The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-09-15
'THE NEGRO AS 4 FARMER.v
Vigorous Expression Of Congressman
Aiken's Opinions.
CoKEsBuRy 8 q Sentombe, 4

" ,uh counter to pablo opinion in their
pupllcatlons. On the contrary, the posi-.
tlon of newspaper upon ali questions
aHec.!ng the people is usually considered
an index OF tho sentiment If the commu.
nltles among whom that paper circulates.
II TINS be true, /, for one, beg leave to
ehter my emphatic protest against any
such construction Being placed upon
your. editorial, "The Negro as Far.
nler," contained in your issue of the I'd
September.
NO one gainsays the fact that the ne.
gic isa leborer, and thst it is through
MS labor that, perhaps, two.thirds of the
cotton crop of South Carolina is produc.
ed. But l do deny and denouncc the
idea, as you express it. that "he does un-
aerstand farming as farming goes, and he
possesses generally as much knowledge
OF agriculture as his white ncighbor."
Inns assertion is absolutely untrue, as
every intelligent farmer in South Caro-
una well knows, and would never have
oeen iathered by you had you ever had
any agricultural association with the
negro. What think you would become
OF your rice and sea island cotton plan
tatlons if they had not the superior udg-
nent OF the white man to control and
direct the labor? Cross over but for
morn ing and see those section of James
Island, for instance, where the crops are
controlled by the white man and COM
pare them with those left TO the super.
visicn OF the negro, and you will regret
ever having penned that sentence. And
all through the upper country and obser-
want traveller might 60 with the John
Gilpin speed through the country, and
point out, without the shadow Of doubt.
every farm left exclusively to the con.
troll OF the negro. In ninety-nino cases
out OF q hundred it will be the most info.
rlor crop in the neighborhood. This is
the case throughout the upper country
where the negro is q creature Of far
higher order of intelligence than he is
upon our coast. No one doubts that
occasional exceptions can be found.
But they are 30 rare that they only the
more firmly establish the general rule.
In all my experience, aud it has not
been very limited, l have found but two
negroes that had the judgment necessary
to control and conduct successfully even
a one-horse farm. One of these is to. .dav
sowing his twelfth grain crop on my
land, and has made money every year.
and when asked by me last week why he
did not enlarge his farming operations,
CURLY replied: "Sir, the old niggers 1
couldn't control and the young ones are
no account"
The next injustice you have done the
farmers of the State is where you instance
as evidence OF the ncgro's success as
n farmer the increased cotton crop of
1880 over that 1860, and fling ironically
a. the accurate knowledge" of those
men known before the war as overseers.
You may not be aware of it, but it is
fact that that very class Of men since the
war has made the most successful far
mers in the State. They were Injured
to work, understood the negro character,
and generally said to him "come on"
and whatever they !;.. success was sure
to follow. can count within my own
knowledge scores of such men who were
penniles3 at the close of the war, and
who to-day are land holders, and some of
them Independently wealthy. They
have in almost every instance made good
citizens, and would that our waste places
were full Of such men.
You claim 80 have only given the
negro his DUE" yes, and far more. II
you are disposed to write him up as
farmer send one of your staff to the Sec
tions of our State where, through the
rascality of Leslie and his confreres, the
negroes have congregated as landowners,
and let him see for himself, and truthful.
ly report the condition of things There
is section in Abbeville COUNTY known
as "The Promised Land" which prol. ably
would be worthy Of visit from such an
inspector.
| further protest against 80 low an
application Of my profession as to say,
that "the negro is king in the cotton field,
and farming is his sphere" Between
the plough handles he can lay no more
claim to princely recognition than the
animal at the end of the beam. He is
a failure, teetotal dead failure, where
not controlled, guided and supervised by
the white man. And to succeed to-day
as farmer requires rs much int 'ligence
required in any Of the so-called learned
professions. Agriculture is a science,
and to master it even partially requires
learning thought, judgment and indus
try. The competition in the agricultural
race today is tenfold greater than it was
even ten years ago, and unless the practi-
cal farmer learns something of this science
before he goes to the field, be is sure to
be distanced in the race. And who ever
heard of q negro being scientific except
by imitation? And being the most imi
tative creatures in the world, some of
them are bound to bo success in almost
every vocation.
These structures may appear severe.
and possibly some may say the negso
deserves All apology at my hands for ut
tering them. But not So l would not
abuse him, and give him as would
Satan-"his dues" if he had any but
will never consent to your proposition,
that he deserves the credit Of having
made the State richer, if it has become
so, agriculturally. And this, too, deny,
which brings me to another point upon
which take issue with you.
1t has become the habit latterly Of o
Mr.. Atkinson, Of Boston, and other
Northern manufacturers to blow loudly
about the unsurpassed agricultural re-
sources of the South and they to prove
them invariably instance the Increased
cotton crops of the respective Southern
StateC, especially of South Carolina, as
you have done in your editorial. You
say the cotton crop Of 1880 in this State
amounted to 1918 bales more than it
was in 1860. This can be accounted for
without giving credit to anybody,
because it has been done largely at the
expense of other products. Before the
war South Carolina grew nearly one and
half millions Of bushels of wheat,
principally in the upper counties, into
which it was rare thing to see barrel
of -four imported. Nowadays those
very counties import more flour for home
consumption than is grown within their