Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-06-21
Prespects Of enc Exoai.,..

We cut the following from tn
Topeka correspondence Of the Bo
ton Post. The bubble of the exodr
is pretty well burst already, but th
testimony Of an eyewitness is wort
having, and here it is:
Negro colonies in Kansas hav
not heretofore been successful. ]
remains to be seen whether tn
Kansas Freedmen's Relief Associa
ton will make their Waubanse
colony an exception to the rule O
disaster. Waubansee county is tn
next county to the west of Shawnee
in which is situated this city. A
few weeks ago, Isaiah II. Mont
gomery, one of the confidential ser
wants of the late Joseph Davis
brother of the Southern President
came here to study the country
Mr.. Montgomery is very intelli
gent colored man, although of the
pure African type. He writes fine
hand, is very clear in his ideas, and
is an excellent boOkkeeper. He
has the management at present oil
the Davis plantations at Palmyra
Island, Mississippi river. Mr..
Montgomery, after journeying
through the State, was so well
pleased with the soil and prospects
for mOney-nlaking, that he decided
to buy a section (640 acres) in Wau-
bansee county. Four sections adj
jacent to Montgomery's have been
secured by the Kansas Freednen's S
Relief Association, and will be
divided into farms of forty acres
each, on which cOlored families
will be settled. John M. Brown, a
prosperous colored Mississippian,
will superintend the planting OF the
new colony. Barracks for the ac-
commodation of the people will be
first built, and afterward shanties.
Each colonist will be aided in MAX
ing his first payment of $40, and
nineteen years will be allowed to
pay the balance, the forty acres be-
ing reckoned at 81 65 per acre.
Thus the forty acres will cost each
settler $lO6. Interest will be COM
puted at seven per cent, Sixty-four
families will be able to find forty
acre farms in these four sections.
Mr.. Montgomery will take several
families on his own section. Upon
the success of this colony a great
deal depends. Should il do well
the frequently heard statement that
the negro cannot thrive in Kansas
will be disproved. should advise
Eastern people to withhold their
till a years trial Of
has been made. All
The boarded wealth Of the opulent
New England cities cannot make
rood citizens of the great mass of
exodus negroes, many of whom are
lged and infirm people.
NO HOPE FOR THE IDLE.
There is absolutely no hope for
he colored man in Kansas, except
N so far as he becomes self-sup-
porting. He must come on equal
erms with the hardy white settler.
He has got to learn industrious hab-
IS and work six days i'm a week. !
There are plenty Of white people
lere who deserve aid far more than
he shiftless darkies, who came to
Kansas as if it were an excursion.
)ver-wrought sentimentalism has
pictured every exodus negro as the
fugitive victim of the bulldozers. !
The plain truth is that many of !
hese negroes are but grown-up
children, who came to Kansas in a
tate of rebellious exaltation, conf |
lently expecting to find Goods |
ountry." Hundreds Gf them were |
loing well in the Mississippi valley. |
They had their neat cabins, their |
lorses, mules, cattle and hogs.
they sold everything for a song,
nd took passage for this land,
where hard work Is the secret of
wealth.
The best informed railroad land /
gents are incredulOus as to the sue
ess of any negro colony. They say
hat the negro is not adapted to the
Innate or the kind of agriculture
ere predominant.
The Nicodemus colony is an eX-
eriment regarding which doleful
tories are told. Last winter the
egrO colonists were forced to skin
nd eat their starved cattle. Their
My fuel was buffalo chips.
The Hodgeman county colony
yas settled by 107 Kentucky ne
roes in the spring of 1873. This
oIony is 280 miles west of Kansas
ity, far out on the plains. The
lost convenient railroad point
-Om which to make journey to
MS colony is the town of Kinsley,
I Edwards county, about thirty
liles from the settlement. Some
fly homesteads have been taken
nd few timber claims. The col
nists live, for the greater part, in
ug-outs. These are semi-subterra-
can habitations, consisting of a
ole or cellar a few feet in depth.
od is piled up around to form
'alls, and there is generally a board
)of. Most of the settlers have but
few acres under cultivation, and
My those possessing teams were
lccessful with their crops last year.
ONE of them attempted to work
le earth with hoes, but it was
Ibor lost. Very many of the col
nists have been compelled to go to
ne neighboring towns to get en-
not having means to
Insist on their farms.
WAGES IN KANSAS
re low for agricultural laborers,
angling from seventy-five cents a
ay in ordinary times to 81 80 a day
/ harvest. This is hardly so good
; the wages paid day laborers on
almyra Island, Mississippi, where
lere is constant employment the
ear round, and no cold winter for
'hich thick and expensive clothing
necessary. The negro labOrer
'ho comes to Kansas to better him
If will find himself deceived.
ew people realize the extremely
Nv cost of living in the South. The
egrOes there are, as a rule, shame
lily lazy in regard to vegetable
ardens. Every negro has patch
garden ground, and very few
Ike the trouble to provide their
Lbles with the abundant vegetables
the South. Corn bread and pork
,em to satisfy the negro, summer
nd winter. He tires Of -four and
aeon, and gladly betakes himself
} coarser food.
Let a committee of cur thrifty
farmers go through
ne Southern country and they
ould be amazed at the thriftless-
ess of the negroes, who burn their
,nces for fuel, and idle away hours
,of c,f,n,,Ia no orfxvov, 70 o,4Iff ffv,rr |