FARM OWNERSHIP AND TENANCY IN TEXAS. 



33 



Even at that, more than twice as much time was spent in the share- 

 tenant stage as in the owner-operator stage. Operators had been in 

 the owner-operator stage on an average longer than they had been 

 in any other stage. 



TENURE STAGES OF PRESENT TENURE GROUPS. 



From the data presented in Table 18, showing the use of the dif- 

 ferent tenure stages by operators in each of the present tenure 

 groups, it will be noted that owners and share tenants alike have made 

 greater use of the farm-hand stage than they have of the cropper 

 stage. This aversion to the cropper stage seems to be general in the 

 black land ; it is probably due to class discrimination against crop- 

 pers, and to the close and sometimes disagreeable supervision given to 

 them by the landlords. 88 



It is to be hoped that these conditions can be remedied, for the 

 cropper stage offers the inexperienced young man who has little capi- 

 tal a chance to get experience as an operator under the supervision 

 of a successful farmer. It offers the further advantage of yielding 

 a return over wages which is usually more than enough to cover the 

 risk assumed by the new operator in the business. 



It will be noted that 43.1 per cent of all croppers, as compared with 

 only 12.8 per cent of all owners, have tried other occupations. This 

 is evidence of the fact, noted elsewhere, that the unsuccessful oper- 

 ators have not stuck to farming as closely as have the more success- 

 ful (see p. 46). 



Table 18.- — Relative importance of different tenure and occupational stages in 

 tenure history of operators, classified by present tenure of operators. 



Numl i-r of 

 opera i 



• nt 

 tenure. 



Percentage distribution of operators by stages passed through, with average years in 



each stage. 



Other 



Uions. 



P.d, Yr. 



. . . 43. I 6. 9 

 24.5 6.4 



Farm 

 hand. 



P.cl. Yrs. P et. 



72.:i T.i 100. 



4.9 32.7 



3.9 21.1 



Cropper. 



Yrs. 

 6. 5 

 4.4 



2.4 



Tenant. 



P.Ct. Yrs. 



49. 2 5. 1 



100.0 11. 5 



82. 7 8. 6 



Owner 

 additional. 



P.ct. 



0) 

 3.6 

 30.3 



Yrs. 



2.6 

 5.0 



Owner 

 operator. 



/'. rl. 



I I. 'I 

 SS. 2 



Yrs. 



4.6 

 13.5 



1 Nine CTOPpera haV€ been - . . • I < i i I i < n i : 1 1 I'm- an avonw "'* "'■- .vi'ars. 



■ii|>i"s will Illustrate the popular prejudice again i the cropper etage : One 



man wh< to begin as farmers advised them to go to Dallas and 



mply because they were unable •" renl land except as croppers, bis 



remark being, " if my boys have to farm like ' Diggers' i don'l wanl them to be farmers." 



poung man who had been a cropper on his mother In law's place 



for t red enough to buy farming equipmenl He asked his mother-in 



law for s share tenant contract, and failing to gel ii from her be Bpenl two weeks search 



bag for a farm for rent to a share tenanl (this was in L918), bul failed to And s satisfac- 



place H< qull farming and began work as a barber, aylng thai If he couldn'l be 



ropper be wouldn't fai m at all 



