The Yazoo Delta.
The Memphis Appeal-Avalanche says: “From present indications the labor
problem in the Mississippi valley is about to solve itself. The answer
is a simple one--the substitution of white labor for black.
“Everything seems to indicate that the shiftless, easy-going,
debt-making negro, dependent all the year round on the man who is
running him, will soon be a thing of the past. Of course there are
some negroes who are exceptions to the rule--who pay their debts
when they make them, who live economically, who know the value of a
dollar--but they are few and far between.
“That the Mississippi Delta is the garden spot of the earth no one
doubts. Its soil is ever responsive to the hand of the tiller. It is
capable of raising the most diversified crops. As a cotton country it
has no equal. All kinds of fruit flourish in its kindly temperature.
The forest abounds in the most valuable woods. As a stock raising
country it is equal to the blue grass region of Kentucky. All that the
Delta needs is the hand of man to develop it, and man is beginning to
realize that his labor will count for more there than anywhere else.
“As an example of the difference between Caucasian and negro labor, an
instance which recently came to light is invaluable. A wealthy planter,
owning a Delta farm, let part of it to some foreign families; the rest
to negroes. The foreigners worked hard. They raised diversified crops.
They lived as cheap as they could, and at the end of the year they
had not only paid their rent, but they had their barns stocked with
supplies and well-filled bank books. The negroes had not paid their
rent and were heavily in debt, besides being dependent on outside help
for supplies to run them through the year to come. The two classes of
tenants were exactly opposite, the one representing independence, the
other dependency.
“The Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad, recently purchased by the
Illinois Central system, passes directly through the Delta. It owns a
great deal of the land through which it passes, and is now making a
systematic effort to settle it with immigrants from the Northwest and
Europe. At present a large tract of land, known as the Bogue Phalia
district, is receiving the benefit of most of this effort, and the
families are rapidly moving in and taking possession.”
* * * * *
The Times-Union, Jacksonville, Fla., utters these profound truths:
“Capital is like Providence in just one respect. It helps those who
help themselves. It will take no risks in a community where the people
brand investments as bad by refusing to take part in them. Capitalists
know that men everywhere are looking for good investments, and an
enterprise that does not secure home support is presumed to be a
bad investment, no matter how much talk there is for the purpose of
convincing men to the contrary. The present is an auspicious time.
Millions of dollars of Northern capital are seeking investment, and
they will go to such places as prove rather than assert faith in the
investments they offer.”
* * * * *
The Atlanta Constitution, in making editorial comment on an item in the
SOUTHERN STATES, says:
“We contend that the South is the most promising section in the Union
for enterprising farmers who will conduct their business in the right
way. The Northern and Western farmers are beginning to see this. They
are coming to the conclusion that it is short-sighted policy for them
to purchase land at $100 or more per acre when they can buy plenty of
good farming land in the South at from $5 to $25 per acre. A Northern
farmer needs at least forty acres, and this will cost him in his own
section $4000. This sum would buy him at $25 per acre a Southern farm
of 160 acres, but he can easily find good land at much lower figures.
Indeed, with $1500 or $2000 a farm of 150 or 200 acres can be purchased
in a productive region. The Northern farmer who comes South and sticks
to his diversified crop plan will keep out of debt and make money
from the start. He will find, too, that he will enjoy here the same
conveniences, facilities, institutions and society that he has always
been accustomed to at home. He will suffer none of the drawbacks
of moving to a new country among strangers. Our people are native
Americans--98 per cent. of them--and the Americans from other sections
who come here easily assimilate with them, and there is no sectional
prejudice to make it unpleasant for strangers. When an immigrant makes
it apparent that he is a good citizen his Southern neighbors readily
extend the right hand of fellowship without asking him where he hails
from.”
* * * * *
Here is the opinion of an editor who moved from Nebraska to Tennessee
and is now editing the Advance of Harriman:
We came South from a State as fair as any under the sun. In some
respects it is unequalled by any land we have ever seen. But that is
not what makes a country desirable for a life-long, all-the-year-round
residence.
With all the desirable qualities of Nebraska, and there is no Northern
State that can excel or even equal it, there are some disadvantages
that render it more than a hundred per cent. inferior to this country.
In the first place, there are no minerals, no timber, and,
consequently, no manufacturing to supply a home market for produce. All
surplus grain must go to a foreign market, and the distance and freight
are so great, as to leave but very little for the farmer. Corn more
frequently sells for less than twenty-five cents a bushel than it does
for more than that, or even that figure.
Then the long winters and severe blizzards. We know what they are, for
we battled with them for a good number of years, and are in a position
to judge between the climate of that country and this.
Concerning the outlook for farming in this country, we are convinced of
two facts.
The first is, that the same kind of farming given to this Southern soil
that is given to the the land in the North will result in just as good
crops. Of this we have no doubt whatever.
The second is, that while the farmers of the Northwest have to sell
their produce for the lowest possible price, depending entirely on a
foreign market, here, with our stores of undeveloped minerals, and
immense quantities of timber to be manufactured, the farmer can depend
on a good local market for the next hundred years.
* * * * *
The Age-Herald, Birmingham, Ala., says: “The disposition among Northern
and Northwestern farmers to come South is every day becoming more
apparent. They long for the salubrious climate and fertile soil of the
South. When the South is covered by small farms owned by industrious
white farmers, then it will blossom as the rose. The negro shows a
disposition to get away from the farm. He is a social creature and
loves the society and excitement of the town. He flocks to the furnaces
and mills around the city. He can stand heat and enjoys the hot work
of the furnaces. He makes more at the public works. He is thriftless
and cannot manage, and can’t make farming pay. It is possible that
there will be a considerable shifting of places between the whites and
blacks, resulting in good to the entire country.”