The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1867-12-06
PULASKI, TENN
FRIDAY MORNING, DECR. 6, 1867.

The agricultural interests of the down
troddeu, negro-ruled Southern provinces
claim the most serious attention at this
time. Obstacles to farmers seem to accu-
mulate, rather than diminish and it is
now fast becoming a question with our
people whether or not agriculture in the
Southern States, can be further pursued
with anything like hope of success. The
signs of the times are truly alarming, and
absolute dependency seems slowly but
surely taking possession of the minds Of
the people. Since the Inauguration of ne
gro rule. through the operations of the mil
itary reconstruction bills, complaints reach
US from every quarter of the utter democrat
izatiou of the blacks, and the probable en-
tire prostration of almost all agricultural
labor.
The present crop was cultivated il all
the Gulf States upon what is know as
''shares.' The planters agreed to furnish
the farms in goodorder, well stocked. with
teams, agricultural implements, food for
horses, mules. etc., and everything neces-
sary for the-cultivation of the crop, the nc
groes agreeing to furnish the labor for half
Of all that was made. Were terms ever
more liberal Were such inducements
ever before offered to the peasantry of any
country? Are such chances ever pre-
scented to the laboriug classes in any North
ern State ? Does the holder OF the sterile,
stony. hinty soil of New England offer
terms half so liberal to the free voting man.
hood of his own color No; third or
fourth of the crop is ample pay, in his
opinion, for the labor expended in its pro-
duction. But this is not all. The negroes
were, of course, to furnish their own food
and clothing. They were penniless and
without credit, and therefore utterly pow
erless 10 supply themselves. The farmers
applied to the merchants Of the contiguous
cities, pledged their credit and prospec-
tive cotton crops to obtain the subsistence
the negroes could not purchase for them
selves. The labore-s, consequently, on
every farm became more or less indebted
TO the planters, but pledged their portion
Of the proceeds in payment of the debt
Thus matters proceeded quietly and har-
moniously until about the Erst Of last Ot-
tober, when the negroes, by some means or
other, discovered that, owing to the low
price Of cotton, short crops, tax, etc, they
would not be able even to pay their indebt-
edness to their employers. much less real
ize any income from the proceeds of their
portion. They at once became lazy, in
different aud sullen, and either quit work
and turned their attention to politics, or
abandoned their own crops altogether, and
sought labor elsewhere by the day or week
The. planters we're thus left TO do the best
they could under the circumstances, be-
ing forced either to lose the whole crop en-
tirely or pay exhorbitant prices for its har-
vesting. Ii the regroes' half would not
psy for the provisions and clothes he had
purchased for them, what is the planter s
condition when he has to incur the add.
tionaI expense of having it gathered p
The planter being thus forced to resupply
his farm with laborers was compelled to
demand his cabins at the hands of tbs If
former occupants. Thousands of these
idle vagabonds have recently been turned
off from the farms of the prairie country
traversed by the Mobile and Ohio railroad.
They most positively and peremptorily re-
fuse 10 make engagements for another
year for anything less than two-thirds Of
the entire products Of the farm, and 10
some instances demand as much as three
fourths. Hundreds. We are informed.
have taken to the woods, like wild beasts.
and subsist by stealing aud destroying ell
the stock in the country. Others roam