The Portland daily press., 1883-02-21
why Thrifty Negro is Disliked.

why d 1urI1by N0SfO Is O1Sl1k0O.
The New York Snn has correspondent.
Mr.. Frank Wilkeson, who is enriching its
columns with accounts of the present condi-
tion of the black race in the South and with
speculations as to its future. This corre-
spondent finds that the negroes of the Sea
Islands are bettering their condition, be-
coming thrifty and gaining knowledge. In
other parts of the South they are not doing
30 well. The fault, the writer thinks. is
that of the white man who hires, not of the
black man who is hired. He could not at
first understand why the negroes who drift
ed to that portion of the alluvial bottoms of
the Mississippi valley known as "the bends"
should not also be making enough to pay
their way and even to lay up something for
old age or the time of bad lack. He found
the explanation to be in the fact that the
"sleuth hounds of trade" ready to furnish
goods at enormous prices, or money
at enormous usury, ''were chasing
them through valleys and over the divides,
and waving mortgages at the retreating
dusky FORMS" Many and many black
man told him, in answer to bis inquiry as to
how he was prospering: "Boss, it makes no
difference if de crops are good or bad it is
nebber 'nough to pay de store account, neb-
berf' The merchants and traders simply
seized their crop and took it all. Many of
the white planters are in the clutches of the
usurers, but even of those who are not, some
prefer that the negroes shey hire should
be penniless and in debt. As an instance
of this spirit, Mr.. Wilkeson met "a bright,
snappy man. and one o. the most success
full planters in the valley. who said he could
and did produce cotton for 81 cents per
pound and regularly made money out of his
business, but who set forth his singular
method in the following not very choice
language: "Damn thrifty niger. When
a negro comes to work for me | ask him but
one question; that is, do you play craps%
Ia negro gambling game played with dice.
If he answers No. do not hire him.
wants my hands to gamble and to spend
their money. am running my plantation
to make money, not to elevate niggers.
find can make more money by keeping my
hands poor and dependent than by having
them accumulate property. will not al
low thrifty niger to stay on my place"
A majority of the planters, however, desire
to have their colored hands prosper and be-
come contented, quit moving from one
education to enable them to read and write,
and possibly keep simple accounts.
Mr.. Wilkeson found his model planter in
the person eff Mr.. John C. Calhoun, grand
son of the famous South Carolinian of that
name. He came to Arkansas from New
York city in 1869, and at the depressed
prices which then prevailed bought a plan
tation of 5000 acres. There were but 200
acres of it in cultivation, and but 20 hands
were employed on the place. Determined
to interest tho negro and induce him to
stick to the plantation year after year, he
adopted the enlightened policy of try
ing to treat him so that he could
make a living. He sold goods to his
hands at a moderate profit instead of charg-
ing two or three prices, and tried to confine
their purchases to the necessaries of
life. He explained to them the conditions
under which they could become successful,
and instructed them in thrifty habits. He
brought $50 negroes from the old Calhoun
plantation in Alabama, every one of whom
was ont OF money and in debt. They have
prospered as their employer has prospered,
and to-day there are 260 full hands on the
plantation, with 1000 acres under cultiva-
tion. There are clean and comfortable
houses, neat gardens, fields well titled and
mostly well fenced, and all the improve
ments have been paid for out of the profits
of the farm. All the hands are out of debt
and have accumulated stock, tools and some
money. They are contented, and not man
leaves for any other plantation. Land is
rented to them for the reason that they work
with more heart when they are to receive a
portion of the crop than when they work
for wages, and many of them hire tracts oi
20, 20 or so acres, and, having become the
owners of enough mules to cultivate the
land, hire other negroes for monthly wages
to assist them in their operations, and some
Of them turn out to be very successful man.
ayers.
When the great body of the planters un.
derstand, as Mr.. Calhoun does, that intelli-
gent and independent labor is always more
profitable to the lapd owner as well as to
the laborer, than the work that is performed
by the ignorant and needy, the way will be
opened for the permanent prosperity of the
black and the white races alike.