112 ECONOMICS OF LAND TENURE IN GEORGIA [i I2 



and the cropper, making the share of each $157. In 

 the end the cropper gets whatever is left over after his 

 family account is settled at the neighboring merchant's. 

 From the landlord's $157 the following items of expense 

 are to be deducted : 



Mule rent $20 



Mule feed 50 



Interest and sinking fund on tools 15 



"$85 

 This leaves to the credit of the landlord a balance of 

 $72 — a fund out of which is to come an offset against 

 the risks assumed, a fund out of which is to come the 

 wages for whatever measure of superintendence he may 

 have exercised, a fund out of which is to come the rent 

 on thirty acres of land! It is not surprising that during 

 the period of declining prices in the cotton markets 

 thousands of farmers became bankrupt. It is not sur- 

 prising that the more alert of the large landowners are 

 beginning to turn away from a system so uneconomic in 

 its workings and are turning to the plantation-wages 

 system which has in store large gains for the enterprising 

 owner of many acres. 



It is now in order to see what effect the change is 

 likely to have on the economic condition of the cropper 

 who becomes in name, as well as in fact, a wage earner 

 upon the plantation. To many it will appear that the 

 cropper is taking a step backward rather than a step 

 forward. Over against such a view, the opinion is ven- 

 tured that the plantation-wages system will not only add 

 much to the efficiency of the erstwhile cropper but that 

 it will also operate beneficently upon him as compared 

 with the cropping system. This opinion is based upon 

 several considerations. 



As a point of departure in the argument it may be 



