The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1900-02-11
REVOLUTION IN NEGRO LIFE
A TEXAS EXPERIMENT THAT HAS
PROVEN QUITE SUCCESSFUL.
Rohert smith's Grcnt work Among
Colored Farmers of This state,
The Typical rrcrdmnn's Town.


Oakland Texas youne man With only
ono arm and a left arm &C that, read in
q Norlheru paper an account Of tho work
Witch certain village improvement So
cieties in New England were doing toward
hfsutiiyins The towns ia which the menu
ters lived The inspiration which this
man, r. l. smith received from this ar.
tiole vas 40 great tina, be Nesan similar
wcrk among the cclored people OF Texas.
which in decade has fairly revolutionisei
tSe conditions Of negro life over con-
siderable area Of tho state, affecting sew
leral thousand people and hundreds of
homes and heinz broader in many re-
sreets than The original work which iu-
snired t.
drst saw MIR Smith a, the ruSkegea
negro conference Of 1897 whore his re-
port Of hts work attracted instant alton
tion to him and marked him az man Of
unusual executive abliltN ! have Jus, met
hum again az Tuskegee, and have been
interested 10 learn from him complete
history OF his work
When ! asked Mr Smith TO tell me how
his work hogan, he said, after explaining
The circumstances connected with his
reading The article II though IL the poo-
pic of New England needed such an or
sanitation, II with all Of their wealth and
culture and Taste they had found ii de-
sirablo 60 associate themselves together
for the purpose Of bCttcring lhcr ouNrun~
mcnt, how much moro ought the negro re-
Gently emancipatel without beautiful
hcme aud with tho worst Kind Of environ
ment. TO take MP work on these lines"
IN most OF tho vilagcs ct Texas the
negroes 1--we apart IN section frequently
called "Iroedmautown In too many cases
the houscs in "frocdmantowp' are 20
poor or IN such a poor state OF repair that
there Is no trouble IA locating this POI
tion OF the village, is the proud boast
OF the Farmers Improvement societies
which MI Smith has organized that IN
many cases they are making Freedman
town" look as well or almost rs well as
any other part OF the village.
This has not been easy to do though. In
January OF 1891 Mr. Smith organized IN his
own town Of Oakland the hrs, society. hay
ing for iis object the Improvement and
identifying of tho homes OF the members.
For time there was much enthusiasm
but in less than year the society was
apparently dead, and would have been ac-
tually so il its founder had been less
perseYering man. He sought for The cause
OF the trouble, and fouui e.
The objects OF the societies az now set
forth in their printed circulars ate:
The abolition Of the credit system,
/ Better methods OF farming,
4 Cooperation
! Proper care Of The sick and the dead.
I Improvement and beauttying OF our
homes.
! There" said Mr. Smith To me, pointing
the wrong end.
I We were Ike the old negro of whom
Booker Washington tells a story After
the war this negro came TO his former
young master, with guitar aud wanted
TO hire the young man, who was good
musician. to give him lessons on the in
strument. The young man, with desire
to kindly discourage the negro and induce
him to devote his time aud money TO OBJ
iecls which he needed more at that time,
said Oh, yes, I'll teach you, sam but
III have to charge you 81 for the first
lesson, 81 for the second, 81 for the third
and 80 cents Tor the fourth lesson
/ "'All right, boss said the negro. OATS
all right All take de lessons. But boss,
1 lem-me ak you one ting. You jes' gm-m
( dat las lesson fn'st'"
/ That said Mr. Smith. was the
/ trouble with US. We had tried to get our
I last lesson first It was necessary ia 80
back and lay foundation on which TO
build
one who has not lived For q considerable
time in the South can hardly comprehend
ihe unfavorahlC conditions under which
the small farmers. white or black. labor
( II they d. not own land and are obliged
to live upon the credit system In tina
4 spring they rent patch OF ground, for
/ which they contract 10 Fay such share
OF the crop for rent. II they nnNo 10 cap
/ ital, and TOO maay of them are IN this
condition, obey must then negotiate a see
end mortgage with the village merchant
| FOR food for themselves and families 10
I live on while they are raising tho crop
I which they have already pledged. Almost
| invariably both landlord ana merchant
/ vli not take as security any crop bur
cotton, because that ie The one from which
! they can realize their money most easily.
/ AS result the farmer plants cnly cstton'
aud buys, frequently q eAorDitani prices.
I the corn, nour aud bacon which he nfeds
/ to live on when his crop Of cotton f.
/ harvested ne finds too often thar II Is all
! FeBdy eaten up. and that be and his fam
! lily must exist as best they can until the
coming Of the next spring makes u posSi'
/ BILE TO negotiate new mortgage
/ THE bountics Of generous soil and =
| favorable climate, said Mr. Smith. speak
/ ing OF these conditions were wasted
/ largely through lsziness, shiftlcssness and
gretched lack Of method The people h2d
/ two sundays IN q week that H., they hah
/ two days when they did not work, SatGr-
/ day and sunday for Saturday was always
I mil day. tswn day or oopri day Fences
{ we're so poorly kept thst cattle raided and
destroyed crops. Flow. were LET 10 the
helds from one end of the yosr 70 the
other. There was nc attention given "a
the RATING 81 csttle and hqgs. and both
( ran loose in ths wcods.'
/ 2 slowly these conditions werc changed 10
the town ~ Oakland. Men got 70 own
land and 10 buy supplies beforehand ana
In larger quantities We planted trees,
stopped washes, aug bitches painted our
church. built q two+stoFv school house and
extended the schtol year 10 nine months;
We widened our street. and those who were
able began 70 erect dwellings more CON
modulus and heautifuL
I There lies before me 40 write queer
I little ,cateehlsm. printed and circulated ~
one Of the means for explaining tho pnr-
poser Of The moyehieut--ihe organization
now os'ns spd operates . printing prt a,
and prints small monthly paper quots
two or three paragraphs from fhis cate-
chism. beginning In tho middle Of the
! hook
20 Yes. that's very good, but TO Tx
up around the home and inside takes
money and don't see that even " people
joined ycuf organization aud wanted 10.
that they could DO anythins much IN that
line