Chairman Walsh questioned the witness about his under standing of politics. Mr. Steward said he understood the Ferguson land plank and had read something of the issues advocated by the two old national parties. He said landlords did not as a rule attempt to influence the votes of tenants, although he had heard some landlords say they would not rent to Socialists. He has studied some and his current read ing has been confined to the Appeal to Reason, the Buzz Saw and the Fort Worth Record.
He told the commissioners that he had interested himself in modern farm developments to a certain extent, but had not accomplished very much.
"The Texas Industrial Congress sent me a letter of recom mendation and an emblem for being a good farmer," he said.
Mrs. Beulah Steward gave a brief statement of her life on the farm. She was married at the age of 15. Their household furniture was bought on credit. She estimated that she and her husband had lived in at least 20 different houses. These ranged in sizes from one to seven rooms. She worked prac tically every year in the field, starting by daylight and quitting at sundown during the farming season. The family ate three meals a day. Breakfast usually was eaten at 4 o'clock in the morning. With the aid of a sewing machine, which was taken from her last January, she earned as much as $2 a day some days by sewing for neighbors. She had to work late into the night to do this. She has not worn a ready made garment nor read many newspapers since marrying. Sometimes she read serial stories in magazines. She has owned three hats during the last 25 years. Sometimes she "got to town" only once in two years. To make the best of her condition and not worry about anything, she said, is her motto.
The restricted standard of living of the cotton tenant may find expression in times of rising cotton prices in unwise expenditures. Pent up desires, reenforced by a belief that the next cotton crop will bring as much as the last, lead to the purchase of luxuries that are ill afforded. In the case quoted the farmer suffered the tenant's greatest tragedy—the loss of his work stock. It is worthy of note that one of the commonly accepted attitudes in the South is to lay the ills of the cotton farmer to the purchases of automobiles in times of prosperity: A very unpleasant duty of an Iredell county deputy sheriff was performed last Friday, when James F. Aldmon
received seizure papers from Cabarrus county in which a former citizen of Cabarrus county had mortgaged two mules and two cows on security for a secondhand automobile to a Concord dealer. The tenant was coming in from the field with his mules at the noon hour and when they were divested of their gears, the officer laid claim. One of the mortgaged cows had died since the papers were given in exchange for the machine. The tenant was left stranded as to mules for the working of his crops and the cow which furnished milk and butter for the family was taken. The scene was almost tragic, and the heart of the officer melted away when the woman of the household prayed for the deliverance of the ones holding the mortgage from a life of torment in the next world. The live stock was taken to a neighbor's house, to be held for a few days, giving the tenant time in which he would be permitted to raise the amount due on the mort gage.' It is possible for cotton lands to be rented as a cap italistic undertaking. In the case here cited, cotton ten ancy corresponds more to the form of tenancy in the wheat belt than in the South. This case comes from the Mississippi Delta of Arkansas : Chalmers Barnett Married spring of '24, $300.00 worse than broke. Rented average land. Bought team, tools, feed, etc., on credit. Made good crop. Got poor price and paid all.
1925. Bought another team and rented 40 acres more land. Better tools and a Ford car. Good crop. Poor price but paid out.
1926. Rented 80 acres more land. Bought two more teams. good crop. Got poor price and paid all.
1927. Worked a 5 team crop (160 acres). Poor crop. Good price. Paid out.
1928. Rented 40 acres more land and bought another team on a credit prospect of a fair crop and a moderate price, so should pay out.
This man works well and is far above the average in prac tical ability and intelligence, and I am sure will succeed and go further. He grows cotton exclusively. Buys all feed at large price.'