cotton was no longer to be had as a security. As a consequence, a
great number of tenants were left without productive work, money or
credit. A host of idle persons thrown suddenly on the labor market
could have no other effect than to create an excess in the cities to
which they flocked, make laborers easily replaceable, and consequently
reduce wages. A southern paper in commenting on this situation
declared "there is nothing for this excess population to do. These
people must live on the workers, making the workers poorer ... if
there is a tap that will draw off the idle population, that will be a
good thing for the cities at least."[19]

The circumstances of unemployment which contributed so largely to the
restless mood in some sections of the South was due primarily to a
lack of sufficient capital to support labor during the lean seasons.
This meant, of course, that the cotton pests and storms that played
havoc with whole sections rendered helpless all classes of the
population. The usual method of handling labor, especially on the
cotton plantations, was for the planter to maintain his hands from the
commissary during the fall and early winter in order that they might
be convenient for the starting and cultivation of a new crop. But with
their last year's crop lost, their credit gone and the prospects of a
new crop very shadowy, there was left no other course but to dismiss
the people whom they could not support.

For a long time southern farmers had been importuned to adopt a more
diversified method of farming to offset the effects of unexpected
misfortune in the cotton industry and to preserve the value of the
soil. Following the ravages of the boll weevil, the idea gained
wide application. The cotton acreage was cut down and other crops
substituted. The cultivation of cotton requires about five times
as many laborers as the cultivation of corn and the work is fairly
continuous for a few employes throughout the year. Additional
unemployment for negro tenant farmers was an expected result of this
diversification. The greatest immediate disadvantage to negro planters
and small farmers resulting from the failure of the cotton crops was
the lack of money and credit to sustain them while the corn and velvet
beans were being grown. It was for like reasons impracticable to
attempt to raise stock, for there was no means of making a beginning,
as a certain amount of capital was prerequisite.

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