The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-03-15
HOTEL LOBBY GLEANINGS
JERE N. KEENEY TELLS OF A QUEER
"WHyTE BELT IN ALABAMA.
He Predicts that the Solid south Will
Soon he Lost to Democracy
Hotel Notes.

"within less than forty miles of the re-
gion known as the Black Belt Of the
South. where fully so per cent. of the popu-
lation Is colored. there is a county, twenty
five miles wide by forty long. where the
negro is absolutely barred" said Jere NJ.
Keeney at the Stubbins last night. "a
negro cannot lease, buy or occupy any
property within this territory nor will he
be permitted to enter as a servant or a
traveller. The tract is called the White
Mans Empire
Mr., Keeney, who was formerly editor of
the Charlottesville Sunday Star, is at pres
ent connected with the Louisville & Nash
Vile Railroad, and he has just returned
from a trip through the South. He was
talking with number of friends last even
ing when the conversation turned TO the
race problem" of the South, and he told
of this one Southern community that has
solved the problem so far as it Is concerned.
There has never been a clash between
the, whites and blacks in this section, he
continued, land the negroes never attempt
to enter the forbidden territory. COM
pany, known as the Southland Company,
composed of Northern and Eastern capital
lists, controls the tract, which lies between
Pensacola and Mobile, and is developing it
into a model agricultural community.
Pensacola and Mobile are but sixty-five
miles apart, on an airline, while the near
est route by railroad at present is 120 miles.
The Southland Company is building a direct
line from Pensacola TO Mobile through its
tract, and already has the rails down for
half the distance.
I'm the center of the tract the company
has located a new town, called Gatestown,
and is grading the streets, laying out lots
and erecting a depot, hotel, school and
library building and few store buildings.
Within the last month postoffice has
been established there, and the town is
growing rapidly, as people are pouring in
from the North. The town is named after
John w. Gates, but Gates is not interested
in the company, am informed.
WHITE MANS EMPIRE.
''The company is exploiting it's enterprise
in a very quiet way. 1t is not advertising
and has no shares nor bonds for sale. 1t
is selling land in town lots or in tracts of
any size for farming purposes. but in every
deed or contract there is a clause which
precludes the buyer from ever disposing Of
his property by lease or sale to a negro.
The land was formerly owned for the most
part by Crackers who were hostile to
negroes and had excluded them from the
community, consequently the company $
stand against the cOlored people is not al
together new and is not hard to enforce.
1T strikes me as rather remarkable that
at the time We are hearing so much of the
race problem in the South that white
mans empire should be established on the
NSfy tuSc VI the Dcll ne ptOple
there take il In very matter of fact way,
and there is little talk about il, but to a
Northerner it seems great curiosity. How
ever, | do not believe that this race prob
lem is bothering the people of the South
as much now as it will the people of the
North in few years, for the negroes are
coming North by the thousands. They
seem to be working with but one end in
view-to get enough money to come North
and If they keep on coming at the present
rate it won't be long before they are all
up here.
There's another thing / observed down
there that struck me interesting and
that is that with the development of the
Southern cities as manufacturing centers
the high tariff, or protective tariff idea is
gaining ground rapidly. In the course of a
few years L believe that the solid South
will be lost to the Democratic party. Poll
tics down there has been based on the color
question, but with the steady emigration
of the negroes and the establishment of
manufacturing and commercial enterprises
the color question will cease to be the is
sue, the commercial factor will become
dominant, and then there will come di-
vision that is bound to place some of the
States in the Republican column, and we'll
hear no more OF the solid South