240 HUMAN FACTORS IN COTTON CULTURE 



living conditions of the cotton farmers of North Caro- 

 lina in 1916 and 1917, years in which they had received 

 high prices, says that in times of high cotton prices, 

 "the farmer soon falls victim to the hordes of agents 

 who radiate from the small towns and have just the 

 thing the farmer needs, usually at exorbitant prices." 

 Automobiles, nostrums, horse doctor books, enlarged 

 family portraits, expensive family Bibles, and large wall 

 maps of the state and the nation are among the many 

 things the farmer buys. "Because of lack of thrift and 

 his ignorance, he soon parts with his money, and the 

 essentials for the farm and the family are still lacking." 61 

 The student of the subject will agree with E. E. Miller 

 when he says: "No part of the country needs the dis- 

 cipline of systematic saving or a realization of the im- 

 portance of a little accumulation as does the rural 

 South," 2 and will be tempted to add that no section 

 has less opportunity to learn these principles as long 

 as its cash income, dependent on cotton, is subject to vio- 

 lent fluctuations. 



Yet another phase of family living purchased by the 

 cotton farmer remains to be discussed the vexatious 

 problem of credit. It is difficult to state how many grow- 

 ers run accounts at supply stores, commissaries, or with 

 landlords, but estimates previously cited run from 50 

 to 90 per cent. 



Studies made in the field, cited in the chapter on the 

 cotton system, seem to point to an interest charge on 

 short-time merchant credit of 20 to 25 per cent per 

 annum. If this figure is accepted as reasonable it is 



eo W. H. Swift, Child Welfare in North Carolina, National Child 

 Labor Commission, 1918, p. 170. ei Loc. cit. 

 62 Op. cit., p. 72. 



