The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1915-12-16


or hut you need not doubt that he
works the balance of the crowd SOME
He certainly does. You have heard
rho history Of the South and those KIND
Of things that obtain in most oil the
Southern states, and ! represent Aia-
hama | guess do. In order to have
an idea about the farmers OF AlaDahia
il is necessary 10 know something Oh
the various classes OF people that con-
stitute the farmers.
In the first place there is the large
land owner who stays with his lana
and makes a success of il. Then there
Is the large land owner who stays IN
the Town and lets the land stay out III
the country. The two are very lar re-
moved, and he doesn't see it but about
once a vear-sometimes not that often.
Wei. of course that land mas 10 ne
run bv somebody else 1t is run by
class of renters. a good many OF them
white. good many of them Dlack-
Then there is the small land owner.
who is able quite often to take care OF
himself. but his vision is generally
rather limited, and | have found one
thing about these people. They gen
orally think they know it all, and are
perfectly satisfied with their position.
Well. then we have the renting class,
how. indeed. we ever fell heir to so
many of them. The renter thinks
ne is a curious sort of character
he thinks he just dropped down here.
and he loves to move. He is like
Mercury: he would like TO have wings
on his feet. so he could either run or
fly.
I bought a thousand acres of land in
Alabama and gave eight dollars an
acre for it. Now those mountaineers
on the land that ! bought, drank whis-
KEY to amaze and raised rough house.
They didn't consider that they were in
any way amenable TO the law. They
were the law in themselves. | told
them | knew that was valuable tract
Of land and that | had put my money
into it for the sole purpose OF making
money out of it and that if they stayed
on the land we were going to run that
business together: that they couldn't
have the land any more to do just as
they pleased with, but they must sub
nit to my plan of agriculture. Well.
they if YOU will allow the expression,
"bucked" little, and | said: ut is
this or move-just which ever you
please" They didn't want TO move
and they stayed there. | told them
Now if you men get drunk can't
keep ysu from getting drunk-but II
you get drunk, you'd better go home
and go to bed. If YOU raise rough
house YOU needn't look for anybody
else to come after you-Im coming.
Well" they said you wouldn't send
us to jail. would you. if we had a crop
in >" And | said. Sure | would, and
just hire somebody to finish your crop
and take it out of your pocket" sent
some of them TO Jail and that cooked
the balance and didn't have any more
trouble with them.
And right away | told them this
credit business would have to stop.
This thing of making a crop on credit
would have 10 stop, and if they had to
have any money we would go to the
bank together and | would endorse the
note and get some money, and we were
going 10 run that crop on as little mon
cy as possible. and they must draw all
they got off the farm; if that land was
any account at all, il was able to take
care of itself.
Well. we went right along and will
just sum it up in a few words: The
third year | had that place. every man
| had was able To buy home of his
own. and did so. And that whiskey
drinking stopped short off.
| encouraged the men and tried as
best | could to make them see that
they really and truly were my part
ners, and that they amounted to some
thing better than rowing renters
went to the bank with them and intro
duced hem TO the president and said
Now Mr. Wellman. these men are or
my farm and they are renters and We
are going to run this business together
and we want to succeed with it. ant
they need little money, and | wan
you to let them have Just so much
Well, he shook hands with them ant