The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-09-13
STILL PICKING COTTON.
TIE THREATBNED STRIKE FAILS
TO MATERIALlzE.


The Movement Deprecated by Some
of the White Leaders.
NEW ORLEANS, Sept. pa special to
the Picdyune from Houston, Tex, says:
To-day is set for the big cotton picker
strike, which isto embrace every state in
the cotton belt Col. Humphreys, the white
man who has engineered the scheme and
who expects to reap the benefit, said last
night to your correspondent, Il have the
names of 100, 900 pickers IN all portions of
the south who stopped picking cotton last
night until they get 81 per hundred and
board. These men are all Hnder oath to
pick no more cotton save their own until
Nov. l.
STRoNGHoLDs OF THE MOVEMENT.
I'm reply TO question as to where the
movement was strongest he replied that in
Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama nearly
every colored picker had joined the league.
and that In the Atlantic states the member
ship is large As TO how the piokers will
exist through the fall and winter, he says
they have been advised to seek other en-
ployment at any price. all of which is
utterly imprsoticable, as the cotton field
negroes could not make much headway in
the cities and towns, and If they should
strike it would mean just so many petty
thieves turned loose upon the communities,
the colored cotton pickers, as a rule, being
the mCst impoverished and thteViSh class on
the plantations. Reports from different
sections in Southern Texas show no trouble.
though there IL some dissatisfaction among
the negroes in the black belt, but of what
nature be did not know"
NO STRIKE IN NORTH CAROLINA.
CHARLOTTE, N. c., Sept. 12.-Cotson
picking has not fairly begun in tais section
as yet. Consequently nothing is heard Of
the cotton-pIckers' strike. A special to the
Chronicle from Raleigh gives the following
from President Butler OF the white farmers
alliance Of This state. President Butler said
THE strike is not yet ordered for North
Carolina | read to-day the organ Of the
| colored alliance 1t Is Humphreys paper,
and is published In Texas It orders the
| strike for Texas and South Carolina.
THEIR STRENGTH ovEREsrIMATED.
"The reason why a strike is not ordered
for this state is that the strength of the all
| lance is not SO great here as in the states
| above referred TO. | do not think the
| figures giving $1,000 as the strength Of the
| coored alliance in North Carolina are cor
| rect, think that the alliance is exagger-
ating its strength. To-day we had a sort
Of conference here in regard to
this matter Of strike. No definite action
was agreed upon. We await an order for
| strike in this state. We hope it will not
come. Next week the reform press will
| lecture the colored alliance men and will
take decided stand in disapproval of their
course.
THE NEGRo's MISTAKE.
THE PROGRESSIVE Farmer will have au
| editorial on the matter, and so will my
| paper, the Clinton Caucasian The fact is
the negro alliance is kicking at things in
sight instead Of joining the white alliance
in getting at the cause Of the trouble. The
| negroes have made "a mistake. Some years
| ago the white alliance struck and made a
| failure of it. This strike is aimed directly
at the cotton planter. who Is the
friend and supporter of the negro. We
will try to Induce the colored alliance TO re-
| consider its hasty. ill-timed and improper
| action. If persuasion is of no use and a
| strike is called for North Carolina, then we
will crush it out. We have the strength III
the white alliance here TO do it,"
GEN. HAMPToN's VIEWS.
WASHINGTON, Sept. Ex-senator Hamp-
ton, who is here for few days, speaking of
the so-called "strike of the cotton pickars,"
says that there is no such thing, and will
not be. The colored workers of the south
are not the kind OF hirehngs that seek to
embarrass their employers. In nine cases
out of ten there il a contract between the
land owner and laborer, usually satisfactory
to each party. The laborer is living in a
| house free OF rent, he has his own cotton
patch Possibly-cer rtainly his own provision
| ground, with corn, sweet potatoes, okra,
melons, beans, cowpeas, peanuts, ETC., his
pigs and cow possibly, and possibly his
| own mule. No northern laborer is as we'll
| off,
Nowhere is there such community OF
! interest between land owner or capitalist.
as be may be called. The laborers are de-
pendent on one another. Unless wicked
men engender it there is no anita gonism, and
there will be no strike outside of newspaper
reports furnished by those who desire to see
the south worry. The so-called "Col."
| Humphreys, says Mr.. Hampton, is a fraud,
or crank perhaps. In South
| Carolina there Will be no trouble
in picking the crops on the contracts made
| last January. The colored laborers are
generally good-intentioned men, willing to
| carry out any contract made il the en-
| ployer has fulfilled his pledges. Gen.
| Hampton regards the assertion of strike
| by COO, 900 laborers as roorback.
| NO STRIKE IN ALABAMA.
| MOBILE, ALA, Sept. 12.-There will be
no strike among the negroes engaged in
| picking cotton in Alabama. Farm labor
in most parts OF the cotton region in Ala
bama and West Mississippi is by tenants or
| upon the share system. w here there are
| negro alliances the tenant farmers are in-
fluential members, and hired labor Is COM
posed of floating negroes and the women and
children of the farmers. The substance of
the reports from special correspondents Of
the Register upon the subject is that no
traces OF a strike circular have been found;
| that the extra labor needed is obtainaole at
current wages, and that the negroes who
| discuss q strike oppose the idea.
| THE STRIKE A MYTH.
ATLANTA, Ga, Seps 12-The reported
proves to be a myth. The negroes are ali at
work except in such portions of the state
where il is raining. Reports received by
the Journal from Texas, all portions of
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, louisiana
and Tennessee are to the same effect.
NONE OUT IN NORTH CAROLINA.
| WILMINGTON, N. c., Sept 12.-Thus far
there are no indications of a strike Of the
cotton pickers in North Carolina, and If it
vas ineugurated it is believed that it would
proye dismal failure. The white alliance
men cannot afford to countenancs such
movement and will uee their best efforts to
prevent it.
ALL QUIET IN SOUTH CA RoLINA.
CHARLESTON, s. c.. Sept. 12.-Specials
to the Ne1Us and Courier from all parts of
South Carolina state that there are no signs
of a strike Ia the cotton fields. Nobody
seems to know anything about the alleged
strike Of the cotton pckers The farmers
are paying from 30 TO 40 cents per 100
pounds.