The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-07-27
NEGROES AS LANDOWNERS.
The Department OF Labor on the
COIor4d Man in Georgia.

| The Department OF Labor on the
COIored Man in Georgia.
The negro as a IandhoIder in Georgia
| is very interestingly discussed in an ar
! ticle published in a bulletin just publish
ed by the Department of Labor. While
! particular attention is called to the ad-
| vanCement Of the race since the civil war.
| the negro as a factor during the early
! days of the settlement OF the State IS
! also discussed.
According to the plans for the settle
| ment Of Georgia, as developed by O6le-
| thorp and his feIlow-p hilanthropists, it Is
stated that slavery was prohibited within
| the borders of the State. This provis-
| ion,' It is stated, was met by claD1orous
| and persistent agitation, and the regula-
! tons were practically nuIlifed by snug
| gIers in Savannah and hirers of South
| Carolina slaves. so that the slave trade
was thrown open in 1749-"
| Notwithstanding that the State, by its
| constitution, in 1889 prohibited the in-
| portation of slaves, still they were snug
| gied into the State without much con-
| cealment The act OF Congress Of 1920,
| however, greatly decreased the SNUG
! Cling, and it IS stated that from 1890 to
/ 1880 but comparatively few came from out
/ side the United States This had ten
/ denCy to develop the slave trade from ViT-
: ginia and the border slave trade States.
| The census Of the negro population OF
Georgia for the decades from 1870 to 1910
shows the following increase: In 1880 the
negro population Of Georgia was Z, 662;
in 1900 SC. AS: in 1870 IeZ. ms; in 1870, 151.-
4I9; in 1890, 229,017. and IN 1916, 2SS 6g7.
The report, continuing. states that in
/ 1880 smuggling was commenced again and
continued until the outbreak CT the civil
war, at which time it IS estimated that
there were about $4,000 slaves in the
State of Georgia Since their enfran-
cflisement il is stated they have come in
to possession of over 1,e59,0oo acres OF land
in one generation.
It is stated that the chief source Of
| information concerning the ownership of
land by Georgia negroes is the annual re-
port Of the Comptroller General of the
State The report continues:
Georgia, however, is a peculiar State
/ In it's local government. The counties
form largely independent administrative
units, with their own executive. legisia-
tive. and judicial functions. The~repOrt
Of the comptroller is. therefore, largely
based on returns from the county Off
Gals. In the counties the form OF gov
eminent IS not uniform, but usually the
! ordinary grand jury or county commits
sion levy the taxes. These officials get
their offices in various ways, being usu-
ally elected in counties with white ma
10Tities and d. pointed in others In most
cases there are no tax assessors. but a
county tax receiver who receives the
sworn statements OF property holders as
to their estates This gives rise 10 whole
sale differentiation. especially in the case
I q rfC md TO- in no
case OF the very small estates Of the poor
The tax collector is the official who col
iects the taxes thus indicated on the
books of the tax receiver These manu-
script books in the hands of the county
tax receivers are then the original sources
Of Information as to land ownership.
They contain separate lists of white and
negro taxpayers, and under each the
number OF polls. number of professional
men, acres Of and owned and its sftua-
ton, value Of the land, value of city or
town property, amount Of stocks or
shares owned. amount OF money, and 9TH
CT personal estate
The report adds After the emanCiIa-
ton millions OF Iaborers. trained princi-
pauy for farm life were suddenly SET
free If they were TO be left laudIsss-
homeless, and without money or tools.
starvation or practical reinstatement
awaited men, II they were TO De gwen
land who was to p2yZ
In the discussion that arose on the eve
of the proclamation OF 1863 there was a
general agreement that in some way land
must be furnished the freedmen This
demand became more and more impera-
tive as the Northern armies penetrated
the South Thousands Of negroes dropped
their work and followed the Northern ar
mics IN drOves until the problem Of their
subsistence and ultimate disposal became
pressing and puzzIing. Especially was
this the case in Georgia after Sherman-s
march
From 1890. as already stated. the popu-
latiOn Of the negro race in Georgia in
creased very rapidly II that year there
we're but three counties in the State in
which they Outnumbered the white popu-
latiou- These counties were GlyHn- Lib
erty, and Chatham. lying along the South
Atlantic Coast During the next decade
the number Of counties in which the ne
groes outnumbered the whites increased
To six one Of these being in Richmond
bordering on South Carolina Ten years
more only added JwC other counties in
which they had ma iority of the pOpu-
creased to fourteen and during the next
ten years this was increased % per cent.
In 1860 the negro population commenced
10 move westward and then south SO
that IN 1876 there We're fifty-three coun-
ties in which the blacks Outuumbered the
whites
The last census shows that there are
sixty-three counties in Georgia in which
the negroes outnurubeT the whites In all
these counties the negroes have become
owners of land and have steadily in
creased their estates both in extent Of
area and in valuation by improvements
on their holdings