The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-09-24

and built his home. It was then the best land in the county. The fact that the wealthy. farmer, the rich man who could so where he listed. bought 1t Is sufficient proof of the statement. Go where you will in Alabama you will ma that the slave holding planter bought and settled no land but the very pest in his section. The northern end of Barbour County was the promised land to the agricultural emigrant of wealth, when the country hereabouts was settled.
 Today 1t would be but the richest, but for that difference between the white man and the negro. And even shame the fertility of the soil of the white mans section. They are the plan tattons where the negro predominates, 1t Is true, but where they are made to work industriousiy and closely under the scrutinixing eye of the white man. Such one is the wide domain Of President B. B. Conner, socated in this same section of Barbour County and which is probably the largest farm In the State and in the South. for 1t con tains, so it Is said 3o,ooo acres of creek, hill and level land. There are other farms, other plantations, here and there in the Cowikee neighborhood at Boles- vile. at Hawkinsville, of which the same thing is true, but in the agRre- gate they form only the smaller portion of the section.
 On the whole the blight of the negro has been put, for the time being. He has not killed the land, he has only temporarily dwarfed it's usefulness. As an agricultural vandal, as a farming Goth, the negro Is in a class by him self He has been the pawn of fate, unfortunate himself and misfortune to the land and to the white man.
 Tn the days of slavery the northern section was the section of wealth and of prosperity In the days of recon struction the sun of Its prosperity grew dim. hegira from the coun- try to the town set in. White family after white family left the farm and the plantation for the town and the city. The white folks house" on the hill was left untenanted or given over to the corroding uses of the negro. The tenant system was triumphant and the land decayed.
 ReconstFuetion Hegfra.
 The white man was in the town or city learning unfamiliar occupations, but in town where his family might have associates and friends. and where his children might have chance and opportunity at an education. The negro
 
 On the surface, but only on the surface, the farm and the plantation grew poorer when the negro was at work upon and In charge of them. In the true sense of the words the lands were not impoverished.
 Their fertility was only arrested. The restoration to their former glory is no difncult matter. It is a thing only of a year or two's careful cultivation. And the lands which are under cultivation are the lands upon the plains and the hills. The bottom lands. the valley lands. are rich today as they have al- ways been.
 It Is the conviction of the thoughtful Alabamian that such a section, and there are many others of its kind throughout Alabama, ig the true place for agricultural immigrants. Because of their history since the war the lands may be bought for a cheaper figure than any other lands of the State. They have only been mishandled. And because of their mishandling, their market value has been placed at low figure.
 By all means they should be attrac tive to the intelligent and the indus trious eSlmIgrant. He Is not set down in a pine forest and made to clear his land. It lies open and ready for him. The highways to the city have been 
 people surround him in the towns and villages. The thoroughfares to his markets have been built and kept in repair. There are schools and churches not far of. .
 He needs only to apply thought and energy to his ready made farm to have 1t as fertile as any of the fields of Alabama. To care and attention the lands respond most quickly. He may come in with the assurance that the people of Alabama are not selling him their poorest land, as is sometimes done to the immigrant, but they are selling him their best lands if he treats them right. They are cheap lands, cheaper lands perhaps than he can buy anywhere else. Some splendid farms can be bought as low as SIC an acre. Other acres, and rich ones, too, when a man cultivates them right, can be bought at even a lower figure.
 A hearty welcome, Southern well come, awaits them. The people want them and will appreciate them. For them the latch hangs outside. the door Is open and the hand Is outstretched. The people want a white section in North Barbour, even as they have it in South Barbour The negro contin- ues to leave rapidly and the white people want his place supplied with the white land owner and the white
 
 in colonies, in communities, and they are willing to sell their lands cheap ly and help the newcomer where he wants or needs help.
 The Need of Farmers.
 We need the white farmer, and we need him badly" said Major J. N. Will Hams of Clayton. The negro is pass ing as an industrial or agricultural factor. The few of them that are left and are at work want to rent the lands on their own terms and they want to cultivate it free from any supervision by the white man. We need the white man as the West has him, the man who rides and blows. We need the white man who knows how to use the agricultural implements as they are used in the West The negro is rapid ly deserting the farms and his success sor should be the white farmers. such as have made great the agricultural communities of the West"
 Cashier Browder Pruett of the Clay ton Banking Company was firmly of the opinion that Barbour County, the northern portion of 1t, offers perharSSa more inviting field to the immigrant than any other section of the St Ae.
 "The cheapness of the lant should certainly be an incentive ' them." said MT. Pruett. Tt was lthc Rbest land in the county. I dare say thatrit would be the best land now [ with proper care. The white peopl nave in a large degree abandoned fhese farms and plantations. not beGf fuse they were not fertile and producN Eve, but because of the preponderanc@ of the negro and the longing Ior the more social life of the towns sAd cities.