Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1898-01-14
FARMER AND PLANTER.
ANTI-CASH RENT CRUSADE.
A Question that Ia Agitating the Land
Owners aud Tenants OF Texas-The Stu
alton from the Tenants Standpoint.


protective movement in Texas has
grown more rapidly or spread to larger
limits in recent years than that now
forming among the farm renters
This statement came from one OF the
leaders of the movement to substitute
crop shares for cash rent This leader,
speaking Of the movement said:
"These men have lesser proportion
Of prosperity to show for their years
work in 1897 than any other of the pop
ulation of this state. More than one
half the cultivated farm lands in Texas
are under the rent system. The Gus
tom has been to lease the lands on the
cash-rent basis, at u certain price per
acre, to be paid in money by the
tenant to the land owner. This sys-
TEN has proven disastrous for the
tenant this year. Not one renter in
fifty has so much as n dollar left to
show for his years industry. No mat
ter how much land he may have Guilt
waited, or how bountiful may have been
the yield in his crops, the land owner
and the merchant who has carried him
for supplies have taken practically all
he possessed in settlement of his debts;
and perhaps they have not been fully
settled at that When the tenant states
his side of the causes for this condl-
ton, conscientious, disin Interested minds
do not hesitate to conclude that his
side is the only one there is with merit
in it, and no one is surprised at the
widespread agitation that the cash
rent system has so suddenly precipi-
tated in Texas.
Take this years experiences of the
renters as an illustration OF condi-
ton that has long existed in the agri'
cultural sections of the state, with un'
satisfactory results for them at all
times, but absolute disaster this year
The tenant farmer contracts with the
land owner in the winter or spring, al
an agreed price per acre, to be PAID
when the crops are harvested and mar
lieted, the date of settlement usually
being fixed for not later than October
OF November.
"The bargain is clear and safe one
for the land owner, but the tenant
farmer is going it blind This year
when contracts were made, the pros
perity' promises were ringing in thu
tenant farmers ears. lle had Wis
ions of the high-priced cottor
not less than seven cents, ant
perhaps as much rs ten cents pc
pound-for the crop of 1897 He con
tracted his cash-rent promises on TIT
basis OF this mental calculation. Ii
the spring he pictured himself maj
with bank account to his credit il
the fall; now he finds himself on TIL,
verge of paupcrism, although he ha
been industrious and practiced self
denial in the matter OF home econom!
all the season. lie is desperate. TIL
ten-cent cotton vision of the spring ha
changed to Il iive-cent cotton realit.
in the fall. The profits Of his GRO
have not neeted him more money thar
his cash-rent contract with his land
lord calls for, and having paid hi
debt he finds himself broke
collectively, the tenant farmer il
Texas, during the last go days, ha
started on gigantic crusade. lie an
nounces himself as reformer. He ha
raised the banner of anti-cash rent
He has taken on his platform the time
honored aphorism: 'Self-preservatio
is the first law of nature" Acting o
this maxim, he has become active t
the point of dangerous aggressivenes
in certain instances. These instance
are the individual exceptions to tn
course pursued by the collective ter
nntry. They have been characterize
by whitecap outrages, in which fe'
men have been whipped, one or tw
shot, aud numerous threats made i
writing TO poison wells and cisterni
TO SOW lands in johnson grass and
burn buildings, in the event of cusl
rent contracts being made in the fl
ture. But the bulk of the agitation i
this tenant-farmer crusade has bee
conducted on higher and broader metl
DDS. 1t has been given the characte
of living issue, IL movement TO a
tract public attention and enlist pul
lie sympathy. Mass meetings ha,
been held in fully 100 farming con
munities. Organizations have bee
! perfected on the anti-cash rent found
ton, the general name adopted bein
the Cotton Growers Protective ass
ciation.' The policy general adop
ed has been TO indorse substituting ii
crop-sharc system for the cash-rel
system. This would make the lar
owner proft-and-loss partner viii
the tenant farmer. The rental tern
offered are one-third the grain al
one-fourth the cotton raised. Th
7 would make the land owner direct
t interested with the tenant farmer
7 procuring top-notch price for Il
products when marketed, and stop ii
e tendency TO force the tenant farm
8 into the market to sell at whatev
8 price he could get in order to procu
t means with which to pay his landlo
I the money called for in the cash-re
q contract. After settlement the tena
farmer would he more likely to ha
something beside poverty or pauperis
as an asset
AT many Of these meetings rcsol
tions have been adopted calling t
state Legislation to better the conc
ton of the farm tenantry. One leg
lative relief usually demanded is Il
repeal OF the law permitting the mo-
gaging Of crops, stock and imp
lnents to procure credit with INT
chants. 1t is conceded by the adv
Gates Of repeal that it would, for
year or two work widespread hardsh
to the tenantry, but in the end
would prove blessing. In would
augurate economy in debt-contracti
and stimulate the raising ont he farm
many articles of living now purchas
on credit at double prices from t
tn,,a N t-au rrviun merchant. who