[Letter from D. W. Kempner to T. L. James, May 27, 1949] Page: 1 of 2

                                
DISPLACED PERSONS                                May 27th, 1949
Thos. L. James
dear James:
I have your letter of -ay 26th with reference to
the above named subject and am sorry that I didn't have achance
to talk to you before you wrote mrs. Clayton as you did because
you tooted a day rate of 45  an hour for regular 'work, 50 an
hour for tractor drivers, and I am interested in getting a few
of these families for Plantersville but our pay right now runs
from 35  an hour for regular work and 4O an hour for tractor
drivers, with 200 and 250 an hour for women choppers. I also
have a feeling that these hourly wages may not hold up indefinitely.
There was nothing else, of course, that you could do
than what you have done, but can you see any objection to r7
writing to Lirs. Clayton, without Iakin_ any reference to you or
to Sugarland, telling them that under certain conditions we . iCht
be able to use 6 or 10 families at our prevailing wage scale; in
other words, I would tell them that our place is in a Roman
Catholic Community. We operate under a day laLor and tenant
set-up such as yours. 'e use women and children if they want
to work at cotton picking and chopping time. We have slightly
better than the usual farm tenant housing but siPllar to yours.
We allow each tenant to keep a few chickens, turkeys, a milk cow
and other data that might be pertinent.
Please let me hear from you as soon as you can because
I don't want to interfere with your plans.
Can you locate some organization that is sponsoring
displaced farming persons from Italy, Southern Germany, Hungary,
Rumania or Bulgaria where the climate is similar to ours'
Yours truly,

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