96 Negro Migration 



TABLE 14. 



Georgia: Percentage of Total Population Living in Villages 



of 250 to 2,500. 



(103 "Rural" Counties.) 



Total 



County P'opu- 



Group lation 



Decreasing in population. 460,449 



Increasing slowly 410,271 



Increasing rapidly 565,991 



Thus 83.6 per cent of all the population of these counties 

 live in the open country. Even the 16.4 per cent in villages 

 is largely concerned with rural affairs. In the cotton belt 

 "these places consist merely of the merchandizing, ginning 

 and marketing concerns with a sprinkling of professional 

 men whose clients are nearly all farmers. 



In point of numbers these villages of less than 2,500 

 are not very important. There were 516 in Georgia in 1910. 

 Their aggregate population was 283,803, or only 1 1 per cent 

 of the total population of the State. 3 



It is therefore evident that a study of population classed 

 as "rural" by the Census, represents in Georgia a compara- 

 tively accurate picture of conditions among the farming 

 population even though the small population of villages is 

 included as rural. 



2. The Open Country. — Travelers in the South frequently 

 remark on the wide stretches of country and the separation 

 of houses. It is not at all unusual to go several miles 

 without seeing a house. The passing of the plantation sys- 

 tem has done away with the "quarters" grouped around the 



■and lamWing, flnH in Northern Ce^x^A ^ ill lilt mountains' 



some lumbering is also done. The distribution of the 

 Negroes of Georgia who are engaged in gainful occupations 

 indicates that, outside of city and transportation trades, the 



8 United States Census of 1910, Population, See Note 2. 



