Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-08-31

with him, calling out each item charged
to him. If there were any errors they
were corrected. Il dsSnot Know of anyone
who has taken half the pains that i have
taken in settling with those whom have
hired for wages.
PAID NEGOES WELL
There was no necessity Of cheating
and, wronging the negroes whom I work
ed for wages. 1 always made them do
good and faithful work and made good
crops and was able to pay. them and did
pay them all that promised them. al
ways paid the highest wages of any farm
er in my section of the country, My
neighbors and friends sometimes com
planned that was paying higher wages
than they could afford to pay.
ION my books 1 have a record of what
was paid to each laborer and when IL was
paid / also have record of all the labor
done for me by each and every person
who ever worked for me. If my books
were examined by competent persons, the
facts which l have stated would be set
UP beyond controversy. "a
mo one man has done more, II so
much, as I have done for the general
good of the negro. 1t has often been used
against me that 1 was doing too much
for the negro. have, sold many negroes
land and waited on them for a number
of years to pay for It. in consequence Of
which there are many negroes in this
section of the country who today own
good homes. who. in all probability,
would never have owned them II had
not aided them so literally. Among these
there is one negro in, Oglethorpe county
to whom some years since j sold a large
tract of land consisting OF 900 acres, at a
very reasonable price and gave him six
years In which to pay for 1t. With this
crop: ne will finish paying for this land.
He has been offered SIS per acre for the
tract of land which I sold him.
NEVER CARRIED WEAPON.
"Ail' along 1 have aided the negroes In
building churches and school houses,
helping them to the extent Of thousands
of dollars in these matters. During the
4O-odd years in which 1 have been en-
gagged In farming have had thousands OF
negroes in my employment. Coming as
they did from almost every southern
state, these negroes represented every
class OF their race Some of them were
good people; many of them were the
worst specimens of their race. During
ALI these years while was handling these
hundreds OF negroes from day to day and
from year TO year, 1 never carried a
weapon Of any Kind and never hurt one
in the least No negro in my employment
who ever came TO me and said he was out
of rations, barefooted, needed clothes,
medicine or money went away dissatisfied.
I kent a physician employed by the year,
who came every day and gave medical at
terrtion to every negro on my farm who
needed II. For long time they appeared
TO be happy, contented and satisfied. Once
of twice a year all the negroes In my en-
ployment were allowed to go on eXcur-
sIonss sometimes 10 Charleston, sometimes
to Savannah, at other times to Macon, At
lanta and other cities. They used my
mules and buggies to attend their church
es in various parts OF the country; many
of them went as delegates to distant parts
Of the state to attend their conventions
and associations. It has often been re-
marked that the negroes in my employ
ment had better houses in which to live,
more Furniture and better furniture in
their houses, better clothes to wear, more
and better foor to eat and handled more
money and looked better than the average
negro of the country
SUFFERED BIG LOSSES.
GAS the older negroes died out and the
Younger ones grew up, they became hard
er to satisfy. They began to steal more,
committed greater CElhcc. INC YOASN
class among them dominated and control
led the better class. When the worst
class got full control OF the better class,
as they finally did, they began to gamble
more. to drink more whisky, to carry con-
cealed weapons; they began to steal hogs
and cows and to break into stores, gran
aries. comnissaries, corn cribs, etc, one
was bold enough to steal a
mule or a horse. Finally they engaged In
burning In ten years I lost from incen-
diary fires not less than $4,000 worth OF
property on which had no insurance. II
was difficult to get proof as to who did
this burning; therefore, but few OF those
guilty of these heinous crimes were found
guilty and punished. / offered large re-
wards for those who escaped to avoid
trial. In some cases 1 offered as high as
$500 reward Many of the negroes whom
I had employed for wages would OF
nights in remote fields, gather corn out
of the fields, pick cotton and in combina-
ton with outsiders take 1t on and sell IL.
Some of them would take my mules out
of the lot and ride them Of nights; occa-
sionally they would steal bales Of cotton
from the gin house yard. They would
also steal plantation tools and sell them.
One negro preacher stole a brand new
wagon from the wagon yard and sold II
to a white man in an adjoining county.
the wagon. but the negro
preacher made his escape. have been
looking for him to testify In some police
court or other. court. OF late years great
efforts upon the part of some people have
been made to make II appear that the
farmer who has the negro employed and
who is trying to work him on his farm is
the negro. It has become
favorite plan with the negro. and with
those who are sympathizing and defend
ing him to insist that the farmer is a
great rascal and the negro Is a nice man.
Every effort made by the farmer to have
the negro punished for the crimes which
he has committed is construed as an ef-
fort on the part of the farmer to control