Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-01-10

| CottOn with Whlch 10 pay Tor MS mule, IOr
his labor, and the lien he had given for the
| years provisions. If this statement is true,
! the wonder is, not that an exodus Of such mag
nitude has taken place, but that that section
OF country has not long ago been depopu-
lated. But there is another side to this
| story. Some say that this exodus Is alto
gether political movement, and others that
it is speculative, and that the owners of
Arkansas swamp lands are at the bottom
Of it. For this last there is some
foundation in the establishment of negro
colony on the line of the Helena railroad.
For the other there is the testimony of the
planters, who aver that so far as they can they
have administered to the advancement Of
the negro, have supplied public schools and
have shared with him the ups and downs in
cident to community life. The Augusta
Chronicle presents this side of the question
very forcibly. 1t declares that people who
have the best opportunity of judging, by
actual observation, know that the colored
population of South Carolina has been
given every chance TO progress. Composed
in the main of farmers these people have
Ttultu ldIlu5 anu III q &c uuuADcI VI CaSS5
planted on their own responsibility. If they
have not met with the success they expected
it is certainly not the fault of the white
people. The rent charged has been mode
rate and they have paid for their supplies the
same prices that their white neighbors have.
Last year was a bad crop year and there was
universal complaint, but the colored farmers
suffered no more than the white The rain
fell upon their cotton and corn Just az it did
upon other peoples, and they were damaged
by the drouth no more than any one else.
1t was a misfortune to them that the crops
were short, but so it was to the white people
also. Another cause of discomfort assigned
should have had no weight whatever. The |
colored farmer will profit even more an !
his white neighbor by the stock law. Colored |
people as a rule, own very little stock, and
they are obliged to keep up expensive and |
troublesome fences to prevent the cattle of |
others from rsiding their crops. Under the |
new law they can clear piece OF ground and
plant at once without a fence, when before
they would have been obliged to first erect
strong fence. But the colored people did not
stop to reason about the matter. Told by
those who had an interest in getting them to
leave, that the law was a blow aimed
specially at them, they accepted it with
blind faith" They would exodust, and in
Arkansas seek the conditions denied to
hem at their old homes They
lid exodust. Con6ding in the state
nents of an educated man OF their
,wn color they gave him all the money they
and the result was that hundreds
If them got no further than Augusta, where
or days they loitered and fingered, hungry
md disappointed, and at last turned their
lad faces toward the places they had left in
nope. The Chronicle thinks that the story
hese carried hack win deter others from
pulling up stakes" Perhaps SO. Mean
while the white people of Edgefeld and the
adjoining counties of South Carolina, should
put themselves in the place of these dissatis-
led and disappointed negroes. Where there
$ so much smoke there must be some fire
Political bitterness, difference or prejudice,
will not wholly account for a movement that
threatens the defamation of many counties
There must be some other cause for it. For
hat the white people should diligently
eek, and having found it should faith
nlly, theoretically and honestly remove it.
The labor of thehegro is profitable to the coun-
~ at large, as the gains in all the Southern
tates from 1870 to 1880 have abundantly
roven. 1t ought to be made profitable to
imself. Communities cannot any more
han individuals do wrong. In the exchanges
t Time, as in the exchanges of commerce, !.
ne equilibrium must be restored, and in the
the humblest is sure to get his [
ues. 1t is better that these dues should
ome to that class as an immediate I
ssult of its labor than that it should Re =
rested by the pains and penalties incident to h
revolutionary movement like that of which 5
e have treated and which must be deplored
Y all good people.