Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-03-02
Plantation ImprOvIdence.

The curse Of the plantation negro IL
his improvidence; or, To speak more
strictly, II is the curse of the credit
system Of which he is part The
storekeepcr. the planter and the negro
al have 70 rum here on long credits con
tingent on the cotton crop. In the case
Of the negro. this Is doubly bad for him,
because the credit system not only means
excessive charges for his supplies. but
qaiok exhaustion Of them. rs he inn
AGNES that credit signifies something
indefinite. vague and large, which will
justify extravaganza. AS rule, work
ing his wife and child or two in the
accomplishing season. he can earn not
more than 1880 or $500 year; and
while his actual wants are few. his do
siros are bOundless. Beginning his
working year with credit Mt the store
OF, say. 800. he exhausts this and per-
haps further credit i'm thousand inn
provident ways. He makes reckless
domestic purchases, drinks whisky,
while costly trash like sardines. canned
oysters. rasins and candy are crammed
without limit into his craving nav.
have heard of n negro who. during one
visit OF an hour or two at a store, ate truck
of this sort amounting TO twelve dollars
and q half charged against his credit.
In consequence of all this his credit soou
reaches It's end, and the close of the sea,
son finds him in debt; then the planter
and storekeeper have TO carry him
through the wintef on short supplies
and almost on a p0or-house basis. II,
revels for five months in the year, and h,
and his family starve the other seven.
Even when industrious and saving h,
finds II hard to- do anything with hi,
money. OF land titles he Is suspicious
and therefore rarely. becomes a land
owner; there are no savings banks 70
him within four hundred miles, aud 4
there were, the ll-starred Freedmen't
Bank example would probably deter hin
from deposits; of railroad OF even GOV
eminent bonds he is rs ignorant as ,
Feejee. So he usually ends either b,
burying his money in the ground or try
ing with II tn lease or work alarger are,
81 cotton, an enterprise in which. owing
to his defective Organizing faculty, III
commonly fails. II the idea of the &C
cumulation OF money by interest in som.
safo,investment like Government bono
N~taAt NV W Nhr, ANANou vi bht utXEO
mind, the results in this dark region fol
the benefit OF the freedmen would be in
estimable. But how TO inculcate thai
idea on MS defective Intelligence is 1
problem that still awaits solution.
Even the improvidance OF the negro
like other plantation faults, has now ahC
then its amusing side. Anew years age
there eaine in this neighborhood an IN
precedented cold snap. the snow falling
To the depth OF foot and. a half. Tn,
negroes are peculiarly susceptible q
cold, but never keep large stock o
fuel. although Tthe woods are close a
their doors. The snow caught them will
low wood-pnes. which were quickly ak
hausted. and they had no sleds to drac
more fuel with Consequently, as (
planter friend here tells me, nearly al
the negro families Of NE region had {,
60 TO bed for two whole DAYS TO keer
warm. Now and then member of IN,
family would "make n break" for
moment to grab something to eat, anC
then retire quickly to cover.-Arkansa
Cor. NJ y EUeniso Post.