The Twin City star., 1913-02-08

southern Journalist" In Boston Transcript
1t means little to the average man
70 be told that negroes own more
than $22.0oO,ooO worth Of land in
is made by the statement that in this
or that southern state there are so many
hundreds Of thousands Of acres Of un-
used and unreclaimed land, some of 1t
excellent without drainage, and all of
it Of q superior quality IL drained. The
Significance of negro ownership does not
lie in the fact that he is reaching out to
develop waste country, but in the fact
that he is obtaining legal possession Of
some Of the choicest acres in the sec
tion, land originally selected by the
planters Of generations ago as the best
land. There can be no very great ma
tional Importance even in this, unless 1t
is due to economic causes that point to
at least a partial elimination of the
white man as the dominant factor In
cotton production, due to his inability
10 compete with the negro
The negro Is obtaining land from
three chief sources First, from heirs to
large plantations which were deserted
by their owners shortly after the war,
to which plantations these heirs have
no sentimental attachment; second,
from owners of small plantations who
have striven to retain the old planta-
own work; third, from timber com.
panies which are glad to dispose OF
cut-over lands and find no market for
them among the whites.
The south has always been, and still
is, an agricultural section. Agricul-
ture from the beginning was carried
on under the plantation system. In the
Gulf states and the interior, plantations
llxy mn IN IN 0l0
acres. In the Atlantic coast region they
were smaller. those on the sea islands
seldom containing more than 200 acres,
and often not more than 100 acres.
Plantations steadily became smaller as
they were cut up and divided among
heirs each generation. The owners
hired overseers to see that the slaves
worked, Slaves W were productive SS n.adys.id0 70
of crops and by the reproduction of
themselves. This raising Of slaves was
the most lucrative business OF many
plantations. :.
It was not until the period immedi-
ately preceding the civil war that ex-
travagance crept into plantation life.
Previously living had been bounteous
but simple: Ihe younger msds gedheraoioss nr os
thousands of men who had been to col
lege, at home or abroad, but had not
received their professional educations.
They did not know how to plant.
They depended on the overseer, to
bring them an income on which they
could live before their professions be-
gan to pay. So, after the war, with
out either profession or income, they
were in desperate situation. They
not only did not know how to ,plow,
but they did not know how to tell if
hired man was plowing right. Eman.
cipation made the plantation system
obsolete. The poor white. never OF
much importance economically or po.
litically in the south, was as well Oft
after the war as before it.. He was
soon to see that emancipation meant
more to him, possibly. than to the
"I went back to nv fields, as thou
sands Of my comrades did, after Ap-
pomattox, said q rich cotton broker
recently, explaining the sale OF his old
family seat to negroes. In two
seasons I think / learned how to plant.
I also learned that the city was the
sons held the place for almost half
ing for It. Thev have visited It once
or twice and that is all. / have
sold it to the children of our old slaves.
They ought to have it and they
ought to have it on easy terms. That
mans experience was the experience
from the coast region into the grow:
ing towns of Alabama, Louisiana and
Texas. Many. like Patrick Calhoun,
went to the Pacific coast. Others
migrated to New York and the great
cities Of the north. They had native
ability and grit, and most of them
succeeded. The custom was to rent the
IL .Aak fnxry
actual sales then; there have been
many lately.
A man owns, say, plantation Of 300
acres. It may be worth on the open
market $40 the acre., if good cotton
land. 1t can be rented, perhaps, for
three or four hundred dollars the year,
or for a share Of the proceeds. In
either case it is a poor investment. On
it into ten thirty-acre farms: He can
find negroes eager to buy these plots
at from $40 to $50 the acre. if the
terms are easy. A negro, say, has man
aged to accumulate 5000, sometimes
more and sometimes less. For a thirty
acre tract he will pay this 5000 in cash
and give a mortgage for not less than
The white owner has now received
$4,000 in cash for his plantation and
he owns mortgage on it for $4,000,
yielding an annual interest of $500.
Add to this the interest on $4,000 at 9
per cent, 1920, and his gross annual in
come from the plantation is 81 $50. The
sale has resulted in q net gain to him
Of not less than $3.50 the year. He has
sold a $4,000 plantation for $4,000.
There is the further chance that many
negroes may not be able to meet the
interest charges if the season is bad,
In which event the original payment Of
5000 is confseated and the property is
sold again. When negroes are willing
to buy under such onerous conditions,
IL is obvious that they are preferred
buyers, and their ultimate ownership
Of much of the best land In the south
is certain.
There are men who make business
Of buying old plantations from absent
owners, dividing and selling them to
negroes. Some drain the land before
selling and assist the negroes with ad-
vances for the first year or two. Their
returns are eventually the greater
therefor.
The negro is getting very little land
from large planters. Cotton is very
profitable crop if planted on q large
basis. 1t is profitable also to those who
do their own work on small plots.
There are, however, thousands Of small
IL -. - ~ L. H. A. 2 k-~.A AL