The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1882-01-21
Ire South Carolina Exodus.

IL no disgusting the fact that n
most alarming condition Of things
exists in EdgeGeld county, IN con.
sequence Of the exodus Of negroes ,
to Arkansas, which began more
than q week since and has cOntin.
ued almost without intermission up
to the present time. Ii is estima- !
ted that already about one-fith of
the entire negro population of the
county, or more than 5,000 per.
sons, has gone aud the fever is
still spreading. There has been
nothing like it since the days of
Pharaoh, aud the situation may
occasion the deepest anxiety for
the future. In the Ridge section
of the country, extending from
the Lexington boundary to this
place along the line of the Char.
lotte, Columbia and Augusta rail
road aud east Of this road to the
Aiken county line, embracing a
stretch of territory twenty-four |
miles long and four to five miles,
wide, il is estimated that ut least
four tifths of the negroes have
joined the exodus. The townships
most affected by the movement
are Shaw, Ward, Norris aud por.
tions of Moblcy aud Pickens.
Some of the most extensive plan.
tations in this section, on which
large numbers of negroes were
formerly employed, are now with.
one colored laborer, and the out.
look is gloomy enough to cause
widespread dismay. The reports
have not exaggerated a single fea.
ture of this unparalleled move
ment; entire settlements have been
depopulatcd, and the public roads
leading to Augusta have resound.
ed day and night for the past week
with the shutting tread Of u pict-
uresque and motley caravan.
There has been but little differ.
cnce in the statements of the
exodus people rs to the causes
which have led to their departure.
The invariable complaints have
been that the negroes enjoy no
political rights; that they cannot
vote at the elections and if they do
vote that their ballots are not
counted; that they have no repre-.
sentation in the government, and
that their rights are in the keeping
of q hostile political party. An.
other complaint is that the rent
of land is so high and the price of
provisions 80 exorbitant they can.
not make living. "For ten years
as they express it, 1--WE have tried
to make money aud have not been
able to do 80. We are poorernow
than when we began, we have less
in fact we have nothing. We have
not lived extrayagantly, we have
exercised all the economy we know
how to use and we are going fur.
ther down hill every day. There
is no help for us here, there's no
use IN trying to get along under
the-Qld conditions any longer, and
so we have just determined to 20
somewhere else and take q new
START Another cause of the ex.
odus is general dissatisfaction at
the passage Of the stock law which
the negroes claim to be the straw
that broke the camel's back. To
this cause more than any other
combination of circumstances may
be attributed the determination of
the negroes to carry ont the exc.
dus scheme without delay. They
claim that their wishes and ncces.
stiles were not consulted, that they
were not asked or allowed to sign
petitions against its passage, that
the law passed in spite of the pro-
tests of the larger part of the peo-
pie of the county, and that under
its provisions they would find it i'm.
/ possible to exist. Upon the flesh
Of a few il-favored hogs they de.
pended for their supply of meat,
and the little milk and butter they
could get from their cows helped
TO keep the wolf from the door.
These supplies taken from them,
and they did not see how it was
! possible to get along and so they
concluded to go "unto a land . de-
scribed to them as Slowing with
milk and honey.n
Most of the negroes in the Sec
ton of country from which the
exodus was made worked under a
tenantry system. They rented
land and worked it on their own
account, paying a stipulated
amount Of cotton for every acre of
land under cultivation.
The Columbus, Miss, Dispatch
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