The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-23
It,,,or. -. Nearo FieId Labor.


 Atlanta Constitution.
 Under the head of cThe Negro Losing Ground a recent issue of The Hous- ton Post contained an interesting edi- Italian Iaborers on Southern cotton plantations,a the. comparison being in- finitely in the favor of the latter.
 The Post gives the expert testimony in the form of a paper recently read by him before the American Economic Association. in which he points out the danger which confronts the negro's fu- ture employment in the South. MT. Stone offers the experience of Sunny Side plantation. in Arkansas. which used to employ negroes altogether, but which now employs large number
 It Is shown that when the present operators of the plantation took hold in 1898. they merely accepsed saen eight families of Italions with 200 working hands, and 203 negro families with 500 working hands. The Italtan, were snitlvasing i;2So soo acres or eost6s tSs end of 1905. according to MT. Stone, the Italians numbered i07 squads with 800 working hands, while the. negroes numbered only 3s squads with l1S working hands; and the acreage clilti- vated by the Italians had increased to 3,009, while that cultivated by the ne- sroes had decreased to 900 acres Moreover. the Italians were raising an average of 4os pounds of lint per acre and 2.5s4 pounds per hand. while the negroes were averaging 233 pounds per acre and 1.174 pounds per hand.
 Mir. Stone says that of the 11O Ital- ians squads that started to work. in 1905. A were new arrivals. Yet of the total number, 65 squads, or 59 per cent, contracted no debt for supplies during who no made crops in iso4 were indepen- dent in 1905 Of the 61 negro squads that began crops in 1905. only 2, or 3.2 per cent of the whole, were indepen- dent.
 Another comparisons: There are 10 Italian squads at the end of 1905; 104 of these own 123 head of work stock; which, with other live stock. such a money value of $23.400. Cnly Inree squads have no stock Of any kind. Of the 3S negro squads on the place at the close of the year 21 own work and live stock to the value of SS.3oO, while IT own no stock at all. This indicates not only a failure to take proper advantage of their opportunities upon the part of the negroes as whole, but a grossly unequal dtstrtbu- tion of property as well. Of 1OT Ital- ians. but 2.S per cent have no share in the general wealth; of 3S negroes. AZ
 Still another comparison: One hun dred and ten Italian squads began crops in 1905. and 10f carried them through. one leaving because of sick ness, one ran off and another another sas was began the year, and 3S went through; l7 turned back their crops, and six ran off Of the Italians, 97s per cent stayed through the year; of the ne-
 Commenting on this remarkable sta- tistical showing. The Houston Post says:
 great plantations are seeking to re- place negro labor with Italian labor. The Italians are more efficient and more reliable as matters stand now, and the result is bound to be a con- stant increase in the employment Of Italians and a corresponding decrease in the employment of negroes so long as these conditions exist. There Is no reason to doubt that cotton raising on a large scale by corporations Is 10 be- come a feature of the cotton industry in the South, and these corporations will employ only efficient and reliable labor The employment of negroes by the small farmer has almost entirely ceased In Texas, three-fourths of the cotton is already produced by white labor, and white agricultural labor IS becoming more and more in demand in other sections of the South.
 The leaders of the negro race would do well to study these conditions with a view to preserving the oppor- tunities which Southern agriculture has heretofore reserved for the negro race. Efiiciency. reliability. industry. intelii- genee, sobriety ana thrift are essen tial If the negro Is to hold his ground. This is plain to anybody who will look into the situation carefully.
 The negro's future destiny as la borer in Southern fields is in his own hands. He is laboring under . fatal delusion if he imagines he has monopoly in his labor that Will en- dure indefinitely