218 HUMAN FACTORS IN COTTON CULTURE 



other people live are as likely to be biased and impres- 

 sionistic as opinions as to how they should live. Observ- 

 ers of living conditions among any group, unless checked 

 by scientific measurements, are likely to have behind their 

 reports an implied conception of what is right and fitting 

 in the matter of living standards for certain classes and 

 races. We have seen evidences of this in the review of 

 opinions just passed. But the foregoing opinions on how 

 the cotton farmer lives cannot be dismissed as without 

 value. In spite of conflicting sources and viewpoints, the 

 observations possess a remarkable unanimity. The joint 

 report of the Industrial Conference Board and the United 

 States Chamber of Commerce on The Condition of Agri- 

 culture in the United States published in 1927, fur- 

 nishes a brief summary of the opinions stated: "The 

 section which depends on cotton presents the most un- 

 satisfactory aspects. The income of the cotton farmer is 

 on the average very small and the status of these farm- 

 ers makes most of the South a dark spot in the agricul- 

 tural picture." 



A sampling of opinions from varying sources, such as 

 has been attempted in the foregoing, reaches the conclu- 

 sion that cotton is a cheap crop, produced by cheap labor. 

 And poor folks have poor ways. "No one crop," said 

 Henry Grady, "will make a people prosperous. . . . 

 Whenever the greed for a money crop unbalances the 

 wisdom of husbandry, that money crop is a curse." 

 "Cotton," writes a country editor in picturesque phrases, 

 "is something to exchange for sowbelly and molasses, 

 some flour and a little coffee, for cotton hose, cotton 

 dresses, and cotton shirts. You can't build consolidated 



20 P. 72. 



