The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-10

 like co-partnership between the proprietor of the plantation of 1000 or 200 acres as party of the first part and 50 to 100 negro men as party of the second part, to grow cotton for contract divisions between the parties every Christmas, was prima facie unbusiness like. In 1865 and 1866 the freed mans bureau supplied to the planter the written form to be signed by the contract ing parties. Whenever practicable the agent of the bureau at the local office required the planter 10 pay down 70 cents fee for each freedmans name at tached to the contract form. There was no stipulation in the form requiring the payment of the fee. No proviso appeared for the recovery of it from the freedmen. In word, the fee was official fraud, of transparent kind, like much else in the premises. q izlsl The co-partnership failed of reasonable farming success. The cotton crop of 1860, in Alabama, was 9S9,955 bales; that of 1870, under the co-partnership plan, fell to 429, ,4S2 bales. The falling off from one census period to the next, in articles of diet for laborers produced on the plan tation, was startling. The following fig res speak for themselves: Alabama pro-
 lced in the fifth year after the war l6.-
 7,ss bushels of corn, and In the year
 ext before the war SS226, 2S2 bushels of
 rn. In the first named period the state
 yned 174s,321 hogs, now not the latter
 pr half that number. In every article
 diet raised before the war on the plan
 ton only fractional part was raised the census year next following the war.
 No matter what the stipulation of the contract, whether the planter paid the freedmen a fourth of the gross yield of - the fields, supplemented by rations of cornmeal and pork, paid by some 1ther rule of division, the payment to tho
 bor exceeded half the value of the cot on Not dollar of the part paid to the hbor returned in betterments to the land in any channel looking to increased roductoL or rescue from waste. The freedmen carried their all to the nearby Village the village grew to the propor- ions of town, the town became char cred city, and all this while the farms went on their downward course un- checked. I only lay the predicate from which Alabama defed her misfortunes. She Y.ouched the earth and rose, reinvigorated.
  character, known as "sealawag," a native who deserted his neighbors. In my coun- ty the scalawag rampant was the son of B planter. a graduate of the University tf Virginia. He made no. mistakes in his methods of self seeking. He was an adept in the art of binding the planta- Iion negroes to him. They knew him by his deeds. He met an unarmed white citizen on the public road, out of sight, shot him dead, had his own trial before a carpetbGg judge, and negro jury and slis acquttal was trumpeted at every army post and in every bevy of vulgar pollti- clans as in triumph He would call a public meeting and provide for an audi once to hear his speech by sending negro runners ever the plantations with the word and the button." Whoever carried 8 brass button, of a known style, also carried the ''word.Y If interest Tagged he would take a kettledrum and fiddle up and down the roads, through the plan tations, making music and drawing field hands to him to receive political points. ..He teok his seat in the senate of the 5tate. He proposed to be elected sheriff. Thereupon notice of an entirely candid hature was placed before him, .that he would be expected to manipulate his in- 1iuence that his democratic opponent should defeat hfm. He consented for value received The word and the but ton" went confdentally over the whole Couhty. Wlln them Welll d sample tlchel, on pink paper. Let alHA AAe loyal vote the pink ticket Nine-tenths of the pink tic sets c1iried the name of the demo- cratic candidate which the negroes had nof then learned to read. Next he was afst ted rrofato judge and consented to laave the corntry before qualifying.
 This was politics once in the heart of the state, wfere the bulk of the taxes Mad been collected and whence ma ority of the great men came out from a minority of popula ton.
 Outside pressure brought to bear upon lEe freedmen, to excite them to resent ment against the whites. was varied bevilish and ceaseless. The courts and tiie schools were agencies employed by |the vandals. ln the circuit court of Mo bilc two juries were mpaneled. All jurors on one were negroes and three \fourths of the other were negroes In
 .e summer of 1869 some of the more in
 llgent regroes of Mobile petitoned
 neral Swayne to that the courts
 eased their discrimination against their hce, all over the state, in putting only white men or a majority of white men