The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1882-07-08
The Entering Wedge.
Guiteau.

The late Sidney Lanier, the Southern poet,
who was man of close observation and did
not by any means c0nfne his literary efforts
to the realm of fancy, contributed to Scrib-
ners Monthly-now the Century-sOme two
years ago very interesting article on small
farming in the South, in which, for the first
time, the public were made acquainted with
the very remarkable agricultural revolution
that has been in progress there since the
war, and which in course of time promises
to work out solution of many of the
social and political problems which have
vexed that section Mr.. Lanier wrote be-
fore the census of 1880 had been taken, and
he was, there fore, not in possession OF the
latest data, but he showed conclusively that
as result of the change in the labor sys-
tenn of the South brought about by the
emancipation of the slaves, the working of
large plantations had ceased to be profitable
and these extensive holdings were being
rapidly divided into small farms, the pur-
chasers being partly of the class known as
"pOor whites" and partly freedmen. As
we remember, Mr.. Lanier laid great stress
upon the benefit which was likely to follow
from this rediyisiQn of the land, as tending
to insure more careful tillage of the soil, a
wider Investigation of crops, and the
elevation of the condition of the middle
classes.
Now that we have the official figures of
the census of 1880 at hand, we can see that
this land revolution has been going forward
at even a more rapid rate than Mr.. Lanier
imagined. In 1870 the total number of farms
in the United States was 1850, 900, but in 1880
it had increased to 1000, 900, gain of 81
per cent for the country at large. In the
South, however, the increase was far greater,
and as the immigration is known to have
been inconsiderable, it must be ascribed to
| the cause which Mr.. Lanier cites-the di-
vision of the old plantations-rather than
to the clearing and breaking in of new
ground. The percentages of gain are as
follows: Virginia go, North Carolina 68,
South Carolina 81, Georgia 90, Alabama 1O2,
Florida 100, Louisiana 20, Mississippi 80,
Arkansas 81, and Texas 185. The last
named State, and even Arkansas, should
perhaps be excluded from the list, on the
ground that both have enjoyed considera-
BILE immigration, but the general result re-
mains the same
1t is evident that while the large land
ownes have been compelled, either from the
foreclosure of mortgages on their property or
their inability to procure the labor neces-
sary to the profitable working of their planta-
lions, to sell portion of their lands, the
working class have saved enough money to
become proprietors themselves, and that the
equalization of fortune, which always takes
place when all unnatural restrictions are
removed from labor, is in process of rapid
accomplishment. Heretofore the aristocratic
planter class have held absolute sway over
the society as well as the politics of the
South, and it is putting it very mildly to
say that they Have never looked with favor
upon "self-made men," as in the North we
are wont to call those who rise to eminence in
trade, commerce, manufactures, art, science
literature or the learned professions through
their own individual efforts. The division
of the big plantations and the rise OF a class
of small farmers are the first steps in the
! process of evolution which will ultimately