The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-07-16
FINE PLANTATION IN
 SOUTH ALABAMA
Place of James P. Davidson in
 Marengo County
WONDERFUL SPECTACLE
With Over 200 Negro Hands Mir. David- son Has Perfected m Interest," ing System-The Discipline
 Is Said to Be Perfect
BY WALTER HARPER

BY WALTER HARPER
 Uniontown, July 15.-(special)-I spent
 last night on one of the biggest cotton plantations in Marengo county. I had a most excellent opportunity to study some of the conditions that pre- vail in this very important line of in-
 dustry in Alabama. The story will per- haps interest thousands of people in north Alabama, where the average farm is be- low 100 acres and where the labor prob- lem is nothing like it Is down here. I got up this morning at o'clock and
 walked out on the plantation to see the
 machinery of this great industrial estab- lishment beginning to turn. It was magnificent spectacle. Behind me through the great old oaks and cedars that shade the liberal lawns about the grand old ante-belum mansion the sun sent its slanting rays past me and out across 12OO acres of rolling canebrake bot toms
 A sea of dew-glistening cotton plants lay before me. A million dew-stars set to brilliant gorgeousness the ocean of growing wealth below me. Dotted among
  of alfalfa. This is a dark green, rich
 and beautiful. Every year this alfalfa territory is encroaching on that of the cotton.
 The boil weevil is approaching from Mississippi. By the time it reaches Ma rengo county this plantation may be one big alfalfa field.
 James P. DavidsOn James P. Davidson, proprietor of this
 great industrial plant, is getting ready
 for the weevil But until it comes he
 will plant as much cotton as he can and
 continue to grow rich and comfortable. This 12O0-acre farm is not all in which
 he is interested. His three brothers, his
 mother and himself have more than 1000
 acres In three farms in Marengo and
 Perry counties. But this is the old home
 place and the heart of the great indus
 try.
 call this an industrial plant because
 of it's extent In comparison to the aver
 age farm to which we are accustomed
 in north Alabama.
 No business in the city of Birmingham
 is conducted with more exact business
 method and but few employ more men.
 More than 200 negro men and women
 answered the tap of the big farm bell
 and rose from their beds to prepare for
 the call to work.
 At o'clock the "men's bell rang and
 battalion filed from their cabin homes and made their way to the barns and
 stables. Here they organized and went hxy nj One hour later another bell rang and the women and children who work in the fields threw aside their housework and filed into the fields after the men. Interesting Spectacle If was an interesting spectacle One hundred and fifty of these people were employed on one of the other farms In Perry county for a few days up to yes- terday. rain yesterday in that section put the ground out of condition for work and they were transferred in body to this farm.
 I came with the procession and spent last night on the farm.
 With BO negroes on the place, we slept last night with every window of the old mansion and the front door wide open. The only white persons on the plantation were MT Davidson, his foreman and my self This Is the rule in the Davidson home If there is a pistol on the planta- ton MT. Davidson knows nothing apout 1t. He has none. He never owned one. He says that towards carry pistols The foreman of the plantation Is young agricultural student from South Carolina. He is paid more money for supervising the farm than Is paid the av-
 craze dry goods clerk in Birmingham Besides this he has a good home and
 board free of charge.
 Old-T1me Cook Aunt Sarah White, the colored cook who prepared our breakfast this morning. was born on this plantation and served in the Davidson household since her earliest childhood. Almost every negro on the place is an ex-slave or the descendant Of an ex-slave owned by MT. Davidson's father before the war. After the war they did not desert the old home of their master and their chil-
 dren have also remained on the planta- tion They are not tenants but are paid day wages fin cash. Their wages are paid to them in cash every Saturday the year around They are given no checks, due bills or other evidences of debt. and are not required to trade at any certain store or commtssary I asked an old gray-haired negro came across on the mule lot if 1 could hire
 him to go to a neighboring plantation. Me? Me go over there 2> Ise not gwine anywhers, boss. so long as Mas David son lives I bin here all my life and lse gwine stay If Mars will let me. No. Ise not gwine wid you or anybody from dis place. No' And the old man hobbled along muttering deflantly to himself. I have never in my life beheld such ab.
 solute devotion on the part of laboring men to their employers.
 Big Dick. Bodyguard