The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1889-09-26
WIDESPREAD D1sooNrENr.

WIDESPREAD DISCONTENT.
The desire to go away is, rs stated,
widespread am"ug the negroes. When it
first began it was stimulated by mistaken
idea as to the new election law, which
loud mouthed politicians declared would
di.franchise sixth Of the negroes. But
now political motives have ceased to
exist. Ellison went on 10 say that what
the negroes do feel acutely is the snub.
bing which the white republicans have
given, and are still giving them,,in retus'
ing TO recognize them as entitled to Office.
There is on this score a great deal OF
complaint and real anger. He'corld not
say how matters might be in the next
election, but if there WAS now to be q vote
no man could tell how great would be the
Democratic msjority in the State. For
the first time the negro is disgusted with
politics.
Some of the "exodusters" have come
back from the far South and others are
coming. All give discouraging accounts
and say they have to run away. These
reports are having an effect in repressjng
the tendency toward removal from North
Carolina. But the most desperate
attempts will be made, in the face of
these statements, to induce the negroes to
leave here. Of course large exodus
will have a. wonderful effect upon the re-.
publican party. In a pecuniary way it
will be better for the colored people who
remain here, as there will naturally be
less crowding, more demand for their
labor aud better wages. When the
movement first began those who wanted
to 70 denounced those who wished to re.
main or who took ground against the
movement, and it was threatiDgly as
serted that the latter had been bought by
the white people.
SIZE OF THE EXODUS.
Mr.. Ellison thinks that not over 4 per
cent. of the negroes have gone from this
particular section. The number who
will 60 depends in great degree upon
the reports of those pioneers already on
the ground, and, as had been said, their
reports are far from favorable. They
work hard, get seventy five cents day,
and have to pay pretty high for their food.
That being the case, he fails to. see any
merit in the movement. He asserts that
the labor agents started it, paid the fare
of the negroes to their destination and
"placed" them upon their arrival, and
that the labor agents must keep up the
exodus if it is to be maintained. The
negroes have no funds with which to pay
their fare, nor will they be able to secure
them. The agents must be depended upon
to furnish the means.
AS to the merits OF the question,
Mr.. Ellison said he would be glad if the
negroes could find some country in which
they could be prosperous and of which
they could have full knowledge before
they went to it. Here the white land
owner is in nearly as bad condition as
his negro tenant. Bad seasons and low
prices have cramped him, and he cannot
afford to pay high wages. The land is
not productive for the sort of crops grown.
In conclusion he asserted his belief that
the thousands of negroes who had been
hauled away to tina syampS in the
roughest of cars, and dropped few here
and few there, are now as complete
slaves. .as they were here in the old days,
and that, for one, be did not intend to
leave North Carolina.
ANOTHER SIDE OF THE STORY.
Rev. l.. r. Ferebee was next inter-
viewed. He is q power among bis race
and bis influence is remarkable. He
described the visit paid by himself and
the other Commissioners 10 the South.
They were inicharge of railway men, and
were shown lands owned by the railways
in both Arkansas and Mississippi. He
stated that their examination Of the lands
was thorough. They found at 1Clarks'
vile, Miss, numbers of the negroes who
left here last winter. Wages, he asserts,
are from seventy.five cents to $1.50 per
day for common laborers and for skilled
laborers So to $5, while women get So to
SIS per month on the farms. He says
the cotton is the best he ever saw, that
the emigrants are Satisfied and that they
enjoy good health. The Commissioners
recommended lands in the Mississippi
delta or in Southern Arkansas, near Pine
Bluff. Reports of these matters have
been laid before the negroes at all the
points in the State where there are emf
grafton associations, or rather branches
of the parent association at Raleigh.
OF this bureau of emigration Mr.. Ferebee
is the head. 1t is called by him bureau
of intelligence. The names of all those
who desire to leave the State will be en-
rolled, and he expects the movement to
begin on the 18th of this month. The
negroes have not the means to pay their
way, and therefore the agents will advance
their fare, just as they have heretofore
done. The bureau here will have an un-
dsrstanding as to where the people are
going as settlers, and it will have coop.
erative branches at Vicksburg, Grenada,
Little Rock and Pine Bluff.
Mr.. Ferebes asserts positively that the
majority of his race desire to leave here
anS to 60 more rapidly than they can be
moved. If they had money to pay their
fare fifty thousand would leave in ten
days. he says that from this (Wake)
county fifteen hundred negroes have gone
and that four thousand more will go in
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