The Donaldsonville chief., 1914-02-28
LABOR LEAVING CANE BELT.

LnUUtl Lln8!NU unIsI OAIss
Large Number Of Negro Field Hands
Seeking Employment in Cotton
Fields of North Louisiana-Move-
ment Generally Beneficial.
It is reported from Shreveport, that
considerable amount of negro Ia
Dor is moving into that section from
the sugar district OF south Louisi-
ana. Some increased acreage is
being planted in cotton there this
year because the farmers know bet
ter how to deal with the boil WeeVll
and more labor is therefore needed.
Little difficulty, it is said, is beng
encountered in getting all this ad-
ditiOnal labor needed from the south
ern portion Of the state, Ascension
and IberVille parishes icing special
Iy mentioned. It is announced fur
ther that ''the negroes are going to
leave the sugar Lands in droves.'
We doubt this prediction. There
will be a slight decrease in cane
acreage this year, and this may re-
lieVe some negro labor on the SUI
gar plantations, but most of 'the
hands will find employment nearer
home in other lines of industry. An
interparish movement of negroes is
always going on as agricultural con-
tlitions change in different parts of
the state. When the boil weevil
made it's first appearance in north
Louisiana it drove a number of ne
groes from that section to the cen
trail and southern parishes, and many
abandoned cotton for cane. Today
the tide is somewhat in the other
| direction; but as the wages on sugar
| plantations are generally higher than
those on cotton places the negro
| movement northward is not very
large. The previous decade showed
an increase Of 1000 negroes in the
seven parishes around Shreveport,
and two of them actually lost in
population. During the same period
the increase in the negro population
of the seven parishes around Don
aldsonvil1e anda Plaquemine, whence
the immigrant laborers to Gaddo
are said to have coma, was 8718. In
the seven parishes of northeast Lou
| isiana there was an actual decrease
in the number of negroes during the
decade, due to the overflows and
the visit of the boil weevil, while
in the corresponding southwestern
parishes the increase was 1913.
Southern Louisiana has become
whittier, with a larger percentage Of
white population, not because ne
gro labor is abandoning it, but be-
cause more whites are moving in.
In Mississippi the boil Weevil has
had a similar effect, that Of thin.
ming out negro population in some
of the southern counties, those who
leave moving to the Delta, which
continues to swallow up a steadily
increasing and larger proportion OF
| the negroes of this entire section.
Very little significance attaches to
this movement to Caddo, and it is
recognized as generally beneficial
in it's influence. Many negroes
come south from the neighboring
cotton parishes every year to help
in taking off the cane crop, bat re-
turn home after the season is over,
and the same is relatively true OF
the rice crop. If the staple products
of Louisiana can be so cultivated
that they will follow in rapid sue
cession, one after the other, and the
same labor can thus be used for har-
vesting all Of them, it would greatly
simplify our agricultural problems
The strawberry crop has been a
Godsend in this direction, maturing
when there is little other work to
do On the farm.
AS the Times-Democrat has noted
one of the most encouraging agricul'
tural conditions in the southwest
everywhere reported abundant and
satisfactory This, however, cannot
be attributed to the decay Of the
sugar industry, but is due rather tC
the fact that railroad and other
similar activities arc not quite as
marked as of former years. AS a
consequence number Of laborers
have been released for work on the
farms. This should, under norma.
conditions, mean an increase in the
crops. It will be generally welcomed
as in marked contrast with many
recent years, when labor was scarce
because of the amount taken fol-
outside work, this scarceness Otter
affecting the acreage planted, the
careful cultivation of the crops anG
/ the WELD -Timas-Damnnraf