The Sentinel=record., 1915-03-19
DON'T OBJECT ID REFORMS
Never lnterfered With the Affairs Of His Tenants Except Once and Then to Stop Shakespeare Smith" From Approving Landlords Ideas.

Dallas, Texas. March 1S.--J. Tom Pagitt, owner of 12,000 acres of Texas land, described some tenant problems on his estate from the land owners point of view today before the federal commission on industrial relations at it's American land question hearing here. The Pagitt place in Coleman county he said, has 22 tenant fami- lies on about 2,000 acres, the remain der being leased to cattlemen.
 He said his agent prefers to get tenants with large families of chil. dren because the country is so sparse. ly settled that the women and chiL dren form almost the only available source of extra labor supply in cotton picking season. The women among his tenants. ne said, usually chop, hoe and help with picking cotton. Chil- dren begin work in the fields at about s years of age. A tenant. he said. would have difficulty hiring farm hands because he could not as a rule pay their wages until after the crop was sold.
 Describing housing conditions. Mir. lPagitt said the cheapest tenant house on his place has two rooms and cost $225 while the largest has four rooms costing $iO0. None are screened, he said
 Don't the tenants want them screened?" asked Chairman Frank r. Walsh of the commission.
 "They never have asked for screens" Pagitt replied "If screens were put in they probably would break them out in 24 hours"
 MT. Pagitt described some acts of violence on his place in 1912, when some of his tenants joined so-called socialist party, while others, including his manager, joined an anti-socialist party. He said the trouble was due entirely to heat of a political cam- paign and died out completely after election.
 Would you object to a tenant who believed in certain principles of gov ernment or reform, advocating them while living on your place. asked MT. Walsh.
 No" replied MT. Pagitt, "but would not like tenant who stirred up trouble by talking at the store and trying to make other men dislike the landlord"
 MT. Pagitt said also he would ob- ject to a tenant taking time when he tn ho r in a fn advocating reforms.
 What hours should a tenant spend at work?" asked Commissioner Walsh
 Well" replied Mir. Pagitt, in crop season some of them go to work at in the morning, some at 6. and they generally work until dark"
 MT. Pagitt said he had never tried to stop any reform discussion about his place except to have his manager suggest to Shakespeare smith," who in 1912 had been writing articles fa- voring Mir Pagitt's stand on labor troubles of that year, to stop, because such discussion did no good. Shake speare," he said, farmed place bought from the Pagitt estate.
 Two witnesses today testified that they believed landlords are not re- sponsible for hardslips in the present land tenant system. These witnesses were E. J. Giddings, an attorney of Oklahoma City, and Prof. Charles E. Austin of the University of Texas. MT. Giddings discussed usury, saying that in Oklahoma farmers owe banks and other money lenders $600O0,000. and that about $4O,000,0 900 of this is loaned at usurious rates. He esti- mated that usurious rates ranged from 20 to 200 per cent He sug- gested federal action as one effective remedy to reduce usury. Describing conditions in the former Indian Terri. tory section of Oklahoma as ex- tremely bad for tenant farmers, he said;
 This is no due primarily to tyranny by landlords nor to lack of thrift in tenants, but to the inane, in- sipid and senseless policy of the fed. eral government in handling Indian lands"
 He suggested that the commission recommend that the government sell these Indian lands, investing and