Newport weekly independent., 1901-04-25

not exclusively, by movements within the farming population movements by which some persons have been ele- vated from the position of wage ser vice to that of farm ownership, and still larger number from wage service to farm tenancy The most notewor- thy instance of this advancement in the average status of the farming population of Arkansas is found among the colored people. Of their number 11.941 own a part, if not the whole, of the land which they till, and S4,692 are tenants. Nearly all of these col ored farmers are the descendants of slaves, or were themselves slaves pri- or to the general emancipation, and the great mass of them have been em- ployd on fasms all their lives.
 Tn the decade 1880 to 1890 great ad- ditions were made to the rural popu- lation, partly by immigration from other states and from foreign coun- tries. Large increases occurred also in the number of farms and the area of farm land. The ratio of owners to tenants, however, changed but little. As both increased by percentages somewhat smaller than that of the ru- ral population, it follows that the num- Der of farm laborers and of the non farming class residing in rural com munities increased more rapidly than the number of farm owners and ten ants.
 11t1, oJa<NV. fNf fot faI h1Y owners increased 15,2 per cent, while the rural population increased only 10.9 per cent. Had the number of farms operated by owners increased no faster than the rural population, the number of such farms in 1900 would have been less than it was by 3,615. In ten years, therefore, this number of farm laborers or farm ten ants must have made their way to farm ownership, or the ranks of farm owners have been recruited to that extent from other sources, to the ben eft of the general farming population.
 Tn addition to this gain in the num- Der of owners, a still greater actual and relative gain was made in the number of farm tenants. From 1890 to 1900 the number of tenants in creased 1926 per cent, although the gain in rural population was but 10.9 per cent. The gain in the number of tenants, above tho gain that would have been made had the rate of in- crease been the same as that for rural population, was 36,720 The figures indicate that approximately one-half of the number of farm tenants in 1900 were farm laborers ten years before. Assuming that the gain in the number of owners was drawn principally from the tenant class, it is probable that since 1890 at least 40,000 of the pres ent farmers have made a distinct i'm provement in their industrial condi- tion.
 Of the farms of the state. 73.7 per cent are operated by white farmers. and 26.3 per cent by colored farmers Of the white farmers, 64.4 per cent own all or part of the farms they op- erated, $50 per cent are tenants, and $ per cent are managers. Of the col ored farmers, 25.4 per cent are own CTS, 74.4 per cent are tenants, and 2 per cent are managers.
 Tn 1850 the number of colored farm CTS was practically a negligible quan- tity. Tn 1900 there were 46,983 colored farmers in Arkansas. Practically all of these are the descendants of slaves, and some of them were probably at one time slaves themselves. Of this number Der, 9,991 have become owners of all the land in their farms; 1.775 owners of part of the land; 175, owners oper- ating their farms in partnership with tenants; 80, farm managers, and 34,- 962, cash or share tenants.
 Tn Arkansas in the last decade tSe number of colored owners increased nearly four times as fast as the rural population, and more than twice as fast as the total colored population. It indicates, also. that the number of colored tenants increased six or seven times as fast as the co delroETAO times as fast as the colored popula- tion.
 The figures indicate that approxi- mately 1 1900 colored tenants and farm laborers advanced in the last ten years to the position of farm owners, and that approximately 15,OO0 farm labor CTS became farm tenants. These num- bers represent the excess of gain in