The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1904-10-21
SCARCITY OF LABOR.
Much Trouble Is Experienced In

| much Trouble Is Experienced In
Gathering the Cotton Crop.
The iact that the negroes are leav-
ing the farms year after year In
greater numbers to seek more profit.
able and easier employment, or to get
into the towns where they can loaf
and live as we'll as when they worked
hard all day, Is aggravated just now
by the fact that the long continued
dry weather Is causing cotton to open
with unprecedented rapidity. The
scarcity Of labor was perhaps never so
intensely and painfully felt than 1T
is today, according to rerorts which
reach here from various parts Of the
low country as we'll as from the red
hills Of the Piedmont section of the
State. Cotton pickers are getting
about the best pay they have enjoyed
since the negroes were emancipated.
The Charleston Post says:
Railroad Commissioner b. L. Caugh-
man, who has had varied experience
as a practical farmer and who has re-
Gently observed conditions in trips to
various parts of>the State State, said:
There is no doubt but that the
dry weather Is causing the cotton to
open with great rapi6itY, and there is
also no doubt about the wisdom OF
having il gathered without delay, for
two good reasons: II the cotton is
allowed to remain in the field il it
does not fall cut Of its own weight it
loses heavily by the oil drying out,
and what's Of greater Importance,
therc, Is always the grave danger OF
one of these fall gales coming along
and blowing i. OUT Of the bolls on to
the ground where it becomes stained
or is lost altogether by careless pickers
neglecting to gather 1t. a gale like
the one that started up here few
days ago would have resulted In a loss
OF over $50, 900 to South Carolina cot
ton farmers had it kept up day or
Sc, as is generally IS custom.
~ don't know what's gotten into
the negroes lately. They are leaving
the farms rapid y, coming to town or
going to what they call public works.
But those who remain on the farm
are more @triliing than negroes ever
were before. Since the abliShment
OF rural free delivery the negro farm
ers are getting their newspapers more
general IN some sections than the
white farmers are getting theirs.
The prevailing price for cotton
picking. is so per cent. higher today
than it was last year or in several
years. The standard price of 40 cents
a hundred has been advanced to as
and So cents, and 1 understand th5O
n some sections Of the low country at
high as 81 hundred is being paid.
Near the cities that is causing the
men and women servants, particular
ly the cooks, to desert the households
and go to the fields.
Another thing that is hurrying
the farmers to get their cotton picked
Is tllat they have been frightened into
the belief that the price will go down
from 10 cents to 9 and maybe cents.
But so far rs labor conditions are con-
cerned the high price increases the
trouble. For this reason: When as
sured that the price will probably be
10 cents or more the country mer-
chant will cheerfully stake the negro
cropper or renter, whereas when the
price is low the merchant requires
the white farmer to stand for the
renter or cropper.
But this heavier price for cotton,
picking is not resulting in any more
cotton being picked, as sad as that
fact Is. 1t Is the negro's nature to
work only for an immediate living,
and the more pay he gets the less
work he is going to do. There we're
four negro excursions into Columbia
there last week in as many days. This
brought several Thousand negroes
there, many OF whom would other
wise have been in the field. Thirty
to forty more bales OF cotton would
have been picked but for those excur-
siorS." X