268 HUMAN FACTORS IN COTTON CULTURE 



$1,700. Said he did not keep check on what he purchased. 

 Did not know how much he owed till time came for him to 

 pay up. Groceries consisted of meal, flour, meat, some canned 

 goods, syrup. Lived very well but not elegantly. Did not 

 dress any better than when living in Arkansas. Clothing 

 bill for the entire family at that time amounted to about 

 $75 a year. Ten-dollar suit lasted him five years. Usually 

 wore overalls and duck trousers. 



Second year on this farm he made 57 bales. Store ac- 

 count totaled $1,250. Cotton cheaper. Made 87 bales the 

 third year, selling at from 6$ to 11^. Store account $750. 

 At the end of the three years worse off than at the be- 

 ginning. In 1913 he worked 90 acres for the same man and 

 made only six bales of cotton. Finished $700 in debt. Se- 

 cured debt with his live stock and implements. Moved to 

 Mulberry Bottom. Made 27 bales from 100 acres. Went 

 deeper in debt. Paid for corn and cotton picking, but still 

 owes $600 grocery bill. Moved to Fannin County. Living 

 today in a house which he has rented for two weeks. Has 

 no prospect for getting a farm this year. He has lived in 

 not less than 20 different houses, produced at least 450 bales 

 of cotton, several thousand bushels of corn, made two at- 

 tempts to purchase a home, is the father of eight living 

 children, is in debt $700 and practically is without means 

 of sustenance. 



School advantages for the children have not been good. 

 His oldest son spent parts of three years in school. At times 

 he had lived too far from the schoolhouse for his oldest boy 

 to attend. Then when he lived near town later on the boy 

 was ashamed to go on account of his clothing. His oldest son 

 started work on the farm at the age of seven. That is the 

 "corn dropping" age, he said. The next step in farm employ- 

 ment for the child, he told the commission, was to chop 

 cotton. 



"Always I wanted to do as best I could," Mr. Steward 

 said. "I never had a roaming disposition. I was dissatisfied 



