The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-02-01
PHILLIPS LECTURES
ON NEGRO QUESTION
Discusses Negro Labor in
Slavery and Freedom; Its
Cost and Its Efficiency.
Especial to Tho Times Dispatch.

Charlottesville. Va, January al
The second lecture in the Phelps
Stokes series on the negro question was
given at the University Of Virginia
tonight by DR. Ulrich -. Phillips. of
the University Of Michigan His sub
iect was BLACK Belt Negro Labor
in Slavery and Freedom Its Cost and
lts Efficiency" Professor Phillips said
in part
"A number of quadroOns and mulat-
toes and occasional negroes follow
white mems habits of thought and have
white mems economic ambitions. but
the great mass of negroes in the
Southern black belts are in a quite
different category. And as a general
rule, the denser the negro population, tho
more perfectly negro-like are the habit
Of the negroes IN thought and action.
THE cotton industry affords the
best opportunity for the study OF past
and present conditions in this regard .,
because OF the great numb of negroes
employed and because OF the fullness
of census statistics.
In the ante Dellum regime slavery
permitted the whites to keep the negroes
under control. and to transfer that
control from hand TO hand. And with
slavery there was closely associated the
plantation system. which provided a
definite routine Of simple tasks and
provided supervision to insure their
performance. II provided also a Ger
tain degree OF industrial and social
education for the negroes. In fact,
plantation slavery permitted capable
managers 70 make of typical American
negroes az efficient labor force ar the
world has ever seen under any form Of
coercion.
Schooling for Negroes.
That system also gave the negroes
great deal OF industrial and social
schooling The slaves. IT II true. had
many opportunities 70 exert pressure
upon their masters. but. genAally
sneak;ne. the slaves in theante- bellum
South were given more civilization ana
were made more efficient than any
other large mass Of Africans had become
up to that time.
Furthermore. slavery and the slave
trade made the labor supply quickly
responsive 20 industrial opportunities
The vast area Of the cotton belt. TOT
example. was settled with slave labor
in "a phcnomenally rapid process
whereas or tine other hand the negroes
since emancipation have renamed inert
where they and their fathers we're car
RED slaves
To compare negro efficiency IN
cotton production before and since the
war ~ IL necessary 20 select districts
where no great economic chanSe mas
occurred except the abolition OF siaN-
erv-where there has been no large
Introduction oil tOU4Uifftleti tfA AAlt<@~47
for example. and no great ravages by
the boil wcevii- \ typical area for our
p,irpose Is the Yazoo delta in North
western Mississippi In four typical
counties there, Tunica. Coahoma. BOIL
var and Teeaquena IN which the negro
population numbers about - per cen.
Of the whole the per capita output OF
cotton in 1850 was y bales OF 800 pounds
each while in 1910 and other average
recent years II was only Ia bdies per
capita That Is 10 say, the efficiency oil
the negroes has declined IS per cent.
great number OF other black pel'
counties indicate d similar decline
ION the other hand the white dis
tricts throughout the cotton belt,
and especially in Texas. Oklahoma and
Western Arkansas. have so greatly
Increased their cotton output, tnat
more than half OF the American cotton
crop is now clearly produced by white
labor Other data OF wide variety
confirms this view Of negro industrial
decadence and white industrial pro-
grcss.
Cost of Slave Labor.
To study the cost OF slave labor.
l. y necessary 70 take account not
ONLY OF the expense OF his upkcep. but
also of the range OF slave prices an the
market The development OF the cot
ton industry gave rise 10 such compe-
tition among planters IN buying slaves
and selling cotton tndT the price OF
prime field hands in the cotton belt
rose from AN average price of $3.50 ia
1875 TO an average of about ~ 90 IN
Is6O. while the price OF cotton declined
from 30 cents per pound IN lso. TO ii
cents in 1850. A'prime field hand could
be bought for 100 pounds Of cotton in
1870 for 3 600 pounds in 1910 for $500
mounds in 1870 for : 90 pounds in 1880.
for 900 pounds IN 1880. for 10000 pounds
in 1880 and for j.. 90 pounds III 1880
That Is to cay that. measured IN the
product OF his labor. slave cost ten
times a. much in 1850 a. in 1900. and the
price was steadily rising, with nothing
in sight TO check that rise II the
abolition Of slavery had not occurred
the price of slaves would have risen
20 such a point by the present time that
no planter could buy slaves and sell
cotton and keep afoat. Free negro
abor may not be actually cheaper to-
dav than slave labor was IN 1850. but II
* much cheaper than slave labor
would have been to-day had slavery
been perpetuated
IF therefore the South OF the
future can by some means make negro
labor more efficient. the employers as
we'll as the competitors of the negroes
have a much better opportunity Tor
prosperity than the regime of slavery
would have permitted