The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1921-07-23
Burnside Notes.


visit last Sunday from Col. R. D.
Bowen of Paris, Texas, and Repre-
sentative H. Arthur Morgan; both
visitors are prominent and enthusiast
ic members of the association State
Farmers Union.
Mr.. and Mrs. j. F. Saxon had as
their guest this week the attractive
and vivacious Miss Clara Garnet
Cobb Of Geismar
Page Judge Workman: | want to
ask him when he is going to move
his domicile within walking distance
of his law Office in Donaldsonville?
Dr. and Mrs. J. T. Bringier who
spent last week in Monroe as the
guests Of their daughter, Mrs. Nc
Connell. have returned home. Miss
Trista is continuing her visit one
week longer.
Mrs. Geo. H. Chapman and daugh-
tiers, Misses Heloise and Dorothy,
Green last week.
c. V. Barrow and A NJ. Cooper,
telegraph operators of the second
and third trick" respectively, are
now occupying the Houmas Central
hotel building as residence for
themselves and families.
The licenses from autos in Assem-
sion yielded S2o2.53 for the first six
months Of 1921. The amount is
divided and credited equally to the
first and second road districts. How
many owners of automobiles in the
parish are delinquent
Charles Difatta, business man of
New Orleans, brother of Joe. better
runs the lunch stand near the rail
road depot, motored to Burnside in
$4,000 Packard this week TO visit his
old brother.
Captain Oneil J. Daigle has COM
pleted one year of service as master
and pilot of the steamer Virgie.
+ T. am neither a professional nor
commercial man. mechanic or farm
| er, but as an employee of the Miles
Planting Company for forty-two
years feel that I am justified in
. speaking on matters of agriculture
and wages from personal knowledge
gathered during these long and APP
prcciated years while on the payroll
| I cannot agree with the sugar and
. rice planters of today who are dis
cussing the advisability of paying
! their laborers wages as low as Is
cents per day, as was done before
the war. Are any of them paying
pre-war prices for mules, feed, fuel,
fertilizer, implements, taxes, insur-
ance, gasoline, railroad fares, ad-
missions to moving pictures and base
ball games? And their household
and living expenses are far from
being on a pre-war basis. So it is
with the laborers, they cannot buy a
spool of thread for cents; yard
| of blue denim for 10 cents; yard of
blue calico for 5 cents; a pair of
| overalls for 81; pair of working
shoes for $3.50; a pair of Douglas
| shoes and a Stetson hat at So each
! to wear on Sunday. Nor can they
buy ginger cake, nine inches long,
five inches wide and one inch thick,
together with one pound of cheese
for Is cents. With the exception
of sugar, rice, coffee, lard and a few
other necessities, everything that
goes to feed them and their families
is still above prices which prevailed
prior to 1913. The negro laborer
IS the only available asset that those
engaged in agricultural pursuits in
this section of the state have to op-
crate their farms, whether as owners
or tenants At the beginning of this
year after as sa9yefnIi s- oIltsS M ]
toxication of high prices for the pro-
ducts of the farms, a collapse fol-
lowed making it necessary to adjust
field wages to meet the changed con-
dlt1ons, and it was done. The price
of 81 day was fixed as a maximum
wage and it was accepted by the la
borers without a grumble I cannot
describe the vast improvement in the
labor situation today as compared
with 1919 and 1920. Then the labor
shortage, and more particularly the
shortage of labor, was most acute.
Big pay, short hours, the utter I'M
reliability and ineficiency of the |
hands, was at its peak The passing
of the amateur" rice planter, the |
financial cyclone that hit every bus
mess had the very salutary effect of |
tanning every one, none more SO than |
the field laborers. The reduction in |
wages has improved their efficiency |
and morale wonderfully, hence bet |
ter conditions prevail today. May
the employers Of labor in field and |
factory make sufficient profits to pre- |
Guide the necessity of reducing the |
wages Of their employees to a point so |
low that they and their families can
not Herewith be fed and clad