The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1871-06-02
SOUTH CAROLINA PLANTERS.


Cotton-Planting Improbable - Indo
lence Of the Negroes Their Destin,
Future of the South.
The following report of a conver
sation by E. V. Smallcy, spccia
correspondent of the Neso Iorl
Tribune, with prominent citizer
| of Abbeville. will be interesting tc
our readers:
|. CHARLESTON, S. c., May 19.-]
met yesterday a good specimen Of
the old-school South Carolina Gen.
tlemcn-a man Of about sixty, tall
and well-built, dressed with scru-
pulous care, and having a digui6ed
bearing and Il courtesy of speech.
This gentleman entertained me for
all hour with a conversation upon
the condition Of affairs in this
State that showed a freedom from
prejudice, and a disposition to for
get the past and make the best of
things as they exist, that is seldom
evinced by people of his class. lie
was for ten years member of Con-
gress, and formerly owned what
was called a model plantation upon
the Savannah River, in Abbeville
District. His plantation was one
of that kind that used to be shown
to northern travellers as a proof of
the bcuign character of the insti-
tuition of Slavery, where all the
slaves were robust and healthy,
wcll-clad, well-fed, comfortably
sheltered, and apparently enjoying
a high degree of happiness. He
said that since the surrender he
had become poor, and had taken
to the practice of law to earn a
living. My acquaintance, whom |
shall call the Colonel, gave me an
account of the poverty Of most of
the proud old families in the mid
die and upper districts of the State,
mentioned some of them by name,
with description Of their former
afauence aud their present indi-
renee. One of his illustrations of
their changed circumstances was
particularly striking. "Thcse gen.
tlemen," he said, "in the old times
would never drink brandy that
was less than 80 years old, and now
they can afford nothing better than
the meanest corn whiskey." "But
how can they be so poor when they
still own large tracts of land ?
Why don't they sell a portion of
their estates?" asked. because
nobody wants to buy. The land is
a burden to them. They cannot
get. accustomed. to the new labor
system, and many of them, when
their cotton is sold at the end of
the year, find themselves poorer
than when they began, and only
deeper in debt after a years hard
work. The planters have been
ruined by cultivating cotton exclu:
,iyely and neglecting all the food
crops. In my district 1 am we'll
with al! the planters.
do not know one who has made
anything the past year, and l can
call to mind a pumber who have
each lost several hundred dollars.
They planted with the expectation
that cotton would sell for 25 cents
a pound, and when they had
brought their crops to market they
could only obtain - or l3 cents,
and could not pay their expenses
with the proceeds" The Colonel
said that previous to 1860 it was
considered discrcditable for plant
cr not to raise all the coru he need
cd for use on his place, but now
there we're many who did not plant
an acre. The cause OF this mis-
taken policy he thought was the
great need of money, and the ex-
pectations raised by the high price
that cotton brought after the war.
This year he had observed that a
much larger area Of corn had been
planted. He did not think that
the corn was stolen in the fields to
50 great an extent as to deter the
planters from cultivating it, as
others had represented to me.
Three systems Of labor prevail.
One is for the planter to hire his
workmen, paying them monthly
wages of from Sc to So, and giving
them an allowance Of corn meal
and bacon, a cabin and a garden
patch. Another is to g:ve the la
borer one-third of tue crop, the
PLANTER providing seed, fertilizers,
tools, and animals. The third sys-
tenn is for the laborer to furnish
everything except fertilizers, and
receive one-half the crop. The
last two systems are much prefer
red by the negroes, and are most
used in practice, but even these
systems, the Colonel said, do not
afford sufficient incentive to the
negroes to be industrious, and as a
consequence the result often proves
Improbable to the planter and to
IL L. alnrad tInt tho