16 BULLETIN" 742, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



the lint is impaired and its selling value is much reduced. The Egyp- 

 tian-cotton growers of the Salt River Valley have had to pay their 

 pickers at least twice as much per pound of seed cotton as the growers 

 of big-boiled Upland cottons in the Imperial Valley, 



Notwithstanding these natural disadvantages, the problem of pick- 

 ing the crop of the Salt River Valley has - been met successf ully. 

 The work has been paid at rates which allowed the pickers to make 

 satisfactory wages. Although the industry has developed rapidly, 

 no serious shortage of labor has yet been experienced. This has been 

 due to the fact that the growers, through an active organization, have 

 attacked the problem in a businesslike way. In the first place, many 

 of the farmers had only small acreages and they and their families 

 were able to do most of the picking. This distribution of the acre- 

 age among small farmers is very desirable and should be encouraged. 

 There remained, however, a large acreage for which- pickers had to 

 be procured, in addition to the home supply of labor. For this pur- 

 pose the floating population of the valley was drawn upon and In- 

 dians were brought in from near-by reservations. 



There are two tribes of Indians in southern Arizona which include 

 a large number of industrious and capable workers. The Pimas, who 

 occupy a reservation adjoining the Salt River project, have taken up 

 cotton growing to some' extent on their own lands and have also been 

 employed as cotton pickers by the white settlers. The Papagos 

 occupy a large tract of land lying south of the Pima Reservation. 

 There are several thousands of these Indians, and, as they lead a 

 rather nomadic existence because of the uncertainty of the desert 

 water supply, they find a season of cotton picking a congenial method 

 of employment and have taken to it readily. In recent years several 

 hundred of them have been engaged in the work throughout the pick- 

 ing season, with very satisfactory results to themselves and to the 

 cotton growers. The rapid expansion of the industry in the last two 

 3 r ears has necessitated tapping the sources of labor supply still far- 

 ther afield. In 1917 numerous white cotton pickers from Texas and 

 other States in the main cotton belt came to the Salt River Valley, 

 and several hundred laborers were brought in from Mexico. Even 

 more strenuous efforts were required to procure a sufficient number 

 of pickers for the greatly increased acreage of 1918. 



The present indications are that if the labor problem can be satis- 

 factorily solved, the future of the industry is assured, at least so long 

 as prices remain anywhere near their present level. While the cost 

 of picking is high, the other costs of production are not excessive, 

 and if the yields are good the value of the crop is sufficiently great 

 to carry the picking cost and leave a satisfactory margin of profit to 

 the grower. 



