The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1949-09-02

playing her version OF water ten
pool prior to the national tennis me
ness and mechanical know-how
than ever before. And Onezime
can GO to the plant. or the e
finery, or the drilling rig.
Pushing him towards the
cities are the gadgets that have
transformed the rice belt since
1910 - chiefly the combine es-
pecially adapted TO rice: the
rice buggy hat traverses the
mushy fields behind n tractor.
and the drier that can make the
wettest grain ready for the mill
in any weather.
Together. these devices han
die rice quickly and in bulk =
hundreds of hand operations in
Guiding a whole cycle Of sack
ing the grain are eliminated.
For some processes, labor needs
are down nine-tenths.
Operators will affirm now
that two rice farmers fully
mechanical. can engage one
hired mar between them and
handle 500 acres.
Pulling Onezime into town
is the lure of high cash wages
more money in a year than
his father may actually have
seen in a lifetime.
Average Pay High
of Lake Charles the average
family take-home pay has been
computed at 1915 a month. That
kind of money talks on the
coast where laughter and good
gumbo additionally have been
more plentiful than cash.
1t is no accident that in 1910
in all Louisiana there was one
person employed in agriculture
for every two in non-agricul-
tural jobs. but by le48 there
was only one on the land for
every three at the factory. desk
or counter. The l948 peak nom
agricultural employment-600,-
000-was two per cent higher
than the wartime maximum.
Onezime, coming to town.
doesn't necessarily find a bed
of roses. In the first place, he
has competition for the jobs.
With the advent of the big new
industries, another migration
into the Acadian coast occurred.
Many of the plants brought
with them most of their skilled
personne1-refinery men. for
example. who had learned their
trade in Oklahoma or New Jer-
sey or Venezuela.
But Louisianians got in on
the ground floor during the
construction phase-some COM
muted daily from more than
100 miles away and many
stayed as operating employees.
Then. some of the newcomers
left after the war. BY and large,
Louisianians are filling the
ranks. A personnel director
who admits he suffers through
the long hot Louisiana summers
himself, said the climate and
inconsistencies drove some of the
late arrivals away and his COM
pany now is replacing DELHI
erately wherever possible. The
companies standards, physical
and educational, are high, bu.
many Louisiana Acadians are
meeting them.
Housing Short
But Onezime's problems don't
end at the employment office.
Housing in the industrial areas,
despite steady building and the
creation of whole new towns.
is still desperately short. Great
er Lake Charles, at $4,000. has
about twice its pre-war popu-
lation. Traffic jams are usual.
The melting pot is churning
and some of the individual in
gradients rub together not al
ways comfortably.
Some Lake Charles residents.
proud that it has been an An
glo-American town for a long
time. profess irritation at the
French now talked on the
streets and even used in some
commercials over Lake Charles
radio stations. Some old settlers
think newcomer representatives