Maladjustments in Land Use 



23 



years, and notwithstanding the cstahlishniont of schools 

 under home missionary and piiilanthropic agencies in 

 many locahties, tlie schooHiig provided the children of 

 families in the "problem" districts is far from equal to 

 that offered in other regions. 



Although churches are highly esteemed, many remote 

 vallcj's have no religious organizations or services, and 

 others have only churches of ancient sects which else- 

 where have long since passed out of existence. Preach- 

 ers of whatever denomination are almost invariably 

 uneducated men who earn their living through fanning 

 or some other secular occupation. Many families in 

 tiie submarginal areas are quite out of touch with any 

 church, and comparatively small proportions of the 

 whole population are enlisted in the church member- 

 ship. Sunday schools are rarely found outside the 

 laiger towns. Preaching services and other gathermgs 

 of a religious or semireligious nature, form almost the 

 only organized means of social contact, there being 

 almost no social organizations other than churches. 

 Informal social contacts are limited to those of family 

 life and the visiting of neighbors. 



In these areas public relief is a serious probleni. In 

 four counties, more than half the population was receiv- 

 ing relief in May 1934, and in some months this has 

 been true in an even larger number of counties. Indeed, 

 the whole Southern Highland region is one of a very 

 few sections of the country where the Federal Emer- 

 gency Relief Adimnistration has had to extend public 

 relief to large proportions of the total population (see 

 niiips of public relief). 



Border Areas. — In southern Illinois and Indiana, 

 southeastern Ohio, and western Kentucky are extensive 

 areas which, while not strictly a part of this region physi- 

 cally, do exhibit manj" problems in common with it. 



These border districts are nearer to the prosperous 

 agricultural areas of the Middle West, and aie more 

 accessible to city markets. Thej' are lower in eleva- 

 tion and less rugged in relief, and ajjproach to them is, 

 therefore, not diffioult. The forest and mineral re- 

 sources have been thoroughly exploited, and manj^ of 

 the more hilly farms have been impoverished by long 

 cultivation. Buildings are falling into disrejiair, local 

 markets have dwindled with the passing of lumbering, 

 quan-ying, and other local industries, and tax delin- 

 (|uency is becoming a serious jjrobleni. 



Kmigration has been severe, and has seriouslj' im- 

 jjaired many local communities. Subventions for such 

 localities iiave made heavy drains on State funds. For 

 example, of the total amount expendetl for public 

 services in Vinton County, Ohio, more than half was 

 provided by the State. All througli the border dis- 

 tricts the pul)iic relief load has been heavy. In many 

 instances this has resulted from derelict city families 

 lleemg the depression and temporarily occupying tiie 



many abandoned farmsteads scattered through these 

 hilly areas. This recent movement has brought no 

 additional taxable wealth to the areas in question, but 

 it has greatly augmented school, road, and relief loads. 



Southeastern Hilly Cotton and Tobacco Region 



This region extends a thousand miles southwest- 

 ward from the Potomac to the bluffs of the lower 

 Mississippi. Included in it are such diverse sections as 

 the old j)lantation district of Virginia, the Piedmont 

 Lfpland, the clay and sand hills of the upper Atlantic 

 Coastal Plain, the Black Belt of Alabama and Missis- 

 sippi, and the rolling uplands of the (lulf Coastal 

 Plain. In spite of this phj'sical diversity, the region 

 shows a definite unity in land use and in attendant 

 land use problems. 



Much of the land in this region is rolling or hilly in 

 character, and therefore subject to many of the prob- 

 lems which are prevalent in the Southern Highlands. 

 "Problem" farming is almost as extensive and probably 

 constitutes a more urgent situation here than in the 

 Southern Plighlands. Consequentlj^, this region con- 

 tains in proportion to its area, more farms recommended 

 for elimination than do the latter. For these reasons, it 

 might possibly be grouped with the eastern highland 

 regions. 



On the other hand, the physical relief is much less, 

 and the proportion of land suitable for arable faiining 

 much greater than in the highlands. Indeed, this 

 region might well be classified with the better agricul- 

 tural group of regions. It differs from these, however, 

 in its manifestation of a prevalence of "problem" 

 farming on submarginal land. Because of these over- 

 lapping characteristics, tliis region should probably be 

 treated as a unique case. 



These so-called "problem" farms are very small in 

 size and contain an average of only IS acres in har- 

 vested crops, and have an average in real-estate value 

 of only $507. The proportion of croppers and tenants, 

 both black and white, among farmers is very high. 

 This suggests that most of the farming is carried on 

 without reserve resources. By the same token, fann 

 efforts are n\ainly directed toward the proiluctiun of 

 immediate-money crops such as cotton ami tobacco. 

 When market prices are low, therefore, the region 

 suffers general misfortune. Consecpiently, the condi- 

 tion of both the land and its cultivators is critical 

 over large areas. 



Soil Erosion- With the exception of parts of tlie 

 Black Belt and other snudl local areas, the surface of 

 the southeastern hilly cotton and tobacco region varies 

 from moderately to steeply rolling. In places the 

 topography is nuukedly hilly, ])articularly in the 

 localities near the larger streams. A large proportion 

 of the total land area has been cleared and devoted to 



