THE COTTON CULTURE COMPLEX 305 



And presently says he: "Hit's true, 

 That Clisby's head is level; 

 Thar's one thing farmers all must do, 

 To keep themselves from goin' tew 

 Bankruptcy and the devil. 



"More corn, more corn, must plant less ground 

 And mustn't eat what's boughten; 

 Next year they'll do it, reasonin's sound; 

 And cotton'll fetch 'bout a dollar a pound 

 Tharfore I'll plant all cotton." 



Thus has arisen an attitude of suspicion that is the very 

 opposite of the cooperation needed to stabilize the cotton 

 acreage. 



Cotton impinges in yet another manner upon the cul- 

 ture patterns of the South. The seasonal and cyclical 

 nature of the money income not only serves to give the 

 cotton grower a shifting standard of living, but also 

 serves to prevent him from acquiring habits of thrift. 

 It has been shown that the money income from cotton 

 has ranged from $35 to $200 a bale and from $10 to $60 

 an acre. Without an income which can be counted upon, 

 it is almost impossible for a family to plan and live 

 according to a budget. The consumption of goods by the 

 family thus tends to run in cycles corresponding to those 

 of cotton prices rather than to be equalized over a period 

 of years. The cotton farmer is too much given to alternate 

 periods of splurging and deprivation. 



A steady and regular flow of income, even if low, al- 

 lows for saving and for planning consumption by the use 

 of the family budget. It is thus that families of industrial 

 wage-earners of moderate income have accepted the prac- 

 tice of installment buying. By saving over a period of 



