EVOLUTION OF THE COTTON SYSTEM 61 



their borrowed capital in what they felt sure was a 

 veritable bonanza." 8 When the cotton market fell, crops 

 produced at high prices on borrowed capital brought 

 ruin in their wake. Lands were thrown on the markets at 

 forced sales, and the market sagged under their weight. 

 "Plantations," writes Grady, "that had brought from 

 $100,000 to $150,000 before the war were sold at $6,000 

 to $10,000 or hung on the hands of the planter and his 

 factor at any price whatever." r Many farmers, both 

 black and white, bought small farms and set up as inde- 

 pendent operators. For the first time since the beginning 

 of the plantation regime, land owning bid fair to become 

 generally diffused among the southern people. In the dec- 

 ade from 1860 to 1870 the total value of farms in ten 

 cotton states had declined from almost $1,479,000,000 

 to $764,000,000, a fall of 48 per cent. 48 While a great 

 part of the loss was due to the ravages of war, part of 

 the loss shows that in times of crop or price failure there 

 are likely to be more sellers than buyers. It was this fall 

 in value that gave an opportunity to the small owners. 

 The following table * 9 is arranged to show the break-up 

 of the old regime in the decreasing size of southern farms 

 and farm values as compared with northern farms. In 

 eleven southern states the average size of the farm de- 

 creased from 335.4 to 111.4 acres. The greatest single 

 decrease, that from 1860 to 1870, represents the divi- 

 sion of plantation into tenant holdings, listed as separate 

 farms by the census. 



48 Henry W. Grady, op. cit., p. 722. * 7 Loc. cit. 

 Computed from the Census of 1860 and 1870 by Hammond, 

 op. cit., p. 127. 



Census, V (1910), 878. 





