The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-09-01
4 Gnnn EXAMPLE.

A few days ago the following spec ial from Washington. Wilkes county Georgia appeared in one of our ex- changes:
 Three of the largest farms of Wilkes than six thousand acres of land. and including that section Of Wilkes county which Is known as the Brooks, Green and Ficklen places. have been sold to a northeast Georgia firm The deal was consummated several weeks ago and within the next ten days the entire tract of land will have been surveyed and divided into small farms of 100 acres each Most of these farms have already been sold to thrifty far mers of north Georgia and North Car olina, who will move to Wilkes coun- tv shortly and commence a colony in the Southern section of the county Fifty of the sixty farms have been negotiated for and the rest will be dis posed of in a very short time. The nro- motors of the enterprise are selling these lands only to white farmers with families who will make a valua- ble addition to the population of this section.
 Here is a move exactly in the right direction. and one which must be fol- lowed in time in other portions of the South The day of very large farms or plan tations is passing. and will soon be but a memory In the sla- very days. where labor could be cas- fly controlled, the large plantation was the thing and many of the old planters owned and managed tracts almost large enough for an election precinct. but such immense holdings are becoming less and less desirable, esneciaIlv in the old farming sections In some of the newer States. where cattle raising is one of the principal industries, princely domains are not uncommon, but that cannot be kept-up in the regions strictly devoted to farming. The men who managed those great plantations here have mostly nassed away and their successors do not as A rule care to follow the old methods.
 The main obstacle in the way or successfully managing large planta- tions is the labor question. TO pre- pare and cultivate large tracts or land and harvest the crops in due sea- son is a large undertaking, and pretty sure to be unprofitable if labor Is insufacient or unreliable. That 1t is now in that condition, and that 1t is becmoing more so, is plain to all who keep themselves informed on the subject. A remedy must be found or much land in the old South must lie idle.
 The only remedy that we can see is small farms and white immigrants. and one will not come in the absence of the other. Especially in what IS usually known as the "black belt" of the South is it practically impossible to get the, right class of workers IT thev must come as hired laborers or even as tenants. Single families of white people are not going to come here and settle themselves down where they will be surrounded by ne- groes and entirely out of touch with rhoir own kind Their opposition to this kind of life Is natural.
 What is needed, and what must come. Is to follow the Wilkes exani- ple. These great plantations must be subdivided Into small farms and sold or leased to white settlers. Then a dozen or a score of families could own homes near each other so that all would be in touch with their own kind. One section of land. divided into farms of forty and eighty acres. would supply desirable homes for a dozen or more families of independent citizens There would be no feeling of isolation, no repugnant or objec- tfonable neighbors, and the residents would not feel like strangers In strange land.
 And the change would be a profta-