The Life of the Tenant Classes 73 



hands or hired men. The growth of farm tenancy is, there- 

 fore, a step forward, not a step backward in the condition 

 of American agriculture." Taylor, Carver and other writers 

 on rural economics hold substantially with the latter view. 

 Certainly in the case of Negro tenancy, it is apparent that in 

 1860 there were no Negro owners to pass through tenancy 

 to labor. On the other hand there were many ex-slaves, 

 who in the past fifty years have passed through the status 

 of tenant to that of owner, and many Negroes, now in the 

 cash and third and fourth tenant classes represent laborers 

 who have accumulated some capital, and who with slightly 

 more effort can become owners. 



There ar e still other writers and a considerable body 

 of public opinion in the South w ith the v iew that, while 

 tenancy is normally to be considered as a rung in the agri- 

 cultural ladder wnereby young, inexperienced men climb 

 from labor to own ership, still, m the ca se of the Negro, 

 race characteristics nullify this principle. Brooks 6 states 

 "Ca sh tenancy usually represents an economic advan ce over 

 share tenancy. * * * The above considerations do not ap- 

 ply in c ase of the Negro elements of t en ants in Geo rgia." 

 Banks 7 on the basis of the examination of only two farm- 

 er's budgets, concludes that share tenants would probably 

 be better off as laborers, and that the plantation wages 

 system offers such inducements as will "counteract the 

 tendency of Negroes to leave the farms." 



In the midst of this tangle of general statements the first 

 question we naturally ask is: "How much does each class 

 earn?" 



INCOMES, 1913. 



The United States Bureau of Farm Management is con- 

 ducting a series of detailed local studies of farming, all of 

 which embrace this topic. The most illuminating, which 



6 Brooks, Agrarian Revolution, p. 59. 



7 Banks, Economics of Land Tenure in Georgia, pp. 112-115. 



