The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-10-03
ny WILL T. snEEHAN.

has. In the Black Belt, the labor question is like the poor which ''ye have with ye always"
 The Black Belt farmer may live one mile or twenty miles from one of the big cities, but he has his labor embar- rasements the same in either case. The mai, who has his plantation on the outskirts of the city is bothered about his farm labor as much as the country farmer, living a score of miles away. And this Is an existing condition, not withstanding the continued trend Of negro immigration from the farms to the cities.
 A talk with Charles G. Abercrombie for many years a prominent business man of Montgomery, brought this con dition home in an effective thought producing way to an Advertiser man. Mir. Abercrombie has a plantation or signal richness. It Is a river planta- ton which was deep and rich in allu- vial soil before the Creek Indians came out of the West, and by right of con- quest established themselves among the streams >of Middle Alabama. He has had the place for nine years. and the original fertility of the soil has been heightened by year after year of persistent effort in the way of inten- sive farming.
 It Is a bare two mile from the city of Montgomery to the north. The nanu- featuring district is even now almost encroachfng upon 1t. His intensive farming has paid MT. Abercrombie. notwithstanding the labor obstacles he and other Black Belt farmers have to surmount. The labor question came up when he was answering some questions about the returns from the rather un- usual farming he was doing. He has not hesitated to spend money upon the place. There be farmers of Alabama who would say that he had spent mon- ey lavishly, but the financial returns would be against their opinion. The newspaper man wanted to know If, on this place of l90 acres, where he had adopted intensive farming methods, and where he never hung back from spending a dollar, when he thought It would improve his farm, he had made any clear money with his unusual style of doing business on a farm
 Some Intensive Farming.
 "Oh, yes, 1t has paid me-" was the answer. Why, do you know. if had the labor I needed and the labor want, this place would bring in a net income of 5000 or s5,000. That's probably surprising. but it's true. or course, our dependence here is negro labor. The negro is not much of a success at cotton raising, and he is less of a success in the sort of farming we do."
 But. with all the trouble with the negro farm laborer, we have never lost money here except one year. was in North Carolina building railroads that year, and my overseer was not equal to his task The end of the years busi- ness was a loss of $400, But that was for only one year. Every other time we made money. We had last year the at of HI fl0O from the farm. Before last year we had approached that figure more than once"
 The figures of MT. Abercrombie are here quoted and given, because it will be presently shown that the Abercrom- bic place is of a unique sort among Black Belt plantations. But marking back to the labor proposition, the newspaper writer was frankly sur prised that almost within the limits of of the city of Montgomery planter could not get enough labor to run his farm the way he wanted to run 1t.
 Do you mean to say" he asked with interest, that right here in Montgom- cry with its big negro population right here in a city where negroes are moving from the country every day you have your labor troubles? can understand how the man way out in the country Is worried and bothered about his labor. because everybody knows the negro Is going away from the country and coming to the towns, but here, here where the independent negro can enjoy the diversions of city life the same sort of trouble Is not looked for"
 You are wrong there" said Mir Abercrombie with conviction and with emphasis We are worse off than the man who lives out in the country. His negroes haven't got the temptations be- fore them that ours have. In the first place they haven't the temptations to move entirely off the place. which is before the negro on farm near city If the country farmer once establishes a negro on his farm and starts him off at the beginning of the year he has some sort of an assurance that the negro will in most cases stick until the crop Is gathered.
 D.v~~SaSenAa Tar Iah0F