The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-02-07

Virginia Town That Shows the
Progress the Race Is Making.
Philadelphia Press.

Philadelphia Press.
Farmville is the county seat of Prince
Edward county, which is situated in the
middle country of Virginia. 1t is fifty-seyen
miles southwest of Richmond and midway
between Petersburg and Lynchburg. While
the county occupies nearly the geographical
center of the State the county seat is the
economic center of tobacco culture. the
greatest industry of the State. 1t also lies
in what is known the black belt of Vir
gnia. Farnville itself has about $500 in
habtants, of whom nearly half are whites,
the cOlored element slightly prepOnderating-
II was recently chosen as the field for study
of negro life by Prof. w. r. Burghardt Du
Bots and the results of his investigation are
printed in the January Bulletin of the De-
Partment of Labor at Washington.
Out of the 1850 colored persons known to
have resided in FarmvilIe I'm 1897 informa-
ton obtained as to the condition of
over LEO. AS the material condition is the
basis upon which the welfare of a people
is built uD ii becomes important to know
how the colored people of Farmyille are
employed, what return they get for their
labor, how they live and how successful
they have been in accommodating property.
The Industries in which the colored people
are employed are tobacco manufacturing.
cooperage. woodworking fruit canning, feed
grinding, railroading and brickmaking. The
wages vary according to occupation and
efficiency. some men making as low as so
cents day while others average $150. or
even more d day. OF the 65l colored men
and women engaged in gainful occupations
in Farmville fifteen were employed in agri-
culture, twenty-five in professional services.
3OS in domestic and personal service, forty
seven in trade and transportation and 1853 in
manufactures and mechanical industries.
Some phases of the labor question in
Farmville are worth noting. For instance:
The entire brickmaking business of the
freedman. who bought his and his
familyS freedom. purchased his former
masters estate and eventually hired his old
master to work for him. The leading bar
Der is the wealthiest negro in town and is
reported TO be worth $4,000. The town
iailer is a colored man who Is also a wood
alasta1f h.ArRa
village besides Il farm outside. A growing
dissatisfaction with domestic service is
vile. They regard the work as relic of
slavery. But they are beginning to hire
servants themselves ten families among
the Farmville negroes employing regularly
one servant each while others have occa-
sionaI help. This is one sign of the differ
entiation going on among the colored
people.
The 1872 colored families in Farmville &C.
cupy houses having from one to nine rooms
seventeen families have one room only, l34
families have two rooms each, 10 families
three rooms each, 81 four rooms each, 10
five rooms, six rooms. 3 seven rooms and
; families eight rooms each. Nearly half of
these 262 families their houses, the
rest being renters. The family incomes vary
from $50 year to $3.50 and over. There are
only five families whose income is as low
the first figure. Forty have an income
ranging between $3.50 and $3.50 thirtY-fve
income between $500 and $3.50 and six fami-
lies report an annual income of over $3.50.
There 119 negro taxpayers. The build
ing associations have greatly aided the
Farmville colored people in becoming own
ers of homes. OF the 262 families onlv %
live in poverty OF with less than suffices
for ordinary comfort.
The educational situation is not so en-
couraging as it should be- although when
all things taken into consideration
it must be admitted that a great ad-
vance has been made. Out of the 924 col
ored persons over ten years of age 1856
can read and write 159 read only,
36S illiterate and sixteen did not re-
port The public school attendance is
fairly good however. while in addition
many young colored men and girls from
Farmville are attending colleges and acad-
emies elsewhere in the State In summing
up his study of Farmville Prof. Du Bots
admits that both unfavorable and favorable
conditions are found and that it is hard to
judge which predominant. He sees two en-
ccuraging signs. One is the general hope
fulness of the colored people as to the fu-
ture which he regards as of the greatest
social and economic value and the other
is the growing differentiation of classes
among the negroes. His general conclu-
sion is that the industrious and property
accommodating class of the negroes best rep
resents the general tendency of the group.
Such concrete study of negro life is high
ly valuable as showing the progress the
race is making.