rating smoothly. The farmer's
dependence was apparent in instances such as that related by Ray
Harrison, who remembered one Christmas night when no help at all showed
up. That night he milked fifty-two cows by hand, something he could not
afford to do every day.[84] In numerous ways the hired hands exercised
some control over their working conditions. For example, seasoned
workmen reserved the right to "break in" a field hand new to the
neighborhood, thus both initiating him into local work patterns and
assuring that his expectations and treatment corresponded to that of the
veteran help.[85] In times of intense activity, the labor supply would
be short and the workers raised their prices accordingly. One farmer
recalled that during an exceptionally busy silo-filling season the help
were "jacking up the price ... ten cents an hour about four times in
one day.... They were putting pressure on because they thought they had
the leverage there." In this case the farmer called their bluff and sent
the workers home, but in many instances, the laborers held sway and
received higher wages during peak work periods.[86]

The white attitude toward their black workers seems to have been
paternalistic, as was the pattern of most racial relations in the
post-bellum South. Though area farmers maintain that their hired
laborers were liked and respected--"as much a part of the neighborhood
as anyone else"--in conversation capable workers were referred to as
"boy" or by the old plantation epithets of "Aunt" and "Uncle." A hearty
noon meal was part of the hired man's pay, but the help ate outside by
themselves, rather than with the family.[87] Moreover, rather than admit
his need for the laborers, the white employer sometimes viewed his
hiring in an altruistic light. "I remember my brother went over to these
colored people that had been working for him at different times, in the
middle of the winter, and told them to come over and cut some wood, and
he paid them for it so that they would have something, because they were
pretty bad off. So he just made work for them," stated one county
woman.[88] Undoubtedly, charitable motives were truly meant, but the
outcome was a paternalistic attitude which failed to recognize the
mutual dependence of land and labor.

This reliable supply of labor eliminated the county's need for migratory
workers, and also reduced the amount of tenancy since most farmers found
labor enough to manage all of their ac