Bisbee daily review., 1908-11-10

IOiSu, anu ECAAaAu until t4C piCHiuE
season Is over.
It is along in the late summer that
the troubles of the average employer
of negro labor in the towns begin.
You all will have to get 'nother
colored lady fer ter cook fer you" is
the common announcement that
greets many a troubled housewife
when the cotton-picking season opens.
With pretended surprise the house
wife perhaps sternly takes the col
ored dame to task for quitting her.
You know very well, Mary Ann.
that you promised to remain with me !;
now why are you going to leave2
may be asked the cook.
Abs a-goin ter de cotton patcn--
that's what All is."swiil be the reply
"Ah heered ter day dat dey's payin
pickers a dollar hundred pounds
over on de Crawford plantation. Abs
needing de money" and with toss on
her kinky lead Mary Ann proceeds ~
pick up her things and light out fun
the Crawford plantation. In few weeks
she will probably return to town with
a handsome sum of money. ranging
cotton patch
But for the reckless improvidence
of the average negro cotton-picker,
they would be able to get on the road
to permanent prosperity in few
years from the money which they
make at that labor Much of the money
quickly goes for the purchase OF
gaudy finery. Both women nd men.
particularly the younger set in the
towns, spend their contemplating
money right and left for clothes as
soon as il Is made. They are high
ivers- as long as the money lasts.
They are great inritators of the we'll
TODD white people for whom they have
worked. The trade of the negroes
who make their money by cottOn-pick
ing is big thing for the white store
Keeper in the South. They do not
hoard their money, but quickly put il
in circulation
The work of picking cotton is not
performed alone by negro men and
women, but by negro children as well
, Whole families of them are to be
seen at work in the fields. Negro
children are put to work picking cot
ton when six to eight years old, OF
as soon as they aaye the strength to
walk between the rows and carry q
sack in which to place the pocked
cotton.
IL is not uncommon for family o
, man and wife and as many as ten
| children to spend a whole season
picking cotton. A family of this num-
Der can easily make from SIS to So
day in wages The more expeTi
pickers average from 400 to 50i
pounds of cotton per day. and cfildrer
each pick from 100 TO 300 pounds {
| day. The rate of wages varies IN dit
| erent localities. If the pickers are
scarce as high as S1.1O per 1gt
| pounds is paid. but the average rat
is about seventy-five cents per hun
dred pounds.
There are many pleasant features
of the cotton-picking season which
makes the work attractive for tn,
average negro. II is a time of socia
enjoyments among the field hands q
dances and other entertainments upo1
the plantations at night when tn
days labor is over and of stories ant
gossip by the older pickers. Upol
some of the plantations the picker
are provided with comfortable home
in the negro quarter" in which to liv
while the work is in progress, an;
upon others the pickers live in tents
There is usually spirited competition
among certain expert pickers to Sc
who shall make the greatest recort
for the season The planters encouI
age this as it means the more rapi
picking Of the staple product. Som
planters offer liberal bonuses, paiC
either weekly or daily, to the perso
picking the greatest number of pounds
1t was discovered long ago that tn
cottOn-picking season is the best tim
TO carry on religious revivals anon
. he negroes. In almost every rura
. community these revivaIs are now Il
forth at night in some convenien
progress. The negro preachers hol
church or improyised arbor. made @
the limbs and foliage of trees Il /
a diversion for the negroes and man
. of them are worked up to the figaes
pitch of religious frenzy. The cond
tons all go to make them happy 1
! mind. Their pockets are well file
with money and they have plenty I
eat. The preachers know that 1t /
a good time to pull the churches GU
of debt and make up whatever aIrear
there may be in their own salaries
The average negro is liberal churc
giver when ne is making money picl
ing cotton So it has long been tn
practice to hold these religious NEE
ings while the membership Of Tn
church is prosperous.
II T~
ritory that the negro cotton picker
10 be seen in all of his native pi,
turesqueness. This is one of tn
largest interior cotton markets in tn
South When the picking seaso
opens the negroes flock into the field
from Taylor, Austin and other town
by the hundreds. Whole families ar
B carried into the country In lumberiri
] farm wagons. The exodus of the n
! groes from the towns and cities leave
1 great numbers of white families witt
I out servants. Cooks, housemaids, var
! men, stable boys and all desert the
| positions to go 10 the cotton patch
as they call it. Some OF them nay r
turn before the season is over, but
Is seldom that one of them can be 4
/ duced TO return to their former jo
until all af the money that was mad
picking cotton is spent
The merchants Of the cotton-grol
ing region are glad to give credit
negroes whom they know to be Il
ldustrioHs. These bills are settle
when the pickers are paid for pickir
cotton and usually a lot more goot
are sold for cash at the time of Il
annual settlements. The extrav
| gances Of the negroes run in all sor