Maladjustments in Land Use 



25 



systems of farming have become firmly established in 

 this region. Cotton tends to be the money crop wher- 

 ever climatic conditions permit its production, although 

 locally tobacco and, in a few instances, other products 

 replace it. To a considerable extent even subsistence 

 crops are crowded out by these main cash products. 



The tenant-credit-cash crop system of agriculture has 

 some very imfavorable results. The farm-tenant in- 

 come is too small to permit of more than a bare sub- 

 sistence to the family and the continuous cropping and 

 poor methods of cultivation promote soil erosion and 

 the depletion of soil fertility. This sj-stem has pre- 

 cluded the development of an energetic, progressive 

 class of landowning farmers, and has kept the standard 

 of living at a low level. It has tended to keep schooling 

 brief and intermittent and the percent of illiteracy 

 high — particularly among Negroes. It has encouraged 

 landlords and merchants to exploit ignorant and help- 

 less debtors and has rendered imstable both the eco- 

 nomic and social structure of the community. The 

 ravages of the boll weevil together with the low price 

 of cotton during the last several years have combined 

 to make more difficult the plight of both tenant and 

 owner. Even Government regulation of crop acreage 

 has not solved the matter. Such conditions are fea- 

 tures not only of the submarginal areas but of the 

 whole cotton and tobacco region, although they are 

 most serious in the poorer districts. 



Standard of Living and Diet. — Over large areas 80 

 percent or more of the farm families report an average 

 annual income of less than $1,000. Indeed, a consid- 

 erable proportion receives less than $600 annually. 

 The effectiveness of these incomes is considerably 

 diminished by charges of 20- and 25-percent interest 

 for supplies purchased on credit from local stores. In 

 good years whatever surplus is realized is soon spent 

 for unnecessary articles vended by traveling salesmen 

 and agents. 



Forest products have long provided a supplementary 

 income in many of the more hilly localities, but this 

 has been a dwindling source of revenue as more and 

 more of the slopes are cleared to compensate for the 

 fields ruined by erosion. In the more severelj' eroded 

 sections incomes are so low that the}' barely afford the 

 means of livelihood. Some farmers are so poor that 

 they do not own even a cow or a pig. 



Houses in the submarginal areas rellect the low 

 income conditions rather strikingly. In western Ten- 

 nessee, for example, homes in the eroded districts are 

 built of rough lumber, unpaintcd, and badly arranged 

 and constructed. None have running water or sewage 

 disposal, many are not screened, and all are cheaply 

 and meagerly furnished. 



In lieu of barns there are only a few sheds and lean- 

 tos. So poor are living conditions in the poorer parts 



of the Piedmont section of this region that large 

 numbers of farmers, both black and white, have emi- 

 grated to the North or to the nearby mill cities. 



The diet of the cotton farmer is usually deficient in 

 certain essentials, even during prosperous periods. 

 During hard times the diet of tenant families, particu- 

 larly, tends to be restricted to the "tlu-ee M's" (meal, 

 meat, and molasses). This, even when not deficient 

 in amount, is apparently conducive to pellagra. In 

 addition, many families on poorer lands undoubtedly 

 do not have enough food of whatever quality. 



Tax Delin<iuency. — In many of the submarginal areas 

 in this region tax delinquency is high and has accumu- 

 lated over periods of 4 to 6 years. In 4 sample districts 

 the rate of delinquency was respectively 50, 56, 70, 

 and 100 percent. In many of the depleted and eroded 

 areas the land is no longer capable of contributing a 

 living for the tenant family and an income to the 

 landlord, and of earning taxes besides. As a conse- 

 quence, tax receipts have seriously declined and 

 promise to shrink further in the future. 



Many of the county governments are financially in 

 the doldrums and some of them are so hard hit as to be 

 unable to maintain pubUc services and social institu- 

 tions. In those States wluch he partially within this 

 region, the counties are generally unable to meet their 

 pubhc-relief problems, although most of them are 

 making earnest attempts to do so. 



Many famihes in the hilly cotton and tobacco region 

 are receiving pubUc rehef funds, as is the case in other 

 areas of "problem" farming. The Federal Emergency 

 Rehef Administration montlily maps, however, show 

 that in this region the proportion of the population on 

 relief is not exceptionally high. This appears to be 

 due to the fact that while people here need relief as 

 badly as those in any other area, they are so accustomed 

 to a hopeless plight and a low living standard that they 

 do not demand rehef except in du'e extremity. Then, 

 too, the vexatious system of store credit in vogue 

 doubtless cares for many cases. 



^4 Poor Economic Structure. — The poorer farmers on 

 eroded and depleted land live most of the time on 

 credit. P^arm owners who borrow on notes from the 

 banks pay high interest rates. During 1921 these 

 rates ranged from 6.2 percent in North Carolina to 

 8.94 in Georgia. Cash and share tenants obtain credit 

 from their landlords or indirectly through their land- 

 lords from merchants and banks. Croppers depend 

 upon landlords or upon "store credit." In 1923 only 

 12 percent of all cotton producers could finance their 

 farming program without borrowing, and over 50 

 percent required credit from sjjring plowing until the 

 time when the crop was marketed. 



This wholesale dependence upon credit not only 

 demorahzes the debtor but sometimes the whole eco- 



