Litchfield enquirer., 1879-04-17
The Negro Exodus,

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 In whatever way we may look at it. the en- | igration of negroes from the cotton states is a subject of no little interest. Its political as- poets alone, however, have engaged attention thus fal and IL IS commonly assumed that the movement is wholly or almost wholly political | in it's origin. This is>probably mistaken view, although political troubles have doubtless help ed to set the negroes in motion. We propose now to look at some other aspects of the mat | ter.
 | This is by no means the first shifting of the | negroes since the war. The very first use which was made of suddenly acquired freedom | by many of the blacks was an exercise of the right and qualification of the instinct of mi grafton. Hosts of field hands focked to the cities and towns, quitting the work they knew | how to do in search of that for which theyh had no sort of capacity In many places much suffering ensued, but considerable part of the rural population was permanently transferred | to the towns.
 l Then, too the capable field hands of Virginia were drawn to the cotton states, in large num- bers, by the legitimate operation of the law of self-interest As free men they naturally and properly sought the work which promised the best return, and this emigration was altogether wholesome, resulting at once in benefit to the 1 emgrants whose earnings it increased and to
 
 larged.
 This enlightened tendency to better them selves by emigration was the most promising thing in the conduct of the negroes. Unluck- fly it was not attended in any great measure by disposition to take root, so to speak, even in the most favorable places. The negroes | generally lacked and lack that instinct which the Germans prettIy call earth-hunger. Very few of them seriously sought to become land owners, although their opportunities to do so were of the best.
 In some parts of Mississippi, for example, it was easy for an industrious black man with his l family to make five or SIX hundred dollars | year clear of all expense by cotton growing, while land was to be had at very lew rates in- deed and upon very favorable terms In one instance, the writer of this article, anxious to benefit some families of negroes whom he had | known as domestic servants in his boyhood, l tried to induce them to buy the best parts of | the plantation on which they worked An of- fer was made them by the creditors of the es- tate under winch each head of a family among them might have become owner of the land he worked merely by giving half his cotton crop | each year for three or five years in payment. | This would have left each abundant means of support, but not one of them accepted the offer, though they were all paying one fourth of their crops already for rent. In another instance some of the best cotton land in Mississippi was offered to the negroes of a plantation upon still better terms. The land needed clearing of the cane which had grown during the war, and it's owner offered to give his negroes half of what they should clear of it, without cost, permitting them also to work the other half for three years rent free but because this plan would have involved a good deal of winter work, the offer was rejected by all but two of the hands. Those two accepted and became thrifty owners of farms which make them in | dependent.
 | The negroes who are now emlgrating from the South come in the main from parts of the country from which there ought to be no induce ment for any industrious man to remove. They come from places where man may with his own hands dig an abundant living out of the soi and with little frugality and foresight may amass property with certainty. Yet as appears by their declarations, these men are resoute in their determination never to return, some of them declaring their preference for starvation to the life they have been leading. How much of this is due to the mere dscon- tent and restlessness which prompts the poor white of the South to shift his home every year or two how much of it is due to mere imagi- nation, how much to the instinct of imitation, | how much to persecution, it is not easy to de- termine Probably all of these causes operate. | The credit system which has been in vogue in the South has certainly much to do with the matter. Country merchants sell goods all the year through to thenegroes holding their crops as security. The negroes buy upon credit with little prudence-buying too much and paying too high prices and when the crop is ready for market it's proceeds are already spent. The disappointment and dejection which ensues are fruitful causes of discontent The negro believes that he has been swindled, and not Subsequently, his conviction is we'll founded, but, well or ill founded, the belief is source of ill feeling. The system has been as ruineus to the negroes as it frequently was in older times to their masters. It has made them spendthrifts, it has prevented the growth of that habit of accumulation which, properly cultivated, would have made the negroes prop erty owners and conservative citiZens to whom ] participation i'll politics would have been a healthful exercise of manhood instead of 8 mere struggle for party and race victory. There can be little doubt that if a considerable pro- portion of the negroes had become landowners thrifty farmers on their own account and en- players of the labor of others, much of the vir- ulence of race feeling in politics would long ago have passed away However that may be it is certain that the general ownership ofland would have been of great advantage both to the negroes and to the states in which they lived.
 The one great lesson of this emigration ought to be, both to the whites and the blacks. that the South needs to increase the number of her negro land d-owners her small farmers whose farms have been bought by earning and sav- ing The Souths great need is to learn thrift. She produces enormously, but unluckily her wealth is squandered by her people. The greater number of them save nothing from year to year. Her farm laborers produce five millions of bales of cotton in year, and have nothing to show for it at the end of the time. i They Continue to be homeless spendthrifts, hard working vagabonds whose toll, produc- tive as it is brings them no return in the shape of permanent accumulation and the betternent of their condition. It is not we'll for any eoun- try that this should be the condition of its la boring population, and especially of it's rural la5oring population, and it is a particularly dangerous state of things in country where universal suffrage exists. The South would be richer with half her crops if each year could add to the number of her small land owners and of her savings bank depositors. F. Eyentng Post.
 In a country parish in Scotland, not many years ago. a town clergyman, who was off, ciating for lis clerical brother, wished to be assured by his own eyes that his gown and tie were in perfect order before he ascended the pulpit. With this in view he asked the beadle if he had not glass to give him. "Weel no," replied John, ''but Tll soon get ane for ye, Sir" Imagine the surprise and horror of the evangelical gentleman when John returned with pewter measure in his hand, and plac: ing it before the worthy divine, informed him that he had been quite unable to procure a single ''gless," but that he had brought him a half mutchkin instead, which" he naively added, "wad maybe dae as weel."
 The recent incarceration of the editor of the Thomastown Vidette In the insane asylum, a hopeless maniac, has sad sad history. Peo- pie whe recently saw an article in his paper entitled ''Death of an Angle Worm," and did not read beyond the heading, were not aware that the article was an obituary of the editors aunt, who had left him all her money, and that as tEe article went to the printer it was headed "Death of an Aged Woman"