The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1907-02-12

a. cf0p = sloI loIE WHlcn ttHere is always a
ready sale leads the lienor to plant
cotton in exclusion of grain; and the
fact that lie can buy his meat at all
times from the merchant leads him to
neglect the raising Of cattle, hogs aud
sheep. Again, his single crop has to
be applied almost as soon as it is
picked to his debt for supplies, and he
must take the price it commands at
The time. The system Of storing cot
ton to await improved prices, no mat
ter how honestly or how wisely it
may be conducted, will do most far
mers very little. good; for the far
mer's debt to the merchant, or his
debt for the money to pay the mer-
chant, will go on at ruinous rate of
interest till, even at considerably
increased price for his product, he
will at the end find himself very lit
tie a gamer, and at a reduced pl. .
he will be decidedly loser. -.
With the negro the case is still
worse. The lien system enables him
to rent land, procure subsistence on
the strength Of his future crop, idle
when he feels so inclined, work when
it suits him, wander about as much
as his fancy suggests (mostly OH or
behind his own or his landlord s half
starved mule,) and lead, in general, a
life of Incidence and animal self-in-
dulgence, often eliminating in crime.
His life Of independence Of the white
man has bred in him an exaggerated
idea Of his own Importance and led
him to assert himself against the
white man as far as he dares. Indeed,
this feeling of Importance, with the
urging of envy and race antipathy,
has made him the white man s enemy
If he continues to grow in this frame
Of mind as he has grown during the
last ten years he will before long as
pire to be the white mans master.
And this disaffection towards the
whites has spread among the people
Of that race wherever located, or
however engaged. Hence it is diff
emit to hire cook, washerwoman or
domestic servant in towns or i'll the
country, and almost impossible to
procure all agricultural laborer.
The negro has never been able to
develop a civilization, or to maintain
one, without the white man. His seq
regation from the whites renders him
unable to improve or to keep what he
has, and leaves him prey to pro-
clivities which drag him down to-
wards the condition of his savage an
cestors and make him positively dan
gerous in every neighborhood where
the whites are much in the minority.
In consequence there is steady
stream of white families flowing from
the country to the towns; and it is
not impossible that, in such sections,
there will before long be general
exodus. Perhaps no part Of this
state has, so far, experienced the mis-
fortune which is described as having
befallen that portion of Alabama
known as the Black Belt. But condi-
tons in the middle and tidewater por-
tions are much the same as those
which obtained there; and if these
things continue to exist what is to
save us from similar fate? Sloth,
filth, Righteousness, lawleSsness, vio-
lence and every form Of crime Tex
cept Of commercial characterD are
described as prevailing in that Black
Belt; and what shall hinder like
barbarism within our borders if the
progress of African control is not
checked?
In the country ninety-nine in every
hundred negro men should be lab
orers under the direction of a white
employer. And so should many OF
the women. Such condition Of things
would greatly improve both the mind
and morals of the negro and add ma
terially to the usefulness, the com
fort and the longevity Of his most
frequent victim, the mule. 1t would
also bring about much better keeping
of land, larger crops, better order in
the community and far greater secur.
ity of life and property. I do not adj
vocate anything like the enslavemeni
of that race, nor do I approve Of any
form or degree Of peonage. On the
contrary, T insist that the negro shall
enjoy all the protection, rights ant
privileges contemplated by the 18th