The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-01-04
RACE LINES IN
 THE RURAL SOUTH
sJim Crow Communities Op- posed By Southern
 White Man.
V. D. WEATHERFORD
Southern Field Secretary, In. ternational Committee,
 Y. M. c. A.
FExclusive Service The Survey
 Press Bureau.

segregation of the races both tn the cities and in country communities.
 This article does not mean to deaI with the question of the segregation Of the races in the cities. question on which there ara many th1ngA to be said both for and against. The white owner In 3 city block rises up @ de- inaud protectton when negro has, moved Into that ctty block and thus reduces tho prices Of land and the values Of his houses; on the other hands the negro brings searching charges against the white coInuun negroes live and for allowing all types of vice and crime to pile thenaselYes up about negro homes
 The truth iss that most Of the ne4 xroes in the cities who seek to D say land and build homes. In the lita sections do so not because they pre- Fer to live among white people as white people, but because they pre- fer to HVesin comm unity " here the control1lng psopEe will see to 1t that decency and order are maintained
 Color Line Proposed
 hThere is, however. determined move on the part of a. few white lead carried ont in the rural cornnaaznaties throughout the entire south. The planis just tnis:
 Tha4 whenever the gTeater part Of the land aoreage in any given dis trlct tiate may be laid of. Is owned by one race. majority of the vot-. CTS in such district may sayss if they wish, that in futur @ no land be sold to a person Of a different race
 1nt other words, whenever nla-g 5pritY of the people in b community are hite they can easily get to- gsther and vote that they will not al- low any new negroes to move into the community but, inasmuchs as the negroes in many communities are scareely able to avail themselves of the privilege Of voting. 1t would be very difficult In any negro com munlty for tne negroes to get togeth- CT and decide that no further white people should come into that com rnunity.
 NemrO Farm NeaRhbors.
 A to the negross being an unsatizs factory nefghbor, there is 2 vast diff ference between the rural community and &he city commun1t1l One farm er Is not In any sense socially affect ed by those who live around him The pfoof that this is the fact conae8 from the testimony of large mum bers of farmers with whom have tallze8 and with whom have cor respanded saying that they do not at an object to their negro neigh
 Some time ago wrote a letter to- every United States farm demonstra< ton agent h the souths some TAO in number I asked them two or three defi11te questions on this particular point E1rz<, asked them if negroes were buying land in their co1nnuni-. ties s5gecond, ! asked if there was any oppoaihon on the part of the white people to their buying land: third, I asked If the land values in that par ticulax community were rising or fallings and fourth asked if the fact that negroes were buying land had anything to do with this rise or fall in land vaInes
 Tn ansuer to the first question there were large number of gents who replied that the negroes were buying land.
 Tn regard to the second question, a great u1a5ox4ty Of the demonstratson asents answered that there was no Opposition whatever h their com TaunI ties.
 Tn the third place, found that In almost all Of the farm communities, land values were rising Even in tho6e places where the negroes were buying land rapidly. land values were stl1l rtalng. And in reply to fhe fourth question, most of the demon stra1on agents answered that they did not think it made any particuIar whether negroes were buying land or
 The question of the support Of school and church in the rural com nunity Is pressing one, and per- haps in this regard the advocates Of the segregation movement for rural eomnnunitfes have one of their beek argumentG. If counties were solidfy negro or white, it would, of course, be possible to have unified schools and much smaller number Of schools. But this question Of 451a aixa of the negro school, and of the white school as we'll. is being gradually solved by the consolidated school naovemeuf which takes the children from sparse7y settled section into the nelghborlng section. thus Redue- Ing the number as well as increasing the efficiency of the schools now in existence.
 Reasons Aeatast segregafaon.
 1t seems to me that any movement for gegregation would certainty hawa some or all of the following serious handicapss
 hated agafnst in the country, would tpe prone to move at once to the ci ty. where he would probably become both burden and a menace, The city becomes his undoing in most cases, and he is seriously in danger of becoming a Criminal as he drifts into the segregated districts of cur cities. We are all convinced that ttaa negro is much greater econ onaie asseks he is q larger influence for good citizenship, he is better nei ehbor in the country than he ia tn the city.
 Seeeu1s Suca a segregation of the races would soon mean a lack of proper labor in many country com Huuities The fact that this would be the outcome is seased by many of the big plantation owners, most Of hem ares as I understand 1t, de- eIdsdly 0pposed to the question Of segresatfoa
 Third; But suppose there were a satisfactory supply of foreigners to sa1ze the place of the negro, we ask ssr1ousiy whether it would relieve us of an embarrassment or whether it