The evening times., 1900-04-07
LANDOWNERS In GEORGIA.
Remarkable Recuperatiye Powers
Shown by Farm statistics.


To the Editor OF The Times:
In a recent issue of The Times there
appeared an editorial under the caption,
THE Tenant Farmer opening thus:
''Col W L. Peck makes the somewhat startling
statement that eighty per cent OF the farmers OF
Georgia non-landownerS- This Is the more
remarkable when ii is considered that the popuia-
tion is fixed in its habits, and that the majority
of the white farmers in the rural districts are
native born, and trace their ancestry through
several generations of Georgians. -
1T may be that Georgia is not much worse on
than many other States if statistics could be OBJ
tained but such condition Is not good tcf any
agricultural country.
There are available. though not very
fresh, statistics bearing on the question
of farm tenure, and they suggest that Col
onel Peck has been misquoted or drew his
conclusions from information which had
slumped about 100 per cent from the real
facts.
The census returns Of 1890 showed that
there were 175, ,6SS farms in Georgia, OF
which 20 607 were occupied by owners, and
102 GS1 by tenants. Thus, ten years ago
Al 80 per cent instead Of 20 per cent, OF
the Georgia farmers owned their farms
and 5S.l0 per cent were tenants. This Is
! very good showing. indeed. compared
with the statement attributed to Colonel
Peck. Moreover. it applied to the ccndi-
tions of 1890, which are generally believed
to have materially improved since then.
A little further explanation will make
a still better showing for the Empire
State CT the South: In 1890 the population
of Georgia was / 1S37 1858 of whom 91S.357
were white and 1876 were coiored. In
other words, of the aggregate population.
nearly AZ per cent comprised people who.
less than generation before, had been
suddenly injected into the body loiitic
not only as non-iandhoiders, but practi-
cally as non-owners of anything beyond
their hands Yet another examination will
disclose an even more considerable addi-
tion to the glory of Georgia. OF the l'1,5SS
farm owners in that State in 1890, 1lz.824
were whites, and 56.992 negroes and OF
the 102 0Sl tenant farmers returned IN 1891.
II ,35i were whites and 1866 negroes W
course. all. or nearly alG negro tenants are
! tenants of white landlords; and all negro
owners had been permitted TO purchase
from the whites on terms favorable enough
to meet the requirements of their feeble
financial resources.
Thus a population weighed down gen
Grafton before by an almost equal popuia-
tion Of weak uneducated. unskilled. ana
irresponsible non-owners. in addition TO
the wreckage of the most fearful connict
of modern times. is lifting Itself wen up
to the general average of farm ownership
in the entire country and carrying lts
vast burden of former slaves and their de-
scendants upward at an equal pace with H.
The last decade has witnessed large
immigration into Georgia from the North
and West most of the new comers be
coming land owners and during that pc
riod the negro has largely increased his
holdings so that the returns OF the
Twelfth Census are sure to show farm
tenure in that State to be in an exceed
ingiy healthy condition. with percentage
of ownership not far if any below that oil
| the entire United States. which was. IN
1890 65.92.
Ii this shall prove TO be the case. as
believe it will. We shall have in Georgia
a remarkable example of the enormous
recuperative and expansive capacity OF
the South and its people.
FRANK ABIAL FLOWER