152 HUMAN FACTORS IN COTTON CULTURE 



fifty dollars on his next year's crop. If the tenant al- 

 ready stands restless under the weight of failure, he may 

 be driven to attempt to cancel his debt by moving out 

 of the reach of the landlord or merchant. He may carry 

 the debt to a new landlord who agrees to charge it to 

 the unmade crop. Sometimes landlords wishing to keep 

 good workers who have failed through no fault of their 

 own wipe out the balance of debt and begin the year 

 anew. At other times book credits seem so to keep them- 

 selves that the cotton worker, unlearned at accounts, 

 never quite gets out of debt and remains bound to the 

 land and a hard taskmaster. Many a harassed, hard- 

 working Negro family must have gained its first release 

 from debt in the migrations of 191621. 



It is in December that the tenant in the Cotton Belt 

 "takes a mind to move." The small owners stay with 

 their places from season to season. But the last of De- 

 cember is for the cropper and tenant a time for deals. 

 Over the neighborhood the tenant rides, holding con- 

 ferences with this and that landlord about a place. A 

 favorite meeting place is the small town on Saturday. 

 Landlords looking for good tenants and tenants looking 

 for good landlords hold conversations in country stores, 

 at crossroads, in backyards, and on front porches 

 wherever they happen to meet. The landlord's questions 

 are likely to deal with the crop made under the renter's 

 former landlord, his reasons for leaving, the number in 

 the family able to work, the acreage to be planted in 

 cotton. The tenant wants to know the kind of house on 

 the farm and the details of supplies to be furnished. The 

 deal may be closed verbally or a lease may be signed. If 

 the renter is satisfied that he can better himself by mov- 

 ing, he agrees to terms and announces to the family on 



