COTTON 37 



Of the 1,418,000 cotton farms reported in 1900, 

 849,000 were operated by whites. White farmers 

 cultivated 14,616,000 acres, and negro farmers, 

 9,650,000 acres. (Of course, though, much negro 

 labor was hired to assist in cultivating the white 

 farms.) 



THE SHIFTLESS NEGRO TENANT FAEMEE 



Of the negro farmers more than four-fifths are 

 tenants or about 500,000 of the nearly 600,000 

 negro farmers. "Clearly the central feature of the 

 Southern farm life of the negro race," says Prof. 

 W.E. DuBois, "is the tenant class this half mil- 

 lion black men who hire farms on various terms, and 

 a large proportion of whom stand about midway be- 

 tween slavery and ownership." 



One hardly knows whether to say that the negro's 

 indifference, his contentment with this lot, makes 

 the situation more or less tragical. "Take ye no 

 thought for the morrow what ye shall eat, nor yet 

 for your body, what ye shall put on," is one Bible 

 commandment which the negro literally obeys. 

 And his other favorite commandment is like unto it : 

 "Multiply and replenish the earth" taking equally 

 little heed for the morrow of the niggerkins them- 

 selves, unless Topsy-like, they "just grow." As an 

 old negro whom the writer used to know would say, 

 "If I've got a peck of corn meal in the bar'l, I 

 ain't got nothin' to worry about." 



"The one-room cabin" says Prof. Du Bois, "is 

 still the typical farm home of the negro," and as 

 for his food and disposition: 



"Oh, I gits my stren'th from white side meat, 



I sops all de sorghum a nigger kin eat, 



I chaws wheat bread on Saddy night 



En' I ain't no han' to run f ' urn a fight." 



