Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-11-06
Ebert Hubbard
Writes on fW~V6(
Texas Siftings
ToSay That heLoneStar
State Is Prosperous Is
Putting 1t Pianissimo; 1t
Is Microby With Money. -
Bv EBERT HUBBARD
Copyright. 1914 by international News servic.

HAVE lust completed a three
weeks tour of Texas. I stop
ped in twenty-one towns and
cities. dispensing the oratorical ca
loric. under the kindly guidance of
the ad clubs.
To say that Texas is prosperous
is putting it pianissimo. Texas is
microby with money.
The buying power of the people
is revealed by the business done in
the department stores. A pioneer
people buy things that are coarse
and strong and always the intent
is to make the dollar go as far as
that famous dollar which George
Washington once threw across the
Potomac.
In the Texas department stores
YOU will find the latest fashions
modes from Paris and styles from
London. Texas has passed out OF
the pioneer stage.
The thing that has caused the
yelling waters Of prosperity to f1ow
is the demand for cotton. Cotton
is king. Cotton clothes the world.
Texas produces one-third of the
cotton crop Of the United States.
Cotton is raised in Texas at a less
cost per bale than anywhere else in
the world.
In most states you hear of cot
ton patches" but in Texas there
are cotton fields-felds seemingly
limited only by the horizon.
Source of It's Prosperity.
The discovery that cotton viii
grow on the prairie is a new one.
Texas. in this year of grace. 1919, is
producing four million bales Of cot
ton, This cotton, including the va
rious products of cotton seed, Is
worth three hundred million dol
lars And yet cotton is only one of
nine great products that Texas pro-
duces.
However, only half of the people
are engaged in farming in Texas.
And about one-half OF these raise
cotton. The result when figured UP
would show that in some districts
whole families will receive in cash
a thousand dollars for each mem
Der Of the family.
At one place of thousand in
habitants I counted over two hun
bred teams that had come to town
with loads of cotton. A wagon load
is anywhere from one bale to five:
so each farmer went back home
with from sixty to three hundred
dollars in cash, or its equivalent.
The tendency of the cotton farm
er is toward the small farm, simply
because labor conditions are such
that the farmer has to do the work
himself, and with his own imme-
date family. AS for hiring a great
number of men and systematizing
the business. this is getting more
and more Of a problem. The help
ers are not to be had A big fam
lily in Texas is an asset.
Cotton pickers get a dollar and a
quarter a hundred pounds. When
they were hired by the day thew
picked a hundred pounds of cotton
a day. And so the idea Of piece
work came in, and a dollar and
quarter was fixed as a fair rate for
picking hundred pounds of cot
ton.
The result has been that piece
work has quickened the process.
saw girls of twelve that would nick
hundred pounds a day, and here
in Texas in the country all the
children work. And working out of
doors, with plenty to eat. In a sa-
luxurious climate, they are healthy
and well and strong - brown
bronzed, happy. They can sleep all
right, and they certainly eat.
Some expert women pickers do
their 500 pounds a day. and saw
a few men who could pick 400