142 the alabama opi'ortunity. 



the; Two sections. 



The northern end is black belt territory, the southern end is 

 the white man's country. And the white man's country is' the 

 abode of peace and plenty, the negro section — well, the negro 

 section is not doing so well. 



And why not ? It was originally the goal, the admired land 

 of the owner of slaves and of wealth. Beyond doubt the most 

 productive acres of Barbour County were along the valleys of 

 the three Cowikees. And hardly less fertile were the hills and 

 plains, not far off. It was here that the rich planter brought 

 his slaves, bought his acre and built his home. It was then the 

 best land in the county. The fact that the wealthy farmer — 

 the rich man who could go where he listed — bought it, is 

 sufficient proof of the statement. Go where you will in Ala- 

 bama, you will find that the slave-holding planter bought and 

 settled no land but the very best in his section. The northern 

 end of Barbour County was the promised land to the agricul- 

 tural emigrant of wealth, when the country hereabouts' was 

 settled. 



Today it would be the richest but for that difference between 

 the white man and the negro. And even now there are big 

 plantations which shame the fertility of the soil of the white 

 rran's' section. They are the plantations where the negro pre- 

 dominates, it is true, but where they are made to work indus- 

 triously and closely under the scrutinizing eye of the white 

 man. Such a one is the wide domain of President B. B. Comer, 

 located in this same section of Barbour County, and which is 

 probably the largest farm in the State and in the South, for it 

 contains, so it is said, 30,000 acres of creek, hill and level land. 

 There are other farms, other plantations, here and there, in 

 the Cowikee neighborhood, at Batesville and at Hawkinsville, 

 of which the same thing is true, but in the aggregate they form 

 only the smaller portion of the section. 



On the whole, the blight of the negro has been put for the 

 tjme being. He has not killed the land ; he has only temporarily 

 dwarfed its usefulness. As an agricultural Vandal, as a farm- 

 ing Goth, the negro is in a class by himself. He has been the 

 pawn of fate.iuifortimate himself and a misfortune to the land 

 and to the white man. 



