Agriculture and Prejudice 25 



the soil of the South as the basis of racial improvement. 

 That While the Negro should exert every effort to abate 

 unjust discrimination, he should expend the greater portion 

 of his energy in becoming a more efficient farmer. In a 

 comparative study of the Negro in America with the Native 

 of South Africa, Mr. Maurice S. Evans has said : 2 



"In travelling over the South land the impression the 

 visitor gets is one of ample space for development. Even 

 in the older States not one-third of the total area could be 

 called improved and more than one-half is uncleared and 

 uncultivated. A much greater proportion of the land than 

 in South Africa can be put under the plough and the rain- 

 fall is abundant and well distributed. It is true that much 

 of the land has been distressingly abused and gone out of 

 cultivation, but by modern methods of manuring, rotation 

 of crops, and green-soiling it can be gradually built up 

 again, possibly even beyond its original fertility. The cli- 

 mate and soil are suitable for a great variety of crops, both 

 those of the temperate and those of the sub-tropical zones. 

 Timber for fuel and ordinary building is everywhere plenti- 

 ful, and the country is well watered by many streams. When 

 I compared it with the sun-stricken karoo of the Cape 

 Colony, without fuel, water, or shelter, and the arid wastes 

 of large extent in the interior of Australia, lacking in any 

 of these, it seemed to me a land to which nature has given, 

 as compared with many others, all that man requires to 

 build up prosperous and happy homes. Judging by the 

 standards of the producing British Colonies land is cheap; 

 judged by its possibilities if is very cheap. This means that 

 if he (the Negro) liked to take to agriculture he could at 

 once purchase and stock a small improved farm or a larger 

 unimproved one, and raise enough in a very few years to 

 return the purchase price. Such a man need never be in 

 debt. He could buy his requirements and sell his produce 

 on the very best terms, as well as any white man, and yearly 

 improve his holding and add to his possessions." 



It is this agricultural opportunity which is emphasized 



2 Evans, M. S., "Black and White in the Southern States." 

 London: Longmans Green and Company, 1915, p. 248-249. 



