Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1899-11-21
NEGRO CENSUS FIGURES.
Progress in the Country and Poverty In
4 the large Cities.


4 the Large Cities.
Washington, d. c., Nov. 1.-THE cen
:sus officials, in accordance with the
provisions of the law creating the cen.
sus bureau, are collecting and arrang-
ing mass of data which will show the
progress which the colored race has
made in accommodating property, and es-
pecially farm properly. The result of
The Investigations to be made under
Director Merriam in relation to the
economic conditions of the colored race,
relating to farms and mortgages, and
on the population, schedule and owner
ship of the various forms of farms
held by the colored people in the agri-
cultural sections, will be scanned very
closely by all students of economies
and social conditions, who are in the
least interested in the progress of the
colored race.
Great interest is manifested by prom
inent colored men in this feature Of the
census, and Booker Washington has
been in conference with the officials on
the. subject. 1t is expected that the
facts, as tabulated for the census of
1900, will show that the freedman has
made great progress since the close of
the civil war.
The only available statistics that can
.berobtained at this time by the census
officials touching the progress of the
;colored race in accommodating property
as that of reports contained in reports
of the Southern states. These states
have their assessors, and report the
property of the colored people for tax
alton apart from the property of the
whites. In those states it is thus pos
sible to ascertain what percentage of
the various forms of assessed property
is owned by the whites and what held
by the colored. Virginia was one of
the first states to begin the publication
of its assessment records in this way.
In 1850 the colored people of Vir-
ginia constituted 41.76 per cent. of the
population. In 1890 they made up only
i3S.40 per cent. They had increased
in numbers somewhat in this period,
but the whites had shown 4 relatively
greater percentage of mere. The
colored people in Virginia, ii is esti-
mated, do not now constitute
much more than 36 per cent,
but, while they have since
1890 decreased / or 2 per cent,
they have increased their holdings of
farm property as shown by the follow
I ing facts collected by the census Off
Gals:
Big Gain In SIX Years.
In 1892 the colored people owned
2.75 per cent. of the acres that were as
sessed for taxation; in 1898 they owned
1858 per cent. The assessed value of
the land owned by the colored people,
apart from the buildings thereon, in
1892 was 2.60 per cent. and in 1898
1923 per cent. The buildings on the
farm lands occupied by the colored
men in Virginia in 1893 We're assessed
for $40 per cent of all the, buildings
in the state, and in 1898, 4.64 percent.
Taking the lands and the buildings
together, the farm property owned by
the colored men in 1892 was assessed at.
l2.74 per cent of all similar
cent. Here is relative gain
in six years of very nearly one-third.
The satisfactory showing of colored
men on the farms of Virginia is not,
however, reflected by the ownership of
realty in the eighteen largest cities of
the state. The value of the lands own
! per cent of all similar lands, and in
40, o.oo per SSHt. Lie oulHu-
.ias possessed by them in 1892
| 1898. 3.44 per cent, while the value of
the lands and the buildings Of colored
linen were assessed at 3.14 per cent in
Holdings: Of city realty was, therefore,
| less in 1895. than in 1892. The records
fof the census in 1890 show that the
4 IN, oitiac ~ hot
more largely possessed of homes than
those in the country or among the far
mers. The same general facts are re-
Virginia for the value of farm property
1898.
/ If the rest of the country shows the
same condition presented in Virginia,
the census of 1000 will reverse the
Showing of 1890, and reveal the fact
that ownership of property of the col
ored man in the country is as large,
relatively, as in the cities, and that
| the colored farmer is making consid-
cradle progress, while his brother in
the large cities is making very little, if
any.
L. Relative Ownership.
1 The value of the lands and buildings
owned by the colored race in the small
er towns of Virginia in 1892 consti-
tuted SIS per cent. of all similar prop
erty, while in 1898 it was 6.s4 per cent.
Here is gain of II per cent, inter
|'mediate between the large gain of 32
per cent. for the value of farms and
BUILDINGS, and a decrease OF per cent
in the value of the lands and buildings
in the eighteen largest towns OF the
state. 1t is to be noted that the rel
alive ownership of property by the col
ored man is largest in small towns,
being nearly twice as great as that of
the race in the larger cities or among
the farms.
Taking all forms of real estate, in
lcluding buildings and lands, in Virgin
ia, it is found that the colored men in
1892 possessed 3.13 per cent of all
realty, while in 1895 they possessed
j 10 per cent H