Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-10-29
Miseellaneous &sading.
SOUTHERN RURAL LIFE.
Subject as Seen by Official Of Depart.
ment of Commerce and Labor.

ment OF Sommerce ana LABOR
DR.. John Lee Coulter, special agent
for agriculture Of the bureau of the
census of the department of commerce
and labor of the United States, in a
speech to the students of the Univer-
sity of South Carolina recently, defines
the rural problem of the south as being
the shifting tenant system. While ad-
mitting problems social, political and
religious, DR.. Coulter said that he would
try to point out an even more funda-
mental problem than these, and not
only to point it out, but to suggest
remedy.
The south, says DR.. Coulter, is more
largely rural than any other section of
the United States, the section having
about one half Of the country popula-
ton of the nation. While the per CEN
tage of agricultural people has not
greatly increased, the number Of farms
has, there being four times as many as
in 1860.
Coming Of Smaller Farms.
With the breaking up Of the big
plantations into smaller farms the
south has only increased its problems
and not its peasant ownership Of land.
1t has brought the farmers closer to-
gether; but the farms are at present
occupied largely by tenants.
This Is the most vital Of all southern
farm problems, and lies at the founda-
tion of all others. The tenant Is not
interested in the farm he operates. The
relationship between a tenant and the
farm which he rents is like that of the
parent and an adopted child. If he Is
man who naturally does his best with
anything that comes under his care.
the farm will be carefully husbanded;
but II he does not care for anything
not his own, the farm suffers, The re-
suit Of the tenant system is poor farm
ing, exhausted soils, small crops. poor
roads, decaying bridges, unpainted
homes and unkept yards.
Tenants Move.
Nearly half of the southern tenants,
according to government statistics,
move every year. They rob the soil
Of one farm and look for better In an
other. This is at the root Of the rural
school and church problem, for the
tenant who moves yearly is not inter-
ested in school or church. No system
Of grading the children in the rural
schools seems to be practicable and no
family that expects to stay but one
year in place can be expected to sup
port the institutions Of the community
or to be greatly interested In its own
environment
Rural Credits.
There are many who think that the
solution of the rural life problem of
the south is to find a system Of rural
credits. One might say that co-opera-
tive stores, warehouses, creameries,
canning factories, marketing societies,
breeding associations and the like are
the salvation Of the rural south. Such
institutions have been the blessing Of
the European farmer, and without CO.
operation, the rural south seems hope
less. But in large part Of the rural
south one might as we'll try to move
the earth as to advocate cooperation.
because the great mass of farm opera
tors are shifting tenants.
With such a class Of tenants Coop
Grafton is largely not practicable, and,
if carried out at all, must be done in
way that will take this shifting into
account
Thorn in tho Side.
The shifting tenant then must be the
thorn in the side of business and pro-
fessional men, as well as the rural
teacher, preacher and landlord. He car
ries disease and discomfort from place
to place. Therefore the real problem of
the rural south is not alone the tenant,
but the shifting tenant. In Mississippi
66.1 per cent of the farms are operated
by tenants, in Georgia, 65.6; in South
Carolina, So; in Oklahoma, 54.S; in
Alabama, 60.2; in Louisiana, 66.67; in
Texas, 52.6; in Arkansas, so per cent.
North Carolina ranks next and Della
ware, Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee
and Virginia have over one-fourth Of
all their farms occupied by tenants.
1t is not merely enough to point out
the problem, some remedy should be
suggested to correct the evil. This is
given from experiences in other coun-
tries and in other sections of the Unit
ed States, and from the speakers
knowledge Of human nature.
Ideal Land Tenure.
An ideal form of land tenure, said
Dr. Coulter, would be that Of indepen-
dent peasant proprietorship. Generally
speaking the small farm is not as eff
cient a unit as the large farm, due to
the inability Of the small farmer to
provide improved machinery and stock
and to apply the most scientific meth
DDS of dairying, canning fruit. etc.
With ownership present, however, the
small farm is defensible because of it.
Groups of small farmers living close
together are attached to their farms,
and the life Of the community, because
they own the land. They can therefore
hope to apply better methods through
ownership Of more expen-
sive equipment, stock and manufac-
turing utilities. The ideal farm is the
small farm operated by its owner.
Instinct Of Ownership.
The instinct of ownership is not so
strong in the native born farmer as
in foreign born, the per centage being
sc per cent against 81 per cent. In New
80 per cent Of the native born
farmers own their land, while So per
cent of those who farm in the west,
south and central states own theirs.
Only 26.2 per cent of the negroes own
the land farmed by them.
European farmers instinctively want
to own land. This feeling Is absent in
this country to a large extent, but the
reason for it's absence is fast passing
away. In the last century land was of