The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1940-02-17
" Forum Presents Noted Educator On Annual Tour
Louisiana Farmers
Union Aids Tenants

NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 10
Mattresses, beds and chairs,
the slim furnishings of share
cropper shacks, piled on wag-
ons and trucks, poorly-dressed,
shiVerihg farm men ard their famf-
lies, rested their eyes for last time
last week on the land they cult
waited. These people produced
Americas surplus crop OF cotton,
yet have hardly enough clothes to
protect their thin bodies from
winters cold
January is traditional moving
month for evicted farm families. But
this year about 100 families in
Louisiana were not evicted from
their homes. What saved these
families was the Louisiana Farmers
Union. And the lesson here is one
for the entire South 10 learn-that
through the union comes justice and
security.
Throughout the Delta. in Louisi-
ana, two distinct factors are driving
cotton tenants and sharecroppcrs
off OF the land, into the day labor
or unemployed class. The first is IT,
creasing INFLAMMATION, the intro
duetion of tractors and riding tools
The second is a change to other
agricultural pursuits requiring less
man labor. such as livestock and
clover.
In some sections OF the South,
small farmers and tenants have
learned that they could not afford
to sit by and let the organized MI
nority of big landlords control their
destiny. so they have organized to
fight their own battles and protect
their rights.
Demand Investigation
The Louisiana Farmers Union.
n I'm uNdhiudl tNlo at III GOuNuduN
building. has waged long and sue
cessful campaign against rent in
creases and evictons. Mass meetings
OF protest were held through the
length and breadth OF the state as
far back as July, attended by land
lords and tenants.
Special efforts were concentrated
N Point Coupee, St, Landry and
Avoyelles Parishes, where the land
owners had come together in az
association to plan and force rent
increases by evicting and blacklist
ing tenants who refused to accept
the higher contracts.
Landlord demands were that
tenants on the fourth be upped to
the third cash rents be raised 81 10
So an acre, and tenants already on
the third were to supply their own
fence materials and do additional
labor in 1910.
Striking examples OF this threat
ycning situation were reported in
detail to Secretary OF Agriculture
Henry Wallace and brought about
an investigation by the Department
Of Agriculture and the Withholding
OF AAA payments. in accordance
with the regulations OF the AAA,
from those landlords who had
changed their leasing and cropping
arrangements or reduced the num-
her, of tenants in order to receive
for themselves a larger part Of the
AAA payment to the farm.
Union committees called on indi-
vidual landowners an succeeded in
persuading several OF them to can
eel eviction notices and higher con-
tracts. But the attempt to hold a
joint meeting with the landlord
association, to solve tenancy prob
lens with mutual effort was ig-
nored.
Threaten Arson
Some OF the most powerful plant
ers said they would burn down the
churches where Union meetings
were held and threatened the lives
Of union men.
we know the landlords and COM
owners do not like the
said Fordon McIntire, sec
rotary Of the Union, because they
want 10 control with a free hand.
But we won't be bluffed or intimi-
dated The Union will not stop until
we've reached all Of the dirt farm
ers and helped them achieve eco
nomic security"