The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1915-03-23
FARMERS TOO POOR
70 KEEP CHILDREN
MIG IN NORTHERN SECTION
IT, rUxAS OFFER TO GIVE
LITTLE ONES AWAY.
wofS Of FARMERS RECOUNTED

AC 3o American Farm Land COndi-
,n,s Distressing Situation Pre-
ai,s How Credit System Ruins.
nA1LAs, Texas.-W. S. Noble.
...retary of the Land League of Tex
told the federal commission on
az ,,,strial relations today that he had
NM nv. waek found two land tenants in
, ,r' Texas so poverty stricken that
'' w. a,ere Offering to give their chill
,on away. He testified at the hear
Wv ~ American farm land condi-
tons.
Noble said ne found these tenants
ooarch for what he considered a
IN M. a example of the poorer class
~ tenant farmers. Not believing
" tbom typical, he said, he had brought
u tn0 las. as a voluntary witness, l..
~ C Stewart a farmer, whose expert
l. was similar, he said, to some
e Oh 0o0 tenant families in the South
Dv, .t steward then took the witness
1 "oT Alongside sat his wife and
ga o;~ If his eight children, ranging
from frn three to twenty years old: Three
of the smallest were baretooted, their
faot showing sores from frost bite.
Efforts to Buy Farm.
Steward described his efforts for
twenty years to buy a farm, begin
ming in Arkansas and finally coming
~ Il't Texas. After his first years farm
mo he said. he sold his mule to get
l ltsonara of debt" Next year he bor-
owed a mule and came out SIS to
tho good" Then he bought a small
farm on six years time, but was fore
od IN give it up for lack of $40 to
meet payments at the end OF the nrst
After several years he got 5000
ahead. and bought an 85-acre farm IN
Arkansas. He did well, but two chill
dren died and their doctor bills cut
into his savings so that he gave up
fine farm, unable to meet the inter
est He told the commission that
one year he had lost money when
cotton was seven cents a pound, but
that he saved little the next year
when he received only four cents per
hound. He saved by reducing living
EXPENSES. He said sometimes his
wife got to town" only once in two
years. At times he had lived too far
from a school house for his Oldest
boy to attend. Then when he lived
near town later the boy was ashamed
to 20 on account of his clothing.
He said he never kept any track OF
the amount of such expenses, except
to live on as little as possible, buying
but one two-piece ready-made suit in
the last five years. When his profits
we're high, he said, these bills always
about equaled the profits. He said ne
had paid on credit from 81 to $1.25
per bushel for corn, which was sell
in for cash at rs cents bushel.
Several weeks ago his hogs, his
only remaining food supply, were
sold under foreclosure for debt.
Hard Life of Mrs. Steward.
Mrs. Steward, the mother of elev-
en- children, was questioned by Mrs.
j. Borden Hartman, member Of
the commission. In Arkansas, she
declared, she worked in the field ev-
cry year except one.
Her routine, she said, was to get
breakfast at 4 in the morning, work
IN the fields until nearly noon, then
return to the house to begin house
mold duties, and take one day out
OF week to do the washing. For
several years she made her husband 5
clothing, her own and her children 5.
MRS Hartman asked about farm ten
ant housing conditions.
Some houses are tolerably de-
cent replied the woman. Some are
not have carried water half a