The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1935-05-22
NEWSPAPERS OPINION
THE TENANT PROBLEM

! For seventy years the South has struggled with
the tenant problem. That is, the owners OF lana
have struggled with the problem The tenant, as a
rule had no worry over it. He knew land had to
be worked and if he could not trade" with Mr..
Smith, there was Mr.. Jones a few, miles away, OF
Mr.. Brown few miles up or down the road. BE-
ing in debt never gave the tenant, the colored ten
ant especially, any serious concern. To him the
whole matter of money and debt was needless
confusion At the end Of the year ne expected a
new deal, not like the one we now capitalize. he
went on the simple but all embracing theory that
"every wear must stand for itself" If he happened
TO .come out behind" that was part of the gen
era scheme of things and was to be put behind one
like last wears cloud which could not be recalled
In 1865, here and elsewhere, the newly freed
men and women filed the roads with amless going
to and fro. The right to do as they pleased was
exercised to the full few tired of it in very
short time and wanted to be regularly at work
even if it was on their own responsibility.
The others in time had to go to work but they
did not do so with any enthusiasm or zest In time
tbe new system or the new adjustment came back
n one pbase of the situation before the war"
the landlord stood in the shoes of the former mas
ter in that ne became the responsible for food
who supplied shelter Clothing and other things
were managed somehow other. But in unusually
tight times even these had to De supplied by the
landlord.
From 1865 on, the problem has been not on the
shoulders of the tenant but the shoulders OF the
landlord He has had to "tote the misery" as the
old cOlored woman said.
Some landlords have been harsh in their treat
ment but if we take the whole population of land
lord and tenant into consideration it is rather SAFE
to saw that the tenant has been supported and fed
and carried along generally by the landlord On
the basis of capital invested and the value of his
time the landlord has received a very; very small
return through the years.
Today hue and cry has been raised against all
landlords and in behalf it is shouted of the poor
oppressed tenant.
1t is either mistaken zeal or downright malicious
interference in many cases. In fact, for most seq
tions of the South, it is the Landlord who needs
sympathy and help. He is the man who kept on
trying to farm; Kept on trying to buy food and
fertilizers for his tenants, kept on trying to pay
their taxes and the taxes his land until finally
ne had to borrow from the land bank or some other
creditor and has either given up or is in daily fear
that ne will have to do just that.
1t is useless 10 worry over the untrue things
said in the North and East against all of u.s. Some
of us may be all that is said and limited, but not all
And this tenant problem is the one thing that is
good example of reformers wanting to reform
something they know nothing about.
If any class, as class, deserves movement in
their behalf and deserves sympathetic efforts to
help them out of their financial troubles it is the
landlord class in the South that has tried to carry
on and tried to keep their tenants fed and housed
in the past.
Today the interference from Washington and the
new drive to make martyr out Of the tenant as
class is just about the last straw with them
Greenwood IS c. Index-Journal.