The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-02-21

An Exposition of the Tenant-Farming
System of the South.
(Southern Pines Tourist.

An Exposition of the Tenant-F'arming
System of the South.
(Southern Pines Tourist.)
The war between the states left a
curious legacy to the farmers OF the
South. When slavery ended a large
population Of landless freedmen were
turned loose upon a section of
try that had been devastated by war.
Nothing like it was ever known be-
fore, and the magnitude Of the task
cannot be imagined by any possible
effort Of the human mind.
Several thousand darkies We're de-
livered to the social and political or
ganization to be absorbed industrially
as Well as otherwise at a time when
industry was paralyzed and when no
one knew how TO begin anew.
But human necessity is the father
Of hateVer schemes may be required
TO work out the greatest problems, n
that whatever had gone, the land was
left, and, above all, the climate n
rainfall which makes and available.
So commenced that gigantic tenant
system Of farming which has no par
|alleI anywhere else in the United
one. Of the great problems Of Ameri-
can agriculture. I saw in a way, for
the tenant system has many points
yet to improve before it becomes as
perfect as it will one day become, for
IT rightly managed, it is a good sys-
tenn.
When the war ended, the man who
owned and had no hands to work it.
The negroes had no employment. So
it was natural that the two forces
evolved the idea Of farming the land
as. owner and tenant, and at the cen
sus Of 1906 North Carolina had nine
ty-three thousand tenant farmers. In
Texas, at tbs same time, We're a hun
and twenty-five thousand
tenant farmers. The situation is bet
ter understood when it is explained
that these two States alone had twice
as many tenant farmers as all the
New England States and the Middle
States combined.
Georgia and Pennsylvania have
about the same number of farms. In
Pennsylvania "a per cent. are farmea
by the owners; in Georgia the owner,
farm 40 per cent. In South Carolina
and Mississippi the number Of farms
operated by the owners is less than
40 per cent. In Maine 80 per cent.
Of the farms are operated by the
| owners and this high rate is APP
| preached in every one of the New
England States, Rhode Island. at so
per cent. being the oWest in the
list. In Mississippi h percentage Of
owners who till their farms is the
smallest of any in the country. There
less than SO per cent. Of all the farms
are worked by the owners, the rest
by tenants. The rented farms Of
Texas exceed in number all the farms
of Kansas. The rented farms Of
| North Carolina exceed in number all
the farms of New England except
| those of Maine and Massachusetts.
From which it can be understood
, how the farms OF the South are owned
| and occupied.
In some sections the tenant sys-
tenn has been developed until 1t is
| highly satisfactory. In other places
it is y costly makeshift, but in time
it will come to be more satisfactory
in all sections. for it is a good plan
on which to provide employment for
| the landless and filth for the farms.
In leasing a farm the owner usual
" provides a place for his a to
live. and in some cases he provides a
mule. implements, fertilizer and seed.
| In some cases he provides nothing but
the land. and the return to each party
| varies according TO what each fur
ishes Where the owner provides
everything he gets half Of the crop.
! Where the tenant provides all. the
owner gets about a fourth Of the
crop.
In tho cotton belt cotton is the
main crop Of the tenant, and it is his
reliance year after wear. The degree
of success is variable. Last summer
was sittino on a farm wagon driven
nv a NEGRO on a plantation bout ten
miles from my house. and the darkev
passed 2 field of about ten acres OF
EXCELLENT look ing cotton. What nasty