From the fact that the men would seldom work more than five and a half days a week arose the custom of paying off every eleven days. Each workman has a time book and as soon as he has completed his eleven days his pay is due. This avoids a general pay day and the demoralization that would likely follow. Work is credited by quarters of a day: Sunrise to breakfast, breakfast to dinner, dinner to about 3:00 p. m., 3:00 p. m. to sunset. Wages vary according to the season, being much larger during autumn when the cane is being ground. For field work men get 70 cents per day, women 55 to 60 cents. During the grinding season the men earn from $1 to $1.25, the women about 85 cents, children from 25 cents up. Wages are usually paid through a store which may or may not be under the direct ownership of the plantation. All accounts against the store are deducted, but the balance must be paid in cash if it is so desired. Nominally the men are free to trade where they will, but it is easy to see that pressure might be brought to bear to make it advantageous to trade at the local store.
During the year 1901 two families were able to earn the following amounts. The first family consists of three adults and two children, but the wife did not work in the field.
| $10.50 | 7.00 | 13.80 | 12.60 | 10.85 | 12.60 | 11.55 | 8.40 | 9.80 | 20.60 | 25.75 | 28.75 | Man |
| 10.85 | 6.65 | 13.80 | 12.95 | 15.40 | 14.50 | 11.20 | 7.35 | 9.80 | 7.95 | 16.00 | 10.15 | Son |
| 2.62 | 1.25 | 2.25 | 4.35 | 3.05 | 1.20 | 6.40 | 18.15 | 15.75 | Boy | |||
| 1.85 | 10.12 | 6.75 | Boy | |||||||||
| $23.97 | 14.90 | 27.60 | 25.55 | 26.25 | 29.35 | 27.10 | 18.80 | 20.80 | 36.80 | 70.02 | 61.40 | —$382.54 |
During the grinding season the men's wages were increased to $1 a day and the boys' to 40 cents and the father had chances to make extra time as nightwatchman, etc. This family own a horse and buggy, keep poultry and have a fair garden. They are rather thrifty and have money stowed away somewhere.
The second family consists of the parents and eight children. Their income is fair, but they are always "hard up." They spend their money extravagantly. The man is head teamster on the plantation and makes 80 cents per day, which is increased to $1.30 during the grinding season. The wife in this family also did no work save in the fall.
| $16.00 | 14.40 | 17.60 | 15.40 | 18.40 | 16.80 | 17.80 | 18.00 | 16.60 | 23.30 | 44.95 | 43.05 | Man |
| 7.87 | 6.85 | 10.10 | 9.25 | 9.65 | 10.10 | 11.00 | 10.25 | 4.00 | 6.00 | 19.30 | 18.00 | Boy |
| 12.60 | 8.75 | 12.60 | 13.30 | 15.55 | 14.50 | 11.90 | 12.40 | 11.70 | 19.25 | 25.75 | 23.00 | Son |
| 2.90 | 1.50 | 4.50 | 6.75 | 17.25 | 14.75 | Girl | ||||||
| 1.25 | 1.80 | .65 | 1.60 | Boy | ||||||||
| 2.10 | 8.00 | 5.25 | Boy | |||||||||
| 3.00 | 15.15 | 13.50 | Woman | |||||||||
| $40.62 | 33.30 | 45.45 | 37.95 | 43.60 | 41.40 | 40.70 | 40.65 | 32.30 | 60.40 | 130.30 | 119.15 | —665.82 |
These families are typical so far as known. In comparing their incomes with those in other districts it must be borne in mind that they have no rent to pay and their only necessary expenses are for food and clothes and incidentals. Certainly both of the families should have money to their credit at the end of the year. The total wages depends not only on the willingness to work, but also on weather conditions. One gets the impression that in some places conditions are pretty bad and even by some white residents of the state it is claimed that a state of servitude almost prevails on many plantations. In any case the Negroes do not seem satisfied. The labor is rather heavy. For this or other reasons there has been quite an exodus to the cotton country in recent years, which has caused the cane planters much trouble and they will make many concessions to keep their tenants. To meet this emigration for some time efforts have been made to import Italian labor but the results have not been wholly satisfactory. The Italians are more reliable and this is a great argument in their favor, but with this exception they are not considered much better workers than the blacks. The storekeepers much prefer the Negroes, who spend their money more freely.
The planters claim that the labor is unreliable and say they never know on Saturday how many workers they will have on Monday. They also say it is hard to get extra labor done. In 1900 on one plantation the women were offered ten cents a day extra for some hoeing, but only four held out. Higher wages were offered if some cane were cut by the ton instead of by the day, but after a week the hands asked to return to the gang at the lower wage.
In the rice fields along the river about the same wages prevail as for the field hands in the cane plantations. The rice crop, however, is but a six months crop, so other employment must be found for part of the year if nothing but rice is raised. It is usual in this region to raise rice as a side crop.