The Hawaiian gazette., 1902-12-23
HOW THE NEGRO
RETROGRADES
IN THE SOUTH
Figures Which Show That White Labor Has
Crowded Out the Co|ored Man From
Fields and Trades.

ne sDilHEbeII t"4ubltdn prints
the following striking article on qucs-
/ ton which is now OF special interest
/ in Honolulu. 1t is the testimony OF
! Southern man that the negro has de-
Perforated since slavery days, and can
/ no longer compete in the South with
white labor:
/ In an editorial article in The Repdb-
/ lican of November, in criticising the
study of The Negro in Africa and in
/ America" by James Alexander Tillin-
/ ghast, you accuse him OF inherited
bias against the free blacks" and ask
the question:
Taking southern agriculture as
whole how was it possible for its farm
values TO increase a greater percentage
! in the two decades mentioned (1SSO-
! 1900 than the farm values Of the
whole country, If the negro labor, up
on which Southern agriculture largely
4 depends was all that time deteriOrdt-
1 ing in quality? Obviously there Is a
/ conflict between NJ. TillingaasCs con
clusions and the broad fact Of the
Southern uplift in agricultural wealth
The is no conflict between Mr.. Til
/ linghast's contentious and the fact OF
! Southern prosperity and development
| These are due to the white man, not
to the negro, 10 the immigration Of
| white men from the West and to the
uplifting of the poor white of the
| South, whose progress during these
two decades has been as rapid as the
decay of the negro as a laborer and
producer These statements of Mr..
Tillinghast are substantiated by the
1, Tot cti Tool
port published which lets in any light
on the subject and they cannot be
brushed away by the general and
vague statement of North Carolina
banker, as you suggest
You very properly take agriculture as
the industrial field in which the Legro
makes the best showing, for he has
been an agriculturalist for generations.
OF all the Southern crops. that in
which he makes the best showing IS
cotton. The cotton industry is based
on negro (slave) labor. The negro
was believed to be the best cotton la
borer in DAYS of slavery, and the
planters even pretended to find that
his hand was better made to pick cot
ton than that of any other race. Orig
inally the entire cotton crop was rails
ed by negro labor, and, at the death OF
slavery. certainly nine-tenths of 1t was
raised and picked by the negroes.
If. however, you return TO the census
of 1900. statistics of agriculture, vol
ume II, you will find that the counties
producing the largest amount of cot
ton in the South, over 10000 bales
each, are Ellis and Williamson coun-
ties in Texas. The negro constitutes
only one-tenth of their population, and
produces less than one-tenth of their
cotton OF the nineteen Southern
counties producing over 10000 bales of
cotton each, seventeen are overwhelm-
ingly white, nearly all the cotton in
them being raised by white labor. and
only two are Washington coun-
ty, Miss, and Orangeburg county, S.
lC. A comparison with former cen
suses will show that the cotton pro-
duction is drifting away from the black
belt to the white counties in nearly
every Southern State. Thus in North
Carolina the big cotton counties are
white. In Louisiana the center of cot
ton production has shifted from the
rich alluvial lands of the Tensas basin
(where the cotton Is raised by negro
labor) to the central district, where
the population Is mainly white.
An excellent basis of comparison OF
the negro Of slavery days and the free
negro Is offered in that region known
as the Tensas basin OF Louisiana.
This Is the center of cotton production
in the South, and is declared by Prof.
Hilgard In his special report on cotton
for the census to be the best cotton
country in the world. The Tensas par
ishes have always led the country,
both I'm the quality and yield Of cotton
per acre, Carroll parish being well In
advance OF any other county. The
Tensas district consists Of four COuu-
ties, which have been unchanged. The
land Is as fertile as ever, yielding as
much cotton per acre. IL has never
been overwor5cd and there are several
million acres OF fertile land still I'M
. cultivated II was subject 20 overflow
formerly hut has for years been safe,
thanks 90 q splendid leyee system. In
A. view ~ these improvements and the
better and more intelligent cultivation
~ cotton throughout the South which
has everywhere elso produced such
, favorable results. the yield of cotton
. I'm this favored district for IL DIS do-
voted exclusively to that crop would,
, ono would tNigk have materially I'M
crossed during thr past forty years.
Yet today rhr-o parishes viola tcensus
~ 1900 9lOl2 bales ~ cotton. a.
IaPalnst 0le9s An inc single white rouu-
Icy of Ellls Texas. mot nearly as guol
f0r che southern rlaunHl nud ls
lunllrU lII $50 hHIH under .'IYf labor,
lThfrr lHs nrrn IIulr rhHnua iU iha ll-
. hnr NhIDh Do lIW0rf Wholly rrEIH. Ha
. mllnR 1000 Vhitw lfN nruuHH
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