New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-01-29
ITALIANS rs. NEGROES IN THE SOrTH

ITALIANS rs. NEGROES IN THE SOUTH.
In paper recently read before the American
Economic Association Mr.. Alfred II. Stone, Of
Mississippi, declared that the negro is in dan
ger Of losing his present Importance as a factor
in the labor question Of the South His coming
rival as appears from the experiments cited 10y
Mr. Stone is that other native of a sunny cline.
the Italian. The experiments are being made
ar Sunny Side plantation in Arkansas, where
formerly negroes were exclusively employed,
but where Italians are now employed in large
numbers. The experiment dates back TO 1898
when the present operators Of the plantation
began work They found on hand thrty-eight
families of Italians with 200 working hands
and 2O3 negro families with 600 working hands
the former cultivating 1000 acres of cotton and
the latter 1900 acres The survival of the fit
test in this combination is shown in the fact
that at the end of 1903 there were at Sunny
Side plantation 107 squads Of Italians. with
GOO working hands, while the negroes had de
creased TO 3S squads with 175 working hands
the Italians cultvating 1900 acres and the ne
groes only 800 acres The contrast is even
more strikingly shown by the fact that while
the Italians were raising 403 pounds Of lint an
acre and 1854 pounds a hand, the negroes av-
eTaged 233 pounds an acre and 11T4 pounds
hand. OF course, race will tell in any such
competition, and there may have been causes
for such a bad showing by the negroes in
comparison with their rivals, though. as the
negroes started I'm with great numerical
advantage and practically i'm control of the
situation. the complete reversal Of position
as shown by the figures for 1908, is extremely
significant
Nj. S:one supplies other facts throwing light
0n the causes which have so str,nglv con
tributed TO change Sunny Side from practically
negro plantation 10 one worked chiefly by
Italians. OF the 10 Italian squads at the he
ginning Of 1905, he says. II were new arrivals
yet Of the total number c. squads. or 80 per
cent finished the year without having con
tracted a debt for supplies. while Of the 81
negro squads during the same time only > or 3
per cent were free from debt New arrivals of
Italians after the first year are practically in
dependent while OF the negro laborers only Il
negligible percentage succeed in making both
ends meet and are free from debt
IN the matter Of acquiring livestock also, the
Italians show a decided superiority over the
negroes. or the 1O7 Italian squads at the end
Of 1905, 104 owned l23 head Of work stock and
other livestock aggreeating I'm value S23 400
while Of the 80 negro squads remaining on the
place AT the end OF 1905 II owned no stock
at all and the remaining p owned stock only
10 the value Of $500 A comparison perbaDs
still more significant shows that while 10
Italian squads began crops in 1903 and 1O7 car
ried them through, IN the case OF the negroes
81 began the year and only IS went through
OF course, when the Caucasian and the AfrI.
can are brought into direct competition in al
most any line Of human cndenvor the proba-
bllities enormously favor the former. The chief
significance attaching 10 this Arkansas experi-
ment seems % be thar Italians are discovering
that both tAe climate and the labor OF the
South are congenial 70 them aud TINT thcv are
coming to this field Of labor in rapidly iacraa~-