8 BULLETIN 896, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
ation of the farm, paying the landlord a cash rent or a specified 
amount of cotton. (See Table V.) 
Approximately 40 per cent of the men interviewed were white 
owners. The second largest group, comprising 25 per cent of the 
records, was tnat of the white tenants. These two groups taken 
together constitute 65 per cent of the 842 records. ; 
Wage and cropper cotton.—A large proportion of the cotton crop is 
produced by two classes of labor, namely, wage hands and croppers. 
Both of these classes of labor are under the direct supervision of the 
farm owner or-farm operator. Wage hands receive their compen- 
sation for the labor performed in a stipulated daily, monthly, or 
annual payment in cash, whereas croppers are sometimes treated as 
farm operators, but in reality they should be considered as wage 
hands who receive their compensation in a share of the crop. The 
cropper furnishes labor; he is provided with equipment by the owner 
of the land. 
In assuming that the cost of cropper cotton to the operator equals 
the amount paid to the cropper for his share of the crop, we must 
take into consideration the fact that a margin above the going wage 
rate may accrue to the cropper as return for the risk he assumes, 
especially when the price of cotton is high, as was the case with the 
crop with which this study is concerned. This margin, which 
accrues to the cropper, must be counted as cost to the operator, since 
to him the cost of cropper cotton is essentially that part of the crop 
necessary to provide this class of labor. Thus there enters an anom- 
alous factor, which it has been found impossible to eliminate, since 
to assume a labor cost for cropper cotton at the current rate for 
cotton wage hands would be to assume something contrary to fact. 
There is no reason to believe that men would be available for cropper 
farming unless they thought they stood to make more than the 
going wage. 
TaBLeE V.—Tenure of farms (842 records). 
Records. 
| Number. | Per cent. 
White: 
QOUWIMCES cbse oir ae i ea ae RI SI ek cr gee een eet an eT 335 39.8 
Oh agate) isiezvo Ke lpg) iy ene en A as be UN ea eee Ale dake esuocseuc: 43 Haak 
Owners, Part Cen ted: Owl nS as ee pe ee 128 15, 2 
Owners additional, Pact Mente OUts alesse eee ee eee eee 3 7 8 
Tenants 2. . 35 sce c eee a we Se eee eagle: ae Sane een ee OA 25.0 
Tenants, part rented Outcast ee pe een as Ce 14 ee} 
738 87.6 
Colored: 
4 01 :) i: ere En RC OE Ney Ne Ae Vie PT Re rape Nagi ute me NN Se gas ole 19 2.2 
Owners additional”. 2203s Ae ee ee eee 4 =0 
Owners, part rented: Otut sss ee eee ert ne gee a 8 1.0 
Menants.......... 2, ok en gata eae 72 8.6 
Tenants, part rented: Ouwt see ea eat 1 1 
104 12.4 
10} :)| et ERR Scone Oeil Seas ne ce oe 842 100 
