The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-08-13
THE LAND OWNER AND TENANT.
10 1T NOW.

Z THE LAND OWNER AND TENANT.
wage-earnng labor is OF the most press
jfng and vital Of the several huge problems Of
.4his country and nobody faces it more directly
and sharply than the farmer who owns some land
and is trying to get more out of it than his own
Body and muscle can produce. The newspapers
ARE crowded with the stories OF the conflicts
between great corporations and labor unions.
They tell.nothing of the monthly and daily con
'aiicts and perplexiues the farms.
The young man at school is met as he moves
onward and upward IN his progress with new
mathematical work steadily becoming more
complex and demanding more thought and
knowledge. He begins with the multiplication
table and simple division and subtraction and
goes TO algebra and higher mathematics. Civil
y1zed humanity is going through the same
process. encountering each year. or decade,
new complication and puzzle. The farm puzzle
now is mixed with the general labor puzzle and
with that is involved our entire scheme of prog
ress and civilization We are spending every
year millions and millions of dollars to train
and teach and women beyond working for
wages and to stir their ambition to seek fore
most places Yet the need for wageearners
and labor continues The cities, the factories,
the railways. call for the labor from the farms.
Here in the South we feel also the drain Of the
West demanding labor and occupants for the land
given TO It by the government The public
schools are busy trying to lift each new genera
ton above ordinary farm labor. but the land
owner continues to need that kind Of labor and
the great consuming public depends 1t for
daily supplies of bread and meat
The Chatham Enterprise touches an edge OF
the question 1t recites the familiar and fire.
suuentiy repeated case of tenant going upon
] plantation under agreement to do farm work
Son,shares or for wages. and jumping his contract
Tie leaves tho land owner perhaps, at harvest
time. unable to gather the crops, disarranges
NIL plans and calculations, cripples operation and
sdestroys profits effectually does the labor
union in the city striking on important work
at a critical time. The Enterprise thinks the
law should provide remedy. The kind OF
tenant described usually Is irresponsible fnan
Gially. An action against him at civil law Is a
useless expense On the other hand, some OF
Ahe Southern States especially those N which
the negro population Is large and migratory
have criminal laws against farm laborers and
tenants who violate contracts and they have
worked horrible consequences. They have
brought about conditions of peonage. making
the Iaborer and tenant practically slaves Bound
to the land owner for supplies advanced. fire.
uuently at extravagant prices extortionate
rates OF interest, for endorsements at the
general stores, the tenant. desiring to leave
must settle In full or may be pursued by officers
arrested and put In jail, Frequently another
land owner pays his fine, releases him. starts
him out In debt and thenceforth under the law
practically owns him and his labor AS com
p1etey as if he was in actual slavery. An
attempt to get away or TO make a contract
with somebody else another arrest and
Jail sentence So we have the Virginia land
owner unable % control or denend- III his labor
and the South Carolina laborer in danger OF
ensavement, one condition cruelty unjust
and dangerous TO the public welfare as the
other
We are working It out by going to the roots
and the fundamental rules States, federal gov
eminent. schools, chemists and inventors are
Dusy teachlng intensive FARMING, how TO make
one acre. horse and man produce three
x or four times much We are work.
ing also TO make the laborer and tenant more
intelligent and therefore more efficient and re-
sponsibie As we teach him ambition we teach
him also thrift and urge him to get results
from the land, to strive to be owner. protector
and developer instead OF wasteful and careless
tenant We are tending more and more yearl,
70 break up ths land into small. closely cult