St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-05-23
Exodus.

Another correspondent of the Spring.
field Republican, writing from Topeka
Kansas, gives some interesting CONVEX
sation with the colored people who
have fled from the South, of which the
following are samples:
One of them from Tennessee, is now
in my family as servant. ''What did
you leave there for" said l. "COuldn't
make Twin" "What wages did you
get ~ -Four dollars mont and my
Sundays" "Why didn't you buy land ~
"Cos' they wouldn't sell any but what
was so rocky we couldn't use it," "Was
there any other trouble ?" "Oh yes,
they went ridin' roun' ku kluckin' right
often" "What for?" "When votin'
day cum eff we didn't vote jes like they
wanted us to, they went rOun' mex
night and Jes tux 'em out o. bed and
whip EN-" A bright, middle-aged man
from Mississippi told me he rented 10
acres of land for bale of cotton. The
owner of the land weighed it when it
was taken to market, and then came
home and told them how much there
was, but he ''never knew for hisself.n
He had to hire mule for $50 year
from the same man, and when they set
tied the massa would figure it up and
show that SambO owed him something,
but would say, "Never mind, I'll give
you dollar, and you'll have better
luck next time, mebbe." "But," added
the negro, retlectively, ''the better time
nebber did come, and l spec it nebber
will down thar"
A gentleman just back from Mississip-
pi tells the following story apropos of
the exodus: A merchant in jackson
was explaining to an old colored man
that it was very unwise for him to go
to Kansas, because it was a bleak, cold
country, and the winters entirely too
severe for tropical race. MARS Jone,"
asked the old fellow, CANT dis Kansas
dey are talkin' about what dey used to
call 'Bleedin' Kansas p" The mer-
chant, of course, said it was. '..Weil,
den," said the old uncle, wasn't you
white folks fghtin' once because you
wanted to take us niggers to Kansas
when we was yo' property? | reckon
faint no colder for us now dan when
we was property. Yo' was mighty par
ticker about yO' property in dem days !;
Eyah, yah" There was no ready ans
wer to this. There is a sort of epic
climax in the fact that the first volun-
tary negro emigration from the South
should be to Kansas, where such a
bloody effort was made to take them as
slaves.-LOuiSUille Commercial.
Correspondence Cincinnati COMMERCIAL
Careful inquiry into the cause of the
negro discomfort proves that much of
1t Is due to the grasping nature of small
stOrekeepers scattered all along the
river shores. The owners of these trade
shops secure deeds of trust upon crops
before they are planted, also on mules
wagons, farming implements, even the
seed the laborer is to put in the ground
as security for certain advances to be
furnished during the cultivation of the
crop. As the growing cotton develops,
either for good or bad, supplies are
furnished lavishly or sparingly, as the
situation warrants. Sardines, sweet
crackers, whiskey, and gew-gaws of
every kind, are offered as a temptation
to the men. Notions, gaudy ornaments
and calicoes capture the women. The
worthless trash is offered to the Door
cOlored man several hundred per cent.
above cost when the crop is promising.
Like poor whites, they agree, when
buying on credit, to pay 10 per cent
interest on the advance, besides the in
creased charge usually made for goods
sold on credit. This system beats the
exactions of the khedive of Egypt.
There the government owns the land,
but half the crop is taken as tribute, be
the crop good or bad, and no charge is
carried over to another year. Here
the merchant tax-gatherer rolls up a
bad years account upon a good one,
and it hangs year after year until paid
or wiped out some other way. The
scalping grog shops and tub mills that
infest the southern country are innova-
tons of the past 10 years, and until
they are broken up all the conventions
on earth cannot remedy existing evils.
A thrifty river cotton planter, working
2OO hands, reports contentment on his
place, because he allows no hucksters
there. Flat boat and other traders are
only permitted to stop at his place dur
ing the Christmas holidays. At all
other times the sale of luxuries, except
tobacco, is strictly forbidden; there is
not work hand on this farm but has
money to his credit in the bank at New
Orleans, and last January each family