The Ruin of the Old Regime 41 



The un certainty of the risk has, at times, led to exorbi- 

 tant interest charges ^ and the ign orance of the tenants has 

 given undu e advantage to the mer chant in the supply ac- 

 c ounts. T he significant feature of the crop lien system is, 

 however, th at it enabled the South to b ridge over the diffi- 

 culty o f agricultural credits, and as far as the Negro was 

 co ncerned, it provided the opportunity for those without 

 capital to senm* credit for the stock, tools and year's pro- 

 vi sions for farming operations. It was one m ore method by 

 whic h the landless laborer could get a farm, m ortgaging 

 his future crop in security for advances of food and imple- 

 ments. W. E. B. DuBois sums its significance up in "The 

 Negro Landholder in Georgia," as follows : 9 



A thrifty Negro in the hands of well disposed landlords 

 and honest merchants early became an independent land- 

 owner. A shiftless, ignorant Negro, in the hands of un- 

 scrupulous landlords or shylocks, became something worse 

 than a slave. The masses of Negroes between the two ex- 

 tremes fared as chance and the weather let them." 



The crop lien system was of greatest aid to Negroes in 

 passing from share to cash tenancy. As has been stated, the 

 need of some cash to make a payment on land, deterred the 

 vast majority from entering ownership. To those desiring 

 to become independent renters, however, rather than share 

 tenants, the crop lien system was a great help. For many 

 Negroes the capital needed to make this step was, of course, 

 not available. If, however, they could find a landlord who 

 would rent them land and a house, they could apply to the 

 merchant for the capital, become an independent renter and 

 mortgage their future crops to repay the debt. Under fa- 



8 Banks, Economics of Land Tenure in Georgia, opp. cite; 

 Brooks, The Agrarian Revolution, opp cite; DuBois, W. E. B., 

 "The Negro Landholder in Georgia," U. S. Department of Labor, 

 Bulletin No. 35, 1901. 



e DuBois, The Negro Landholder, opp. cite p. 668. 



