Rapides gazette. (Alexandria, La.) 1869-187?, 1873-09-06
COlOred Communism.

4 Y
[From the Charleston News and COURIER
| . For some time past it has been known
! that numbers Of tho colored people of Cole
| ton county have been purchasing large
| tracts and dividing them up in, or working
| them on cooperative system. The fol
| lowing interesting account of their opera:
| tions " talccn from the WATERFORD Neics:
| In this connty the colored people own,
and arc successfully conducting, some Of
| tlir largest plantatiOns. This is done under
ssort Of copnmunism.
4 A pumber Of them, in some. cases M ma.
my M fifty, form themselves into society,
elect then officers and adopt bylaws They
have regular meetings, at which the officers
report, and specified amount ia paid into
| the treasury by each member. when suffi-
Gent ~ accumulated in the treasury, a suit
/ able plantation is selected and the purchase
| made; usually the ysaymenta are in one,
| two and three. years. n good NORTON being
paid at. the time of the purchase. The land
is equally distributed by the officers elect
ed for tha6 purposes among the .mcnlbers of
the society or 50 much as they may wish to
cultivate.
| Each is free TO work os suits him, and all
can dispose of his crop as he deems proper
The only thing required IL honesty and a
! PtOhiPe Puy va All uutS, Nulcf dit iitu-
ally very light. Any one willfdliy failing
to meet his dues, or convicted of dishones-
ty, has all amounts previously paid by him
for the purchase of the place refunded, and
is required to moves eff the plantation, all
his rights and Claims having been forfeited.
II, however, any one desires to leaves the
Society, he IS paid all amounts paid by him
towards the purchase and f6saH permau9Ht
improvements erected byphim. No new
member is admitted except By the consent
of the whole Society.
| All'sick are cared for blythe society fun
able to care for themselves, officers being
elected to look after sach cases ard report
their wants to the society at its weekly
Meetings, or at special meetings, if the ext
Sency of the case requires it. All disputes
arising between members are brought be-
fore the society, certain of the officers being
BY arrange IN dissehsions and Is xsrTy
seldom, if ever, they fail, Petty litigation,
that is the great bane Of the solOrcd people
in many sections, ism this way avoided
These societies are principally formed
IRON people who work for hire. fifty cents
per$iay being the sum generally paid; the
plantation is usually bought as soon as
sufficient funds are in the treasury Co make
the first payment but few, ifany, own any
animal ins'that time, their small resources
being expended in the purchase money and.
erection of houses. Still they have, in all
cases where an exOrbitant price was not
paid for the land proved successful, fail
ures for time occasionally arising, where
incompetent or unfaithful officers have been
selected; but with their usual shrewdness,
these incompetent officers were soon detect
Ped, and others more capable were elected
III their places.
Upon those that have been in operation
three or four years, the land has been paid
for, and the members have acquired consi-
deTabie OF personal property, and are gen
orally prosperous. A sort of rivalry seems
to spring up between them, which is produc-
tive of economy and thrift. These socie-
ties are located in the low country east of
the Savannah and Charleston railroad We
do not presume to say that only the 6;cil"r-
cd people who have formed themselves in
to these societies show thrift and the accu-
mutation of property, for a number who six
or seVen years ago, were not worth dol
lar, now carry on successfully large rice
and cotton plantations, and are becoming
heaTytax-psyCrss
But in the particular section of which
these societies are formed, more property
exists among their members than among
those who are now fight the battle of life
and death on the own account, while from
the formation of these societies they are
enabled to purchase more valuable proper
ty and secure greater privileges than they
! could if each laid his money ont in separ-
ate purchase, in which. case ten or twenty
acres Of poor land wonld be all nc wonld
be able to buy, rs no planter would consent
to cut off and sell small tracts of his best
land and retain himself the poorer portion.
This is undoubtedly one of the reasons of
success, as on nearlyiall the property in this
| section large proportion of the land is
nearly valueless. BY securing the whole
plantation the obtain sufficient good land
for their purposes, while he who purchases
for himself generally gets such land that it
is impossible to make more than poor
! subsistence from it,