50 HUMAN FACTORS IN COTTON CULTURE 



blacks were partly segregate, partly intertwined. If any 

 special link was needed the children supplied it." 2(J The 

 field hands lived farther removed, their lives were harder, 

 and the overseer interposed between them and their own- 

 ers. But unless the master was away most of the time 

 there was likely to be no estrangement. Phillips has 

 phrased it happily ". . . the slaves themselves would 

 not permit indifference even if the master were so in- 

 clined. The generality of the Negroes insisted upon pos- 

 sessing and being possessed in a cordial but respectful 

 intimacy." 27 



The connection of the plantation with the economic 

 world outside was usually through the factor. The cotton 

 factor 28 was likely to be a man of money and brains. 

 Since the prevailing prejudice against trade did not op- 

 erate against him, he was always from a good family. 

 His relations with the planter were personal and inti- 

 mate as well as economic. Since factorage reflected the 

 hazards of cotton planting, a large profit was allowed 

 him without complaint on the part of the planters. The 

 confidential nature of their relationship attached a high 

 value to the moral hazards. If the planter consigned his 

 cotton to the factor and accepted his accounting usually 

 without quibble, the factor lent the planter money with 

 nothing more definite than a personal pledge. In south- 

 ern cities such as Charleston, South Carolina, the factors 

 either paid the proceeds of the sea island cotton over 

 to the growers or acted in the capacity of a bank for 

 them, honoring their checks when presented. As a matter 

 of fact, the factor was wholesale merchant, banker, and 



2 6 Phillips, op. cit., p. 313. 27 Ibid., p. 307. 

 28 A. H. Stone, "The Cotton Factorage System for Southern 

 States," American Historical Review, XX (April, 1915), 559-66. 



