The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1907-02-16

among them all il has been the most
widely advertised as failure, while
in truth is is outranked by few, if
any, as success. I have been famil
lar with its history since its founda-
ton, and when | began the prepeara-
ton of paper on the Negroes eco
nomic future it was to Sunnyside
that | at once turned, as TO an OBJ
ject lesson illustration of. the posi-
bilities of white competition with the
negro in the latter's ancient and
strongest field.
This colony had its inception in
plan of the late Austin Corbih. of
New York. to sell to Italians a large
body OF cotton land in Arkansas.
This tract comprises several thou
sand acres, and represents the con-
solidation of several plantations Mr..
Corbin's experiment as a non-resl-
dent Southern cotton planter was
not success, but by the expenditure
of large sums of money he develop
ed a highly improved piece OF prop
erty He failed with the free negro,
and turned to the convict. under an
arrangement with the Arkansas PEN
itentiary He finally hit on the
scheme of selling the land to Italians,
it being commonly understood at
the time that Prince Ruspoli, OF
Rome. was interested in the venture.
Mr.. Corbin has been bitterly de-
nounced, often by men, Italians and
others, who knew nothing OF the
facts. for attempting to impose on
the ignorance of these peasants, in
the matter of the price charged for
the land The figure was high at the
time, it IS true, but the terms were
liberal, and Mr.. Corbin knew that
the land would yield to its new ten
ant-owners a far larger revenue than
any similar investment they could
make at home. AS an experiment
on this line the effort was a failure,
but the fault did not wholly lie with
Mr.. Corbin. Converted, as it has
been, into a colony of tenant-farm-
ers, there has been no more signal
success in the Southern cotton-betl.
was acquainted with the ups and
downs of the original colony, and
had read many accounts OF its tall
ure. Time and again l had seen it
referred to as proof conclusive, the
ultimate demonstration, of thee ut
ter inability of the white foreigner
to compete with the negro as a cot
ton-grower. But I was not prepared
for an experience which befell me
while on my way to Baltimore IN
December, 1905, to read before the
American Economic Association the
paper based to some extent on the
outcome of the Corbin experiment.
We were some hours out of Atlanta,
going through the red fields of north
Georgia Someone in the smoking
compartment remarked, as he
glanced through the window at
particularly forlorn-looking village,
squatting in the midst of field OF
"bumble- bee" cotton, that Georgia
and the South would never be what
they should be until they Introduce
foreign and Northern farmers to
properly develop the agricultural re-
sources of the county. The remark
was like a spark in a magazine, ano
before / realized it I was listening to
another absolutely authe ntic and
first-hand account of the miserable
failure of just such an effort" 1t
was Sunnyside again. 1t was a mean
thing to do, but | waited until the
somber picture of my Italian colony
was completed, and the audience
thoroughly satisfied that it was hope
less to think OF trying to make cot
ton-growers out of "Dago organ
grinders and fruit-peddlers." Then
| sent for my bag and produced the
figures which | had prepared for the
American Economic Association,
some OF which are given here. The
innocent author Of the trouble looked
his gratitude. the New York gentle
man expressed his thanks for being
set right. and the subject was drop
ped.
Farmers" Unskilled at Farming
1t is an old and a true adage thar
one can not make silk purse OF 4
sow's car It is equally as true that
not even man OF Austin Corbin's
capacity could convert a heteroge-
nons collection Of butchers, bakers,
tailors. shoemakers. etc. fresh from
Italy. into colony q satisfied ana
efficient Arkansas cotton-growers-
Vet this is just what was originally
attempted at Sunnyside. 1t IS no
purpose of this aKticle to locate the
possibility, but from personal OBJ
servation / can say that these SO
called Italian farmers" represented
as variegated an assortment of occu-
pations and trades as one could find
in any single collection of individuals
And here was the real fo1nda tiOn or