SOCIAI, AND ECONOMIC PROGRESS OF THE NEGRO FARMERS 9 1 



The condition of the black slaves in the United States was generally 

 tolerable, in so far as slavery ever can be so. The white masters were 

 as a rule kind to them, either through an interested anxiety not to lose this 

 kind of hvestock, or out of himianity. The last motive was more frequent 

 among *;he owners of smaller farms, who had passed much time in daily con- 

 tact with their black labourers. The relations of the slaves and masters 

 in such cases even became affectionate and gave the plantation life of the 

 South that patriarchal character, which,in spite of its many sad and pain- 

 ful sides, partly explains how miUions of men could so long support the 

 yoke of slavery. Indeed, the negroes gave wonderful examples of their 

 affection and fideUty even up to the time of the war of secession : when, 

 in more than one instance, they remained to protect the wives, children 

 and property of their masters who were fighting. 



The proclamation of emancipation substituted the system of free con- 

 tract for that of slave labour. However, if the condition of the labourers 

 was improved in law, at first it was not in fact ; since, indeed, the free hire 

 of labour was in many ways akin to slavery, without its few good points. 

 The relation between the white masters and the negro labourers was radic- 

 ally changed. The bonds of affection and devotion were lost in the violent 

 con\ ulsion of a whole system of life, the economic conditions that had con- 

 tributed to the kindly treatment of the slaves had been changed. There 

 was in fact no further reason to spare the negro stock, to attend to the 

 sick, to make the exhausted rest ; on the other hand, it was good economy 

 to get as much work out of them as possible, seeking a maximum of profit 

 with a minimum of expenditure. Nor, on the other hand, did the critical 

 situation of the Southern h ndow. ers, to a large extent ruined by the 

 war and the emancipation of the slaves, permit of their offering their 

 labourers high wages. 



All these circumstances, together with those general political and eco- 

 nomic conditions mentioned in the preceding section, and the other general 

 causes of urbanism, led to the rural exodus of negroes and to its being to an 

 eminent degree an exodus of labourers. In fact, if the proportion of the 

 negroes engaged in agriculture to that of the negroes over ten years of age oc- 

 cupied in the various pursuits fell from 55.5 % in 1890 to 52.8 % in 1900, 

 this was especially due to the fact that, although the total number of 

 negro labourers increased (from 1,106,728 in 1890 to 1,344,116 in 1910), 

 there was at the same time a compapative decrease of from 64.9 % to 63.7 % 

 in the number of negroes engaged in agriculture. 



The tendency of negro labourers to emigrate from the country is especi- 

 ally seen in the proportion of their number to the total number of agricult- 

 ural labourers of all races, which fell from 36.8 % in 1890 to 30.5 % in 

 1900, a decrease, that is to sa}^ of 6.3 %in ten years. 



Yet the importance of negro labour in the United States is still very 

 great, especially in the Southern States. In 1900 there were in the North 

 American Republic 1,344,116 rural negro labourers, distributed as follows: 



I 



