The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-11-06


people own SO much more than all the
negroes and a large portion of 1t. too,
accumulated since emancipation? Is II
because the negro will not work? Some
who are hostile to the advancement OF
the negro claim that he IL lazy, shift
less and good for nothing; but that
cannot be true, for II the negro VIII
not work how can the white man grow
so rich? Somebody must work to pro-
duce wealth, and when 1t comes to real
muscular labor believe we will all
agree that the negro performs twice
the amount of work as that performed
by the white man. Then how do we
account for the vast difference In
wealth? The whole situation can be
summed up in this: The negro does not
put half the amount Of brain into his
work as does the white man.
Aside from farming there are vart-
GUS other vocations followed in this
section at a profit. But 1t seems that
the only one which the negro strives to
own and operate is the mercantile bus
mess, though there is hardly an aver
age of one store in community not
withstanding the fact that the mer-
camille business is one of the best pay
ing investments in the South.
Many enterprising negroes have at
tempted to launch this business sue
cessfully. but In a majority of cases
their efforts have proven a failure,
while the white man has prospered.
From one cause or another the av-
erage negro store keeper. carries a
very limited stock of goods instead Of
variety, having failed to notice, it
seems, that the buying propensities OF
the negro are unlimited. The alert
storekeeper caters to the will of the
public and leaves nothing undone that
Is likely to satisfy the wants of his
customers. II he has not sufficient
capital to enlarge his stock Of goods.
he SECURES the cooperation of others.
Theykput their earnings together and
conduct a profitable business.
Lack Of capital is a great drawback
in the development of lucrative bus
mess, still there are other essentials
which have been overlooked. 1t Is ut
terly impossible to do any extensive
business successfully without keeping
a full set of books, more especially
cash, ledger and journal. Many have
economical entirely too much on the
bookkeeping part of the business. /
have gone into numbers of stores kept
by negro men and found there only
one book. The white man buys along
with his other goods, q set of books, a
nice desk, a safe and as rule, hires a
bookkeeper. Now just how the negro
expects to prosper without keeping ac-
counts properly and the white man
cannot. am unable to see.
Another hfnderance to success is I'M
fair weights and measure. That will
kill any business. The wise merchant
considers the future along with the
present. He knows that If his weights
and measures are just patronage will
continue while unfair weights and
measures cause former customers to go
by on the other side of the street. AS
merchants, we must not expect our
own people to patronize US because we
are colored; but rather let 1t be brought
about because of our clean store, nice
quality of goods, fair prices. lust
weights and measures. courteous and
polite service in short our business
dealing on the square. When such a
policy is carried out. without doubt
success will come.
A few years ago the farmers in this
section owned only a few acres OF
land; to know that they have through
thrfft and economy secured possession
of upwards of 1000 acres is inspiring
ind ,ed. But less we congratulate our
selves too much on this achievement,
let us probe a little int othe situation
and see whether or rot we have put
as much brain power into buying land
as we might rave done. There is a
from here who has been growing cot
ton about twenty five years. He has
rented forty ceres of land at SO an
acre for twenty-five years, making his
rent each year $3.50; in twenty five
years he has paid the sum of $4,000
for rent only. Forty acres of land at
$25 Ter acre cost exactly $1,000. So you
see he has lost $1,000 by renting and
does not own one foot of land Does
1t pay to rent land at this rate? Where
as / said one farmer. 1 really had in
mind twenty-five farmers who have
doae the same thirg, ana have paid al
together $4,000 VIXEN had they pur-
chased this land they would have saved
$4,000. But twenty-five farmers do
not constitute one-fourth of the num-
Der OF farmers IN this section ali rent
ing at the same rate and have paid in
all over a quarter of a million dollars
for rert. Is 1t necessary to ask in the
face of these figures and estimates, how
1t is that the white man owns so
much mere wealth than the negroes7
So long as this land renting continues
and the business men continue in the
old and urpT csperous methods, so long
viii we be hard pressed materially,
living in uncomfoi table houses with
uneducated children, giving mortgages
TO secure the bare necessities of life.
The first time the farmer and his land
lord Disagree and dissolve partnership
tho farmer must move or sacrifice his
manhood. Does 1T pay to rent land is