The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1893-01-04

ny off Than Any Other Olass'
n,o Albany Herald had "a Tale OF
o,l lIS to unfold to the world Friday in
WV n.a TO the present impoverished
'sl' lition of the country negroes, or,
cOu sa properly speaking, the farming
uo aroes of that section. The Herald
says; 5 50 +base oo,pmps
mook as saying that the negroes OF
i@'' ' ,,+rv were in a worse fix today
Wv Ia thew had been since they were set
- Inv one who will go into the country
1ooouaipt himself with the true con-
'1 I+ion Of these people will find that this
farmer told the literal tlu;h.
IND in the districts that have been
,,most entirely deserted by the whites,
having the negroes to themselves, is
rbore the prevailing poverty is most ex-
treme.
The farm labor of this section may be
5irided into three classes, ~ the "rent-
.,s,, or tenants, who rent land and man
ooo their own little farms; ~ the "crop-
nors - who work under the supervision
o. the landowner for share of the
crop and 81 the day laborers, who work
oitber by the day, month or year, for
sinulated wages and "rations."
Of these three classes the tenants are,
at the close of the present year, lin the
worst fix. Left to do their own planning
and to plant and cultivate their crops
after their own ideas, with nobody to
nrge them forward in the daily labor
necessary to cultivate growing crops
successfully, most of them have failed to
make enough to pay their rents and to
satisfy the liens given to secure their
factors for supplies furnished. Their
stock has been taken from them, and
manv of them are actually left without
as much as 5ushel of corn or anything
to eat.
The troopers" are, as rule, some
what better off, 7on account of having
had the benefit of better management Of
their landlord partners; but many of this
class, too, have made larger acct uns
during the year than their share CT the
crop will satisfy. And those of this
class who have anything left are selling
it off at the prevailing low prices, or ex-
changing it for whisky, tobacco and the
trinkets that entice their simple taste
when they come to town. They are
selling off their corn now for fifty cents
per bushel, and will have what corn and
meal they get next spring and summer
charged to them at 81 and $1.10 per
bushel. It was so last year and the year
before, and it is reasonable to suppose
that it will be so next year.
To show how widespread and general
the existing poverty among the Negroes
is, we will give the experience of two
well-known Negroes who returned to the
city yesterday from what may be termed
a wen-digging expedition. Jeffrey Hill
and Cato Irvine are well-diggers, and
have been digging wells in Lee county.
They have been gone about three weeks,
and dug and repaired wells on several
different plantations. The Herald first
encountered Jeffrey telling a crowd about
the hardships he had encountered. He
said that after the rations that he and
Cato carried with them gave out, they
We're unable to get bite of meat to eat
The Negroes just didn't have it. Final
Iy, after living two or three days on
roasted potatoes-all they could procure
to eat-they found man who let them
have little meat and syrup. The poor
fellow didn't have these commodities to
spare, but loaned them a small quantity,
to be returned with interest after their
return Eom town the following Monday
To secure him in the loan, Jeffrey and
Cato left one OF their most valuable tools
"a new saw-with their benefactor
Tell you what's er fac . SAID jeffrey,
after relating his experience, eff de white
-olks don't go back into de country an
lake charge of de plantations an look
alter EN- deyselves, de niggers all gwine
o starye. OATS jes' like tell youn'
Half an hour after hearing Jeffrey's
.aie Of woe the Herald scribe met Cato,
and, repeating to him some of the things
hat Jeffrey had said, asked him no y
,bout it.
Well, boss, said Cato, Jeffrey told
you de Huf-he. sho' did 1 tell you, de
lggers outin de country amt got nuth' n
eat. One place where we went an dug