The broad ax., 1907-08-31

FOLLOWING THE COLOR LINE.
(Concluded from page IL

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their plantations, selling farms to am
bilious Negroes-a signIfrant sign, in
deed. of the passing of The feudal sys
tenn. An instance of this is found
near Thomaston, Ca, where DR.. c. B,
Thomas has long beer selling land
10 Negroes, and encouraging them tu
Luy by Offering easy terms. NeaT
Dayton, Messrs. Price and Allen have
broken up their 'LockharL Plantation
and are selling it out to Negroes.
found similar instances in man.
places visited Commenting on this
tendency, the Thomaston Post says:
This is, in part, a solution Of the
recalled Negro problem, for those oil
the race who have property interests
at stake cannot afford To antagonize
their white neighbors OF transgress
the laws. The ownership Of land tends
to make them better citizens in every
way, more thoughtful Of the right OF
others and more ambitious Of their
Cwn advancement.
AT this place number OF neat and
comfortable homes, commodfous
High School and large lodge build
ing. besides a number Of churches.
testify to the enterprise and thrift OF
the best class of our COlored popula-
ton. The tendency towards
cutting up the large plantations is be-
ginning to show itself and when all
of them are SO divided, there will be
Le agricultural labor problem, except,
perhaps, in the gathering of an espe-
ciaI1y large crop"
III.
I have endeavored thus to give
picture of both sides of conditions Ia
the black belt exactly as saw them.
I can now do no better in further illu-
uIination of the conditions / have de-
scrfbed than by looking at them
through the eyes and experiences OF
two exceptionally able white men OF
the South, both leaders in their re
spectixe walks of life, neither Of them
politicians, and both, incidentally,
planters.
At jackson, Miss, met Major +.
W. Millsaps, leading citizen OF the
State. He comes Of family with the
best Southern traditions behind it; he
was born in Mississippi, graduated be-
fore the war at Harvard College, and
although his father, slaFe-owner,
had opposed secession, the son fought
four years in the Confederate army,
rising to the rank Of Major. He came
out Of the war, as he says, with no
earthly possession but a jacket and 4
pair of pants, with hole in them. =
But he was young and energetic; he
BEGAN hauling cotton from Jackson 10
Natchez when cotton was worth al
most its weight in gold. He received
$40 a bale for doing II and made
$1,000 in three months. He is now
the president of one Of the leading
banks in Mississippi, interested in
many important Southern enterprises,
snd the founder of Millsaps College at
Jackson: a modest, useful, Christian
gentleman.
An Experimenting In Trusting
Negroes.
Near GreenvIlie, Miss, Major Mill
saps owns plantation Of 500 acres,
occupied by 20 tenants, some rs peo-
ple in all. II is one OF tie richest ag-
ricuItural sections-the Mississippi
Lottoms-in the United States. Up
10 1890 he had a white OVerseer, and
he was constantly in trouble Of one
kind or another with his tenants.
When the price OF cotton dropped. he
decided to dispense with the oVerseer
entirely and try a rather daring ex-
pertinent. In short, he planned to
trust the Negroes. He got them to
eether and said:
lam going to try yoE. I'm going
tc give you every possible Opportu-
nifty; Il you don't make out, ! viii go
back to the overseer system.
In the sixteen years since then no
White man has been on that plantation
except as q visitor. The land was
rented direct 10 the Negroes On terms
that would give both landlord and
tenant a reasonable profit.
~Dsd II wurkfy asked.
II have never lost one cent" said
Major MiIIsaps, mo Negro has ever
failed to pay up. and you couldn't
dive them olf the place. When other
farmers complain Of shortage Of labor
ana tenants, I never have had any
trouble.