274 HUMAN FACTORS IN COTTON CULTURE 



as I shall call them, rented a tract of land containing one 

 hundred and fifty acres. The owner of the land became inter- 

 ested in them and told them that he would like to see them 

 own the land they tilled. They replied that it would be foolish 

 for them to undertake to buy the land as it was all they 

 could do to pay the rent. The owner said: 



"I am rather surprised that you do pay it. You are not 

 half farming the land and you are not to blame. Why should 

 you make my land rich? Next year I may get another tenant 

 or may sell the land, and your labors would be lost. If you 

 buy the land, you can afford to bring it up and can more 

 than double its producing power." 



The Smith boys were timid; they had no faith in them- 

 selves and doubted the good faith of their landlord. But he 

 insisted and practically forced them to buy the land on 

 eight years' time. Soon a change commenced to come over 

 the face of the land. One saw ditches and fence corners 

 cleared up, terraces run here and there. The crops were 

 rotating, orchards sprang up, outhouses were white-washed, 

 and in five years one looked on a new land. 



The change in the Smith boys was greater than the change 

 in the land. When they came to town, there was a spring 

 in their steps and a light in their eyes never seen before. 

 They worked hard all the week, and often the women worked 

 with them. But on Sunday, when they put on their best and 

 went out to church, they looked like "Lords of the Soil." 



They met every payment except one and that year there 

 was a total crop failure on account of the drought, and the 

 man who sold them the land simply said, "Forget this year's 

 payment and make it nine years instead of eight." I will 

 make no comments upon this story, but let the facts speak 

 for themselves. 15 



15 Former Governor T. W. Bickett, North Carolina, in Raleigh 

 News and Observer, Oct. 2, 1921. 



