The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-12-11

Buy Land Now.
Raleigh. ~. c.. Dec. 6.-The Pro-
Gresslve Farmer. the most largely cir
culated farm weekly In the South.
prints a notable article this week urg-
Ing ambitious white tenant farmers
TO buy land now. and declaring that
the whole South must stand together
to encourage the development Of a
class Of prosperous small white farm
ers a. the backbone Of the country.
The big plantations. II declares hold
back progress. The article says:
We hope we have seen about the
last Of Southern white farmers ieav-
Ing the farm to take work In cotton
miila We are anxious to see the
manufacturing enterprises Of the
South build up, but we are more anxi-
Gus to see the farm lands Of the South
held by prosperous small white farm
ers. and to see these small white far
mers have their part In the great
agricultural awakening now going on.
Someone has wisely said that in
all ages and all countries the men or
the classes who own the land sooner
or later make themselves the aristoc-
racy OF that country. We have not
come to this condition so rapidly In
America as In other countries, because
Of the abundance Of cheap land re-
sulting from the newness of the set
tlemsnt and the sparseness of popula-
tion ~ yet; but In the long run the
history Of other countries must be
repeated here.
These thoughts came very forcibly
to mind as we rode through q cotton
mill village the other day and saw
Its hundred Of white employes-men.
women. and children--who have left
the farm to become the homeless
hirelings OF the cotton manufacturers.
The negroes. finding no place in
manufacturing for them. are left
on the farm and are becoming
iand-hoiders in rapidly increasing
numbers. Prof. w. e. Dubois, a
prominent Georgia negro educator.
has just published q map showing
that since 1900 Georgia negroes have
Increased their land-holdings from
$4,000 to 100000 acres. and now
own within the state OF Georgia alone
an area larger than the entire State
Of Delaware.
Not only this. but the negro child
rem are going to school and develop
Ing healthy bodies In the open air
and healthy surroundings Of country
life instead of being shut up In the
cotton mill. over worked, under-edu-
Gated. and poorly developed physical
iy--as the tendency must be In all
cotton mills so long as the legislatures
OF tho South are too subservient to
the less humane mill owners to enact
needed laws OF restricting child labor
In the mills-the less humane mill
owners. we say. because there are
many thoughtful and far-seeing mill
owners who heartily favor stricter
regulations.
Remember. we have no III will
toward the cotton manufacturers; we
have no III will toward the negro. We
do realize very strongly. however,
! that the safety OF the South depends
Z upon the presence OF a large white
! rural population. The drift to the
towns and the cotton mills not only
affects this directly. but also Indirect
iy. because when once the population
OF a community becomes predomi-
nantiy negro. the small number Of
white people left may be forced to
, move out In order to find sufficient
I numbers for a society of their own.
1T was wise saying OF James
divers. Happy Is the land that is
titled by the man who owns IT," and
the great need OF the South today is
to encourage the holding of small
farms by white farmers. We repeat,
that we say this In no III will to the
negro--in fact. 1t should not be neces-
sary for US to say this, because no
one else In the South has preached
more persistently than we the doc
trine that IL is the intelligent, pros
porous negro who helps. and the liz
norant poverty-breeding negro who
makes US all poorer-but we say
this ioi the s,od Of white and black
alike because the best interests of
both races demand that the rural
South maintain its large white popu-
iation. Unless this Is done the negro