The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1879-05-31
LABOR IN THE SOUTH.
THE SITUATION AS VIEWED BY
EX-UNITED safes SENA-
TOR ALCORN.
for the Most Part N4p-Par-
tisan Points.

The Atchison (Kas.) Patriot is permitte
to publish the following letter from ex-Go'
ernor and ex- United States Senator j. l
.Alcolp, Of Misslssipp.. dressed to J. I
Berry, of that city. 1t will be read wit
great INTEREST,"
FRIARs POINT, MISS, May Y, 1879.
J. L. Berry, Esq, Atchison, Kansas:
was absent from home when your lette
Of the 4th inst. reached my office. nov
reply to your interrogations, briefly as tn
y.2. 1t touched on will allow.
To your first inquiry-"Have the colore'
people been compelled to pay for rent o
land from eight to ten dollars an acre.
answer:
The most favorable lands are held at ant
bring from seven to ten, and have know
them to rent at twelve dollars per acre
Such lands are generally clear of timber
are we'll found, good houses for dwelling
with gin-houses attached, lands producing
under proper cultivation from bale to a
bale and half per acre. Since the depre
citation in the price of cotton, the rent is
generally taken in kind, say from 80 to 10C
pounds lint cotton per acre. In other words,
the tenant generally pays from fifth to q
fourth on the estimated production.
Second interrogatory: "Have they been
charged from $25 to 1886 during cropping
season for mule hire?n
1 answer: Thirty dollars is about the
maximum mule hire for the season, esti-
mated at ten months This sum will hire
the best mule; inferior mules hire for less
A mule that will hire for $3.50 is worth $l3O
to $15O. Money is worth 10 per cent; loss
of mules from death from to 10 per cent.
Third interrogatory Have they been
compelled to pay $25 per barrel for picked
pork, and 25 cents per pound for fresh
meat?
I answer: Not for the past few years.
The price of meat, like that of other things,
is governed by the laws of trade. Mer-
chants who sell supplies based on the grow
ing crop add heavy per cent. have
watched the working results of the system
for the past ten years. We have shrewd
business merchants in town, and at almost
every cross road, and would have more
if the business would pay. The trade en-
braces Jews, Yankees, Southern whites and
negroes; few have made money, more have
become bankrupt. 1 think l am safe in
saying three>fourths of those who have sold
goods amongst us have failed. The prices
at which bacon is now supplied by the mer-
chants is about 10 cents per pound. Pork
is not often sold; negroes will not purchase
it if they can buy bacon. Other meats
are discarded. The bacon supplied to
laborers on the crops sells for six cents
cash. Tpresume there is no merchant who
would not prefer the cash to the credit
trade; the one is safe, the other uncertain.
l know we'll merchant who this year
closed what was considered good busI-
ness. of seven years standing; his sales
averaged about $45, 900 annually; his books
show on the ''profit and loss" sheet over
$40, 900 in bad debts; he declared his busi-
ness a failure. The trouble lies in the fact
that, should the tenant, be he white or black,
find his crop prospects, either from idle
ness or other ca1ses, insufficient to pay the
current seasons debt with margin over,
he straightway abandons the crop, and be-
takes himself to picking cotton for wages,
a labor at which good hands can realize ~
and $3 per day.
For reasons which will readily come to an
intelligent mind renting is not the popular !
mode of cultivating in this country. Usu-
ally the crop is cultivated on shares, the |
planter supplying land, houses, mules,
forage, tools and garden spot; the tenant |
cloths and feeds himself; supplies the |
abor; the crop of corn or cotton is divided, |
the laborer receiving half. Food and
clothing are supplied to the tenant, some
times by the planter, often by the mer~
chant, but always with lien on the crop.
There are not many tenants who will not
Duy all they can get; hero lies the trouble.
I cultivate largely, have l4O to $50 fami-
les on my plan.adou7. They live plenti-
'ully We've I not pat pieG-y i'll their
lands, they would soon remove to other
for it is fact that, labor
being scarce, the competition among plans
ers induces among their tenap egtrava-
,ance, and often idleness. To-day could,
think, find employment within this
.ounty for 500 laborers at from S$12 to 800
Jer month. In ne country within my
does unskilled labor command
ligner prices than in the Mississippi delta.
frugal and industrious people thrive here,
he improvident or idle fare here as else
vhere. 1 note an example; Last year a
enant on my plantation, with small hired
Ielp, produced II bales of cotton and 300
,ushels of corn. He paid his debts, re-
aimed his corn, aud had remaining over
300 in cash. That man was satisfied.
IN the same plantation there were three
antilles who cultivated in copartnership.
The three men, for the women seldom
york in the crop, raised nine bales of
otton and about 200 bushels of corn; half I
f this was theirs. they owed about $500;
ell in debt; they were not satisfied, and
nay be permitted to add, neither was I.
Referring again to the question of rent,
he planter or landlord has as q rule no
save the tenants declaration of {
willingness to labor, and while he will |
ot rent his best lands for less than $40,
referring to take his chances for day or
Month hands, the fact remains that many
undred thousand acres of government c
lnds, subject to the homestead act, are IN q
MS State unoccupied, many thousand acres
+ fertile lands belonging to the State lie
round us which can be had for a trife; c
esides this, large land owners are anxious 1
} sell for a 1.-THE of the original cost. 1 9
ote an example: Three years since l sold
/ fifteen cents per acre, cash, 1000 acres of
md fronting on ths Mississippi river, a
ood woodward, and finely timbered. This n
md, which brought me $50, had cost be- /,
ore the war twelve thousand dollars. To-
ay the land is unoccupied. l would not I
sceiye it back at two cents per acre. The v
'ouble lies in the fact that it is heavily v
mbered. Cleaning, fencing and building !,
ouses is work, and hard work. The col
red man is not behind the white man in C
understanding this. He prefers the white p