for the Negro, he with us must admit that the ills of the black tenant
farmer are simply the ills of the Southern farmer in a more or less
aggravated form. It is also true that the curse of such a system falls
the heaviest on the smallest and most ignorant tenant farmer, who is
the least capable of self-defense. For years we have been content to
let the preachers preach, the lawyers argue, the philosophers predict,
the teachers and the doctors practice with scarcely a question as to
our priority of right. We have, in the face of the many oppositions
which come to every race similarly situated, labored with endurance,
patience and forbearance, until the birth of the twentieth century
dawns upon us, steadily marching on, with something over $263,000,000
worth of unencumbered property to our credit. Now as to the number
owning farms and following agricultural pursuits as a livelihood, we
are pleased to submit some figures from the last census report, from
Crogman, in his "Progress of a Race," and from other authorities.
Beginning with the little District of Columbia, with an aggregate
area of 8,489 acres and 269 farms, there are seventeen Negro farmers,
five of which own their land in whole or in part. Their farms contain
29 acres, of which 25 are improved. The total value of the land is
$23,300, and the appurtenant buildings are worth $390; live stock to
the value of $489; and farm incomes for 1899 amounting to $4,244. Ten
farms, aggregating 258 acres, are operated by Negroes as cash tenants.
The reported values are, land, $114,600; buildings, $9,200; implements
and machinery, $1,200; and live stock, $1,383. The total incomes for
these farms in 1899 were $10,300. Two farms, together consisting of 21
acres, valued at $149,630, are operated by Negroes as salaried
managers. Of the 17 farms operated by Negroes, only 1 contains less
than three acres; 7 contain from 3 to 9 acres; 5 from 10 to 19 acres;
2 from 20 to 49 acres; and 2 from 50 to 99 acres, giving an average
size for all of 18.1 acres.
In the state of Delaware the farms constitute 85 per cent of the total
land surface of the state, which is divided up into 9,687 farms, of
which 8,869, or 91.6 per cent, are operated by whites, and 818, or 8.4
per cent, by Negroes. Of the latter class 297 are operated by owners,
and 35 by part owners. The value of their farms, including implements,
machinery and live stock, together with the value of implements,
machinery and live stock on the farms which other Negroes operate as
tenants, is $495,187.
In Arizona we find that three Negro farmers operate their farms as
salaried managers. Twelve own farms containing 1,511 acres, with farm
property valued at $60,422; one leases a 39-acre farm for cash, and
has implements and live stock worth $130. The total investment by
Negroes in agriculture, exclusive of farms owned by them and leased to
others, is, therefore, $60,552, which is a rather encouraging showing
for Arizona.
Messrs. Walker and Fitch, graduates of Hampton Institute, in 1896,
made a careful canvass of one congressional district in Virginia, and
found as follows: Out of a total acreage of 1,944,359 acres, one
fifteenth, or 125,597 acres, is owned by the Colored people, roughly
estimated at $1,000,000. These figures mean farm owning chiefly, as
$79,611 represent the total city property. They also report that in
Gloucester county, 25 years from the above date, the Colored people
owned less than 100 acres of land. To-day they own 13,000 acres of
land free from any encumbrance. Mr. Fitch further adds that he has
traveled quite thoroughly through more than ten counties of Virginia,
with horse and buggy, during the present year (1896), and that in no
county through which he traveled did the Colored people own less than
5,000 acres of land. He found also that much of the improved farming
was being done by Colored men, and that the strong public sentiment
against moving to cities was having the desired effect.
Again, the statistician reports, in 1890, 12,690,152 homes and farms
in the United States, and of this number the Negroes own 234,747 free
from all encumbrance, and 29,541 mortgaged; giving the percentage of
mortgaged property owned by Negroes as 10.71, while the whole
percentage of mortgaged property for the whole country is 38.97. It is
further stated that of all the property held by Negroes, 88.58 per
cent is owned without encumbrance. Since so much has been accomplished
in the Negro's pioneer days of freedom, may we not predict with a
considerable degree of assurance that the next decade and a half will
far exceed our most sanguine hope? The virgin fertility of our soils,
and the vast amount of cheap and unskilled labor, have been a curse
rather than a blessing to agriculture. This exhaustive system of
cultivation, the destruction of forests, the rapid and almost constant
decomposition of organic matter, together with the great multiplicity
of insect and fungus diseases that appear every year, make the
Southern agricultural problem one requiring more brains than that of
the North, East or West. The advance of civilization has brought, and
is constantly bringing, about a more healthy form of competition. The
markets are becoming more fastidious, and he who puts such a product
upon the market as it demands, controls that market, regardless of
color. It is simply a survival of the fittest.
We are also aware that the demands upon agriculture were never so
exacting as they are now. All other trades and professions are holding
out their inducements to the young men and women who are ready and
willing to grapple with life's responsibilities. One says, "Come and I
will make you a Gould." Another, a Rockefeller; still another, an
Astor--with all the luxuries their names suggest. Too many of our own
farmers illy prepare their land, cultivate, harvest and market the
scanty and inferior crop, selling the same for less than it cost to
produce it. I need not tell you that the above conditions imperatively
suggest the proverbial mule, implements more or less primitive, with
frequently a vast territory of barren and furrowed hillsides and
wasted valleys. Instead of the veritable Klondyke, of which their
dreams are made sweet, another mortgage has been added as an
unpleasant reminder of the year's hard labor. With this inevitable
doom staring them in the face, is it any wonder that so many of the
youth of our land flock to the cities with the hope of seeking some
occupation other than farming? The above conditions, together with the
seemingly higher civilization of the city folk, I claim, are largely
responsible for this. But be this as it may, in the light of what has
been accomplished, I see for us a very bright star of hope in the
education of two-thirds of the brightest and best of our youth in
scientific agriculture.
The many excellent schools, colleges, nature study leaflets, farmers'
bulletins and reading courses, conferences, convocations, congresses,
fairs, and the like, are all powerful educational factors designed to
lead the race into higher agricultural activities. The agricultural
schools, and higher institutions of that character, are wisely laying
much stress upon stock raising, dairying, horticulture, landscape
gardening, poultry raising, and every manipulation incident to the
successful operation of this great industry. These subjects have been
taught almost wholly to young men, but recent experience has taught,
not only in this, but in other countries, that many of these studies
seem especially suited to women; and many are taking the advantages
offered by schools in the matter of learning the technique of poultry
raising, dairying, horticulture, landscape gardening, and the related
sciences, along with their academy or college work, and as a reward
are finding pleasant, profitable and healthful employment. Nature
study, with the first principles of agriculture, is compulsory in many
of the primary schools, and ere another decade is indelibly placed
upon the historical records of the greatest events of the greatest
century, it will find us wonderfully in advance in this particular.
Every year we see a perceptible increase in the funds for public
education, and magnificent schools and colleges, with better paid
professors, springing up here and there, stand out as beacon lights to
this new and wonderful epoch. The wisdom of spending these
ever-increasing millions upon the youth of our land becomes from year
to year a matter of less concern as we seek to give our boys and girls
a broader education than that of a pure scientist. It is very
encouraging to note the course taken by our young men and women who
have gone out from those institutions--the way they have acquired
land, built homes, and are devoting their entire time and talent in
that direction. I have no fears but what we, in the course of time,
will do our part both nobly and well in the matter of feeding a hungry
world.
SECOND PAPER.
THE NEGRO AS A FARMER.
BY H. A. HUNT.
[Illustration: Prof. H. A. Hunt]
PROF. HENRY A. HUNT.
Henry A. Hunt was born in Hancock County, Ga., in 1866. He
attended the public schools of Sparta, the county seat,
until 1882, when he entered Atlanta University and was
graduated from the college course in 1890. He also completed
the course of instruction given in the Industrial Department
of that university. He kept up his expenses, in a measure,
by working as a carpenter during his vacations and during
his spare hours while in school. He was considered a most
promising young man and a thorough scholar by his professors
and schoolmates. He became a professing Christian while
pursuing his college course. In all of the athletic sports
of the university he took an active part and served as
captain of the base ball team for several years. He
graduated with the highest honors of his class. Through a
most flattering recommendation from the Superintendent of
the Public Schools of Atlanta, Ga., he was called, in 1891,
to the principalship of the Charlotte Graded School, which
position he filled acceptably, until he resigned, during the
same year, to accept the superintendency of the Industrial
Department of Biddle University, Charlotte. N. C. In 1896 he
was given, in addition to his industrial work, the
superintendency of the Boarding Department of Biddle
University. These two positions he is now filling in a most
acceptable manner. Mr. Hunt's work and close touch with the
young men of the university have been most gratifying. He
encourages and takes part with them in all of their sports,
being the leading spirit in their athletic association. He
is a noble example of the manly man and his influence over
the students for straightforward and manly endeavor has been
truly helpful. The respect and esteem in which he is held by
the graduates and undergraduates are most noteworthy. In
August, 1900, Mr. Hunt called together the farmers of
Mecklenburg and surrounding counties for the purpose of
holding a farmers' conference. A permanent organization was
effected, of which he was made president. The influence of
these annual conferences is far-reaching and will no doubt
result in great good to the farming class of western North
Carolina. He was for several years the president of the
Queen City Real Estate Company of Charlotte, N. C., an
organization designed to help those wishing to obtain homes.
He was forced to relinquish this work because of other
duties. Mr. Hunt is a strong and courageous young man, he is
firm in his convictions and believes the royal road to
success is attained through the faithful performance of each
day's duties. His sympathies are near to the interests of
the working classes. As a college-bred man he urges his
people to become skilled artisans and to build up reliable
business enterprises and thus become independent. His
kindness of heart and plain honest dealing with his
fellow-man, along with his intellectual attainment, have won
for him a host of friends and made him a popular man with
all the people.
While attending Atlanta University, Mr. Hunt met the
girl--Miss Florence S. Johnson, of Raleigh, N. C.--who in
the year 1893 became his wife and to whom much of whatever
success he has attained is attributable. To them there have
been three bright and beautiful children born--two girls and
a boy.
In a chapter on this subject it may not be out of place to give some
little attention to the early history of the Negro as a farmer in
America.
Without stopping to discuss the motives of the sea captain who brought
over the first load of Negroes to America, or why the Northern
colonists discontinued, at a comparatively early date, the use of
slave labor, let us note a few things about the Negro in the South.
The fact that they could easily endure the summer sun of the cotton
belt; that they learned quickly the simple methods of farming used in
the cultivation of cotton, rice, sugar-cane, and tobacco; that they
required but little in the way of food, clothing, housing and medical
attention, and the further fact that they possessed a peculiarly happy
and light-hearted disposition, all tended to make them especially
valuable to the Southern planters.
It seems that slave labor was looked upon, at a comparatively early
date, as being not only desirable, but absolutely necessary to the
growth and development of the Southern colonies.
For several years after the settlement of Georgia no slaves were
allowed to be used in that colony, but, finding that the colony seemed
to be doomed to failure, the "trustees" permitted the introduction of
slaves and the colony began immediately to prosper.
The following lines attributed to George Whitefield--the famous
minister--in referring to his plantations in Georgia and South
Carolina, give a fair idea of the feelings of the Southern colonists
on the subject of slave labor at that time. He speaks thus about his
Georgia plantation: "Upward of five thousand pounds have been expended
in the undertaking, and yet very little proficiency made in the
cultivation of my tract of land, and that entirely owing to the
necessity I lay under of making use of white hands. Had a Negro
been allowed I should now have had a sufficiency to support a great
many orphans, without expending above half the sum which has been laid
out." How different are his expressions concerning his South Carolina
plantation, where slavery existed: "Blessed be God! This plantation
has succeeded; and, though at present I have only eight working hands,
yet, in all probability, there will be more raised in one year, and
without a quarter of the expense, than had been produced at Bethesda
for several years past. This confirms me in the opinion I have
entertained for a long time that Georgia never can or will be a
flourishing province without Negroes are allowed."
With the invention of the cotton gin slave labor became still more
valuable, the South more prosperous, and the planters verily believed
that cotton was king and South Carolina the hub of the universe.
But, while it is true that the Negro became an indispensable factor in
the material prosperity of the South by his work on the plantations,
yet he did not at that time occupy a position that could be dignified
with the name of farmer. During the days of slavery the Negro occupied
a position more closely akin to that of a farm animal than that of a
farmer. Of course there were exceptions but we are speaking now of the
masses.
The Negro having been looked upon by his master and schooled to look
upon himself and his fellow bondmen as possessing none of the
intelligence and virtues essential to success in life, there is little
wonder that a comparatively small number of freedmen took advantage of
the opportunities offered immediately after the close of the Civil War
to become land owners. Indeed, when we take into account the fact that
there was a sort of caste feeling among the slaves, with the "field
hands" as the "mud sill," and all glad of any opportunity offered to
rise above the despised position, the great wonder is that so many
were willing to continue an occupation considered so degrading. The
fact is, that it was to a very great extent simply a matter of
accepting cheerfully the inevitable that held so many of the freedmen
to the farms and to farm life.
Among the positive forces that operated in taking the Negro from the
farm there was, perhaps, none stronger than the desire to have his
children educated--the opportunity for which being very poor in the
country districts--many of the very best and most thrifty among them
left the farms for the towns and cities.
But whether on the farm or in the city, only a few years of freedom
and its attendant responsibilities were necessary to enable the more
intelligent ones of the ex-slaves to see the importance of not only
knowing something, but owning something as well, if they were to
entertain any hopes or aspirations above those of the "field hand,"
and it was from this class of Negro farm hands that the real Negro
farmer came into existence. While there were many who showed decided
intelligence, sound judgment and shrewd business sense by the manner
in which they managed their affairs, still the great masses had
arisen, if at all, only from the position of the master's farm animal
in slavery to that of his less cared for farm hand in freedom.
The condition just described represents the state of affairs during
the first few years after the war, as indeed it does present
conditions, except that the number of those who may be called farmers
is constantly increasing and the number of mere farm hands is growing
proportionately smaller. We should keep constantly in mind the
distinction between the man who tills his own land and the one who
works the land of another, the former is the farmer, the latter the
farm hand.
The distinction just noted would seem to be entirely justifiable as
ownership of the land is the first requisite for the proper interest
in, and love for the work being done, to entitle a man to the name of
farmer.
In order to properly appreciate the opportunities and advantages of
farm life to himself and his children, there must be that love for the
farm itself, its rocks, its woods, its hills, its shady rills and its
meadows that can come in no other way than through the proud sense of
ownership. There must be the feeling of kinship for the very soil
itself; the birds, the bees, the flowers must all be held dear to the
heart of him who would know nature's choicest secrets and reap rich
harvests from her beautiful storehouse.
In no field are the prospects brighter for the negro than in that of
agriculture. There are thousands of acres of land in the South and
Southwest that may be purchased upon terms so favorable that the land
being purchased, may, by proper management, be made to yield
sufficient income to meet the payments.
In the combination of a mild climate, cheap land, with easy payments,
ready markets and previous training of the Negro, God seems to be
offering special inducements for him to come out from the condition of
a landless tenant--that may grow into a serfdom worse than slavery--to
that of worthy, independent and self-respecting land owners.
There is no field in which he meets so little of the unreasoning and
unreasonable prejudice as in farming.
The products of the farm are the necessaries of life and people do not
stop to question too closely as to whence they come or by whom
produced.
Owing to the growth of manufacturing in the South, especially of
cotton goods and the consequent removal of large numbers of the poor
whites into the cities and towns, just now would seem to be the high
tide of the Negroes' opportunity to become an independent class of
citizens; and we should be careful to seize it at its flood, or all
the rest of our life's voyage may be bound in shallows and miseries
more distressing than those already passed.
The opportunity for buying land, becoming independent and even
wealthy, are, indeed, grand, but the fact must ever be kept in mind
that the present favorable conditions will not obtain indefinitely.
Let the tide of European immigration once turn southward and
competition immediately becomes sharper, and the further progress of
the Negro decidedly more difficult.
If the Negro would put himself in position to successfully withstand
this competition that will inevitably come, let him begin now by
purchasing his stronghold--the farm--and fortify himself, or he may
awake, when it is too late, to find himself without a home or the
means with which to secure it.
Let us note just here one of the most solemn obligations resting upon
those who stand as leaders of the Negroes, viz.: The duty of
impressing upon the masses the absolute necessity for purchasing land
and the great need, yes, the absolute necessity of doing so _now_.
It is not the purpose of the writer to create the impression that the
leaders of our people are neglecting their duty, or that the masses
are letting their opportunities for material betterment pass
unimproved, but rather to arouse both leaders and followers to the
necessity for greater activity in their work. Indeed when all things,
favorable and unfavorable, are taken into account, there is much to be
thankful for and hopeful over in the present condition of the Negro
farmers.
In almost every community in the South there are to be found Negro
farmers who are not only making a decent living, but buying land and
improving it, building comfortable dwellings, improving the grades of
their farm animals, giving liberal support to their schools and
churches and bringing up their children in a manner that is
altogether creditable and calculated to make of them good citizens.
It is encouraging to note the increased interest on the part of many
young men on the subject of farming, as evidenced by the increasing
popularity of the agricultural and mechanical colleges, and the lively
interest taken by them in the farmers' conferences held in various
parts of the South. The number of Negro farmers who read agricultural
journals and make intelligent use of the bulletins issued by the
agricultural departments of the various states and the United States,
is constantly increasing.
Lest there be some doubt as to the truthfulness of the favorable
conditions just mentioned, let the figures speak. Since last year the
Negroes of the single state of Georgia have purchased 66,000 acres of
land and added $380,000 to the value of farm lands. (Prof. W. E. B.
DuBois in The Independent, Nov. 21, 1901.)
Indeed it seems that if in one particular line of work more than any
other the Negro has won for himself a place in the history of this
country's progress that work has been upon the farm. If one section of
the country has profited more than another by his toil, that section
is the South, whose forests he has felled, whose roads he has built,
whose soil he has tilled, whose wealth he has created, and whose
prosperity he has made possible. Then let us not be discouraged, but
turn our faces to the sunlight of heaven and put forth our very best
endeavors, confidently expecting to reap the full rewards for our
labors and attain the full measure of manhood as a race in this "the
land of the free and the home of the brave."
TOPIC XXVII.
THE NEGRO AS AN INVENTOR.
BY H. E. BAKER.
[Illustration: H. E. Baker]
HENRY E. BAKER.