Evening star., 1938-08-30
COTTON GROWERS
ASSA|L LOAN RATE
Planters Furnish Houses to
Hands Kept Idle by Cut
in Acreage.
III III = Announces a Ne.p Losr Price on n
BY the Associated Press.

Oh. MA11f1EWS, .. u, Aug. SU.-
Farmers throughout this rich area of
broad cotton plantations figured to-
day that the new cotton loan rate
would cost them money and that many
Of them were already having a hard
time taking care of farm hands that
acreage reduction had left with moth
ing to do.
They took the view that the 8.3 cents
a pound basic loan rate. and the other |
loans surrounding that scale would
become the price at which cotton
would be pegged for the season. They
said this was a price at which they
would lose money.
And, along with this, some said they
were paying taxes on houses which
they were supplying rent free to work.
ers for whom they cannot supply cot
ton lands under the acreage reduc-
ton program.
st. Matthews is in Calhoun County
is perhaps, typical Of the big-scale
cotton farms Of the South. which lie in
the rolling uplands that rise just above
the pine barrens Of the coastal plains.
1t is country Of large plantations
Farther North, in the sleeper up
lands, the farms are much smaller.
Hold Ancestral Lands.
Many generations of planters have
lived In Calhoun County Some fam
lilies still hold lands that their ances-
tors settled upon long before the
American Revolution.
Along Flea Bite Creek and above
-Four Holes Swamp cotton lands
stretch mile after mile, the foliage
luxuriant, the bottom limbs a lather
of white. The plants stand waist
high. But the tops are green, without
fruit. The boil weevil got that.
Il used to plant thousand acres
in cotton" said one planter. This
year have 400. used to run Is
plows. I had is this year, and that
was too many"
What am to do with those hands
can't use. can't throw them out
OF the houses they are living in.
Many OF them have been living there
all their lives were born there.
and let them live there. Some of
them have jobs on Federal projects"
Can't Let Them Die.
| He rubbed his chin reflectively.
Just last week there were three
babies born on the place. The men
came to me and said their wives were
about to die. that the midwife refused
to come until she got some money in
advance. had to pay it for them.
You can't let them die for lack of at
tention.
There are lots of expenses that
are hard to figure. have 240 Negroes
on my place. In fact, II out of every
hundred persons in the county are
Negroes. We have always made it a
practice on our place to give every
Negro worker three acres Of land that
he could plant rent free. Some YOU
have to get out of Jail. Some need a
doctor. Some need food. clothes. Most
OF thm wind up the year with about
$50 on the books against them.
"One section Of the Presidents re-
port on Southern economic conditions
l don't agree with 1t says farms are
getting smaller In the South and
speaks Of that As bad sign. think
1t is a good one. There are four steps
that these people move through. First.
they are a wage hand. Then they
share-crop. They have nothing but
their work. The landowner supplies
work animals and furnishes food and
clothes. house and land for a share of
the crop.
Then Becomes Renter.
"A share-cropper has a few good
years, say, and gets enough money
to buy his work stock and furnish his
own food and rations He becomes a
renter, pays a fixed sum each year
for the house and land, gets nil that
ne makes on the land. II he prospers,
he buys himself little farm. That
Is the fourth step in his evolution.
Il think the fact that there are
more small farms now means that
more persons have pulled themselves
up by their bootstraps and bought
land.
THE race problem? We don't have
any trouble here And not all of our
Negroes who went North during the
migration that set in 20 years ago
have stayed there"
He smiled reflectively.
Back about "a or IS years ago, |
had boy share-cropping for me-he
and his mother. He was long and tall
and black, stood up straight, must
have been the descendant Of an
African chieftain.
Left His Home.
Cotton was selling for 40 cents a
pound. He got his together and went
out and sold it. One day, he came
into the ONCE here and said:
Boss. here's the money
Il counted it.
Slim said, it's not all here,
You're about $500 short"
'Yassuh.' he said. 'yassuh. That
comes out Of my part. Don't you see
no change in me. boss?'
He opened his mouth and did.
All Of his fine, natural teeth were gone
and he had gold plate.
AAcie IIle $ouU, DOSS. ne SAID.
He went to France in the war. He |
came back. Once he walked In and
said:
Boss, I jest amt got no mind for
farming no more. went to France
and seed things never knowed could |
be. is going to New Yawk.' He did.
"A year or so ago I was busy and
gaunt Negro with bony face walked
IN and said: