The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-09
SMALL FARMS AND THEIR
 OWNERS WEALTH PRODUCERS
They Are Better Aids Toward Material Welfare and Prosperity of the Country Than the Immense
 Plantations.
BY MILL T. STEPHAN.


 Hartford. Feb. S.-(Special Corre- spondence.) .)-Why \ should new and thriving towns dot the face of the earth in the Wiregrass, why should the smoke that ascends from contented country homes form a chain of signals of satisfaction for miles on miles, why should the country be so markedly contented, the towns so emphatically new and so emphatically prosperous, when the same contentment and the same pronounced prosperity is not so manifest in the rural regions of the Black Belt?
 The prairie lands are undeniably richer than the farm lands of the pine woods. The fertilizer needed in the wiregrass is not needed in the prairie? What is this difference that gives the prize of prosperity to the Wiregrass?
 The answer is simple. The small farm is the better thing for the coun- try than the big plantation. The small farmer is an infinitely better pro- ducer than the negro tenant. The small farmer is a wealth producer. The negro tenant is a wealth destroyer anywhere else on earth except on 8 Black Belt plantation and even then he barely gives to the community more than he takes from it and this little his landlord and advancer gets. He Is not a wealth destroyer on the prairie lands because the prairie acres are practically indestructible. The negro tenant does as much as he can to the Black Belt acres, but they are proof against hard usage. On other soils the negro tenant can do his worst As a soil impoverisher, as a Goth or a Van dal of agriculture the average negro. farming on shares, is in class by himself.
 Origin of Wiregrass Riches. It is the industrious white farmer cultivating his 60 acres, his 80 acres or his 160-acre farm wh0 forges the prosperity of the Wiregrass. He is the man who, came in here in the early days and homesteaded his land or who | bought 1t at an insignificant figure when land was selling in the Wire grass at a dollar and two dollars an | acre. This mans farm, closely | watched, closely titled, with its smoke house, it's plethoric corn crib, it's stock filled stable yard is the basis upon which the prosperity of this section has been erected. He was the prede- cessor of the railroads and without knowing it or intending 1t, he made the railroad possible
 He it was who revived Geneva and gave it a healthy expanding life. It was he who built Geneva's rival, Hart ford, in the midst of a pine forest and then transformed its country into a farming paradise. He and the lum- bermen built the town of Slocumb overnight, a town that jumped into be- ing almost in an instant with s700 peo- pie. And he created the new and prosperous towns of Black and Sam son as easily as he took the one store of Coffee Springs and transformed it into a commercial center with rich hopes of the futuge.
 It has been before noted that rail- roads do not scatter farms through a wilderness. The farms must first be there before the railroads can be per- suaded to come.
 Building of Towns.
 But this one thing the railroads will do when the farmers have prepared a way and given a reason for their com ing. The railroads scatter towns throughout their territory. They fur nish a center for the congestion of the commercial endeavors' of the farm ing sections. They provide a place for the transaction of business, for the selling of farm produce and the buying of dry goods, sugar.
 Geneva County, for so many years without railroad is now split by two. The Georgiana and Graceville branch of the Louisville and Nashville enters Geneva County near it's northwestern corner and after passing through the county goes into Florida. It crosses the line of the Central of Georgia at the lively young town of Samson. Sam son is a lusty youngster just two years old but with population of 400. Within eight miles of Geneva is the town of Black, one year old. and with a population of 100. High Note is not far away. It is only a year old and it, too. has a population of 100.
 Through the northern portion of the count yruns the Central of Georgia, which is the extension of that com pany's line from Columbia to Florida The Central enters Geneva County near its northeastern corner and after inter- secting the northern portion dips down and leaves the county near the south western corner.
 The Central has wealth of small towns along it's line, all grown up fin the past five years. The largest town along it's line in Geneva County Is Hartford with an estimated population of 1,500. Just east of Hartford iS Slocomb, @ little over three years old and with a population of 700 souls West of Hartford is Coffee Springs,