The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-09-24
Bt Wnl n. sneehan.

Clayton, Sept. 2s-tspecial Cores. pondence. 1--ft had been a busy morn. ing in Clayton. It might we'll be that for it was a day in the heart of the cot ton gathering and cotton selling sea son. For two weeks no rain had fallen and the sun had beaten fierceiy down upon cotton farm and cotton planta- tion..'
 In the dry heat, in the white sum shine of an ideal September, the cotton boIls had burst open, each with is own fleecy cloud of white, had burst open so rapidly that the farmer might not gather 1t all, nor fnd sufficient cot ton pickers to Keep pace with the rapid volunteer work of the September sun. Every gin house was an ant hiii of industry. Each ana every one was surrounded by wagons with double decked bodies packed to the tor with gathered seed cotton, and the loaded cotton was ornamented, more or less Iso, with a negro sprawIed peacefully sleeping in the sun ana contendediy
 waiting his proper place at the gin un- { der the time honored policy of 'hrst come, first served"
 Cotton caravansaries were climbing 1.-the red hills that lead in the town of Clayton, the center and capitol of
 Barbour County. Cotton wagons were ! LID against the sidewalk and cotton buyers,s knife in hand, were busy as bees in fresh flower yard. It was a
 busy day in Clayton.
 This trip through Barbour County was to find out how strong how per suasiye an invitation the county Of
 Barbour could offer to white immi- grants. It Is from the nature of things as they now exist in the county most propitious time for the inviting and for the coming of white immigrants for the farms.
 line cut through the county from east to west and very near the towns of Eufaula and Clayton, would sepa- rate the white belt of Barbour on the south from the section on the north where in the past the negro predomi- mated, but from which he has been rapidly moving in later years. It Is the northern portion, the section near the line of the Central of Georgia, which offers the most persuasive invitation. The white section is already strong and contented and lands are held at high CT figure.
 BarbOur's Invitation.
 But in the northern portion lands are cheap, roads are good, railroad
 facilities are convenient, the social life is already made and of a high or- der and the climate Is nothing short
 of a benificient smile or nature. For
 periods as long as four and five years no snow has fallen upon these hills and 1t is a rare thing for this section of Alabama to have two snows in two
 successive years. CaSrie can bo past
 ured out in the open the whole year round. Man himself might live an out
 doors and tented life the year round and suffer no great hardship. The days in winted when water freezes are sell
 dom and rare. Even the summers are
 not so exacting as those of states fur ing the interview in broken doses, in- asmuch as 1 was constantly giving place to the man with the check at the window. It was fortunate circum- stance withai I not only was getting information upon Barbour County con- ditions, but I was getting information on the man with the check. who was the central figure, the Exhibit A in these same conditions.
 The Modest Capitalists.
 They were the white farmers, the possessors and the workers of the small farms, these modest capitalists with the checks. They came In the main from the clustered farms of prosperity and fertility to the south of Clayton the southern section and the white section of the county, the section from