved. Visitors to the Valley marvel at the modernity of our towns. They see even villages with many blocks of street paving. Where else could one find such a progressive citizenship? The government report on the condition of the cotton crop a few days ago gave the Texas condition as 70. In the face of reports of drouth over large portions of the cotton growing sections of the state this percentage would seem to be excessive. Up to a few days ago, for instance, a large section in the vicinity of San Antonio had been virtually without rain for 11 months. In the mid-coast section, a great cotton growing section, traveling men report that cotton is hardly more than six inches high, and much of it is in bloom, foreshadowing poor production. In the Valley, of course, cotton is flourishing as to condition, with indications at this time at least as good a crop as that of last year. Many of the cotton growing districts of West Texas have been reported in a bad way. Matamoros is rapidly becoming a most important cotton center. Last year it required four gins to handle the crop in the Matamoros territory, and another is being erected at this time by a Mexico City man, giving Matamoros five cotton gins. The land of the Valley on the Mexican side is equally as fertile as that on the American side. There are private irrigation systems here and there, but in the main cotton farming is conducted by what we term "dry farming.' Matamoros territory cotton finds its way to Vera Cruz, and from there to foreign ports. It is not permitted to enter the United States because of the pink boll worm. And there is no pink boll worm in that district at this time. The pest is being successfully confined to the territory of its original, around Torreon, hundreds of miles away. Banking activity continues to form a large part of the news in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. At La Feria, the La Feria State Bank has become the First National Bank. And its capital goes up to $50,000. The Capitol State Bank at Edinburg has opened for business, its first day's deposits running to $118,584.16. The First National Bank at Raymondville expects to open for business about June 15. And the Texas Bank & Trust Company of Brewnsville expects to begin business on or about July 1, giving Brownsville its. fourth bank. Watch the resources of the Valley banks go to $20,000,000 along about the first of September. When men like Captain James A. Baker, head of the law firm of Baker, Potts, Parker & Garyood, and Clarence Malone of the Guardian Trust Company, all of Houston, become financially interested in Brownsville real estate, it is a credit to both Brownsville and the Valley as a whole. With R. B. Creager and Homer L. Fitch of Brownsville have formed the Houston & Brownsville Development Company, with a capital stock of $200,000, taking over Mr. Fitch's undivided half interest in the Stillman properties. They announce the new company will work in close harmony with Fitch, Lomax & Henson, owners of the properties. Fourth of July celebrations will be held this year at San Benito, at McAllen, at Corpus Christi. Fourth of July falls this year on Satuiday.
