New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-11-22
SLAVES.
THE FLORIDA CRACKER OWNED by THE
STOREKEEPER

SPINNING AND WEAVING DONE BY THE
woMEN-rHE HIDDEN sT1LL-A DANCE.
Blue Springs, Florida, Nov. 13-ii there 10
ANYBODY on this wide continent who believes ,ha'
| we are q homogeneous people, with one iahsuase'
one set of customs and one mode OF me- leu hi,
com. down here to middle Florida and ne VIII
no disa bused Of the theory with suddenness that
will make him dizzy He will find himself among
conditions that differ as widely from ordinary
civilization as Uganda warrior differs from o
| member of the Concord School Of Philosophy
Look on the map for Marion County, where TINS
Mace IA located, then for Levy Citrus JEFFERSON
Madison and La Fayette Counties, further to the
west and the boundaries Of darkest Columbia VIII
| be determined.
Here for nearly a century people have lived In
the blacklist ignorance of everything that is ciVhz
ing or humanizng. They are the Florida crack
ersn The term smacks Of contempt, as IL Is useo
, by the better classes a good deal as they Apply
Yankee" to the entire North, but among the
| crackers themselves it is regarded as harmless
| appellatisn Recently their stronghold has been
| opened up TO some extent by the discovery OF
| phosphate, which has strung line OF works all
| the way from this county to Peace Creek, near
| Punta Gorda, the most southerly railroad point
in the United States but the natives have stub,
| bornly resisted lnnoVauOn ana are oeiii Z" 'e
seen in their primal condition.
When a stranger first arrives in this region ne
| is confronted with SO many extraordinary things
| that the effect 10 confusing, but the wretched
poverty of the people is pretty sure to make the
paramount impressiouI Five Points or Seven
Dals never sheltered such hideous squalor as
exists on every hand. The home of one cracker
is like that Of another in all essential details. 1t
consists of a hut of rough-hewn logs, standing in
the midst of q miniature clearing and usually
| hanked by corn-crib q pig-pen. Two poles.
| thrust across an angle Of the wall and covered
with skins constitutes bed and few old boxes
do duty as chairs and table. There is usually
q pile of pine needles in one corner where brood
| of small children sleep in promiscuous heap An
old iron pot and few tin plates are the only
cooking utensils, and as they are practically in
destructble, they are handed down from genera
ton to generation precious herlooms.
Corn-bread and "white bacon form the staple
diet year in and year out, varied now and then by
q rabbit or squirrel shot in the woods. White bacon
is the cheapest and most unwhoesome meat in the
whole category Of gastric abomination 1t is
sailed pork-fat. unsmoked. The corn-bread Is
simply unbolted meal; stirred up with salt and
water and baked in humid pones' that bear no
resemblance to the dainty fashioned with eggs,
butter milk and mufn-rings that the
Northern mind associates with the word
The effect of this frightful diet is
visible on every hand. Consumption runs riot
and half the children one secs are scrofulous. III
is deformed race, mentally and physically. The
men are almost invariably gaunt, hollow chested,
with skins the color Of dirty wax. IL is next
to impossible to rouse one OF them out OF his
listlessness, his dull, apathetic indifference to
everything, and their average mental status Is
about that Of boy OF ten. One looks IN vain
among these people for the pleasant folklore OF
the farmers and backwoOdsmen Of the North,
the song and stories breathing q love of home
and family. There is nothing OF the sort here
Their traditions are full of violence and filth.
their everyday talk is foul and disgusting, they
have no respect for their women, nothing moves
them t. smile except some act of indecency
they are sunk, man, woman and child, In
depth of depravity not to be fathOmed by words
In Madison and Jefferson Counties the crackers
are less Of backwoodsmen than small farmers. and
are owned body and soul, by the merchants
in the little towns. The process by which the
bondage is arrived at is beautifully simple. 1t
is due primarily TO the raising OF cotton All the
combined influence of the storeleepers is directed
toward encouraging its cultivation. Cotton is
the money crop Of the cracker farmer, ana
can be- moot readily handled by the dealer, but on
would be q curious one to farmers elsewhere.
The average cracker owns one mule and with it
he can raise year for year, two bales of long
STABLE, cotton per season. This will cost him
as follows: 50 bushels of corn and 1000 pounds
of fodder for the mule, SAL 90 at current prices;
So for plough tools; 500 for labor, $50 for
laborers' board; $50 for ground rent; $50 for
fertilizer: Sl2 for ginning" So for hauling and
SIC for picking, $246 80 in all. mule costs
81 co. bringing the total up to S346 80. lie
will receive on an average 800 a bale for the
cotton and will probably succeed in bringing to
town 100 bushels of corn and $50 In sunores.
making $500 in oil, and leaving him. with care
and attention to business, SAG 90 behind. But
ne never sells pound OF cotton himself III is
seized as fast as it comes in by the storekeepers.
with whom he has meantime run up more or
less expensive account. chatte[mortgage on
everything the unfortunate cracker owns Oh earth
exeept his wife and babies is taken, and he is
charged per cent interest per month, compounded
nm his account This is not rare or exceptional
case but the custom Of the country.
The storekeeper not only furnishes the farmer
with provisions, but when the spider is first en-
gagged in Turing the fly he acts to some small
extent as, his banker. The victim can usually
borrow a few dollars at the store. / saw case
in point at Monticello which can well stand as a
TYNE for all Of them. A tall, palid man, who had
lust ridden in on a broken-down mule, sided up
TO the counter of large establishment and opened
conversation with the proprietor. lie inquired
about his health and his family. and loaded him
with cringing, servle lattery until it was pain
fully evident that he was paving the way for
some request. The storekeeper probably saw it
in the same light and answered in surly mono
sylables. Finally the man, after several false
starts. asked for the loan Of 81. The merchant
scowled at him.
Il can't be keeping yeu," he said. How do
I know when you'll pay this back ?"
"rlI pay you next week, sure" replied the
farmer. eagerly Veal will have some taters