68 HUMAN FACTORS IN COTTON CULTURE 



These figures have varying interpretations. The great 

 increase of tenancy in Texas and Oklahoma is accom- 

 panied by the introduction of cotton culture but lacks 

 altogether the historical explanation of the plantation. 

 On the other hand, it is due to the peculiar development 

 of the states from another capitalistic form of land utili- 

 zation. Not the break-up of plantations but the decadence 

 of cattle ranches accounts for the increasing tenancy in 

 this new area. Speculative methods of acquiring land 

 made it possible for settlers to secure large tracts. On 

 the change from a ranching economy the owners let par- 

 cels of these farms to immigrants for the cultivation of 

 cotton. As a result, Oklahoma within the comparatively 

 short time of thirty-five years has increased her tenancy 

 rate from 0.7 to 58 per cent. 



On the other hand, in plantation states an increase in 

 the percentage of tenancy is likely to be an indication 

 that Negro wage hands are rising into cropping and 

 share renting. The decrease in percentage of tenancy in 

 Georgia from 1920-1925 is not to be taken as represent- 

 ing the rise of any group into land ownership. On the 

 contrary, it is due to the migration of tenants from the 

 plantation areas. While it has played a part, it is im- 

 possible at our present state of knowledge to know to 

 what extent increasing tenancy in the South represents 

 investment buying of land, adding of field to field in the 

 creation of new plantations. 



THE PLANTATION TODAY 



That the cotton plantation is a real factor in the pres- 

 ent cotton system is well known. As already shown, the 



