14 SLAVS ON SOUTHERN FARMS. 



mians have literally driven the Americans out of town. They 

 have always offered the Americans a good price for their lands, 

 however, and the Americans have been willing enough to move. No 

 prejudice exists against immigration here, which is a powerful factor 

 assisting in the rapid assimilation of the Slavs and the progress of the 

 Texas colonies. 



This success of the Bohemians on Texas farms has been the result 

 almost exclusively of intelligent citizenship and a persistent and 

 proper use of the soil. There has been practically no outside employ- 

 ment or development of supplementary industries. They exercise 

 the right of suffrage intelligently and honestly, and have held public 

 office in the counties and under the State. They have introduced 

 diversified farming in the cotton belt, and have demonstrated that 

 the farms can be made self-supporting outside of the money crop; 

 and, as has been demonstrated time and rgain, they can, under the 

 same conditions, raise a larger crop from a given area than the 

 native farmers. 



SLAVS IN SOUTH-SIDE VIRGINIA. 



What may be termed the south-side Virginia colony of Slavs is 

 centered around the city of Petersburg in southeast Virginia, chiefly 

 in the county of Prince George. This county, together with the 

 counties of Dinwiddie and Chesterfield, contains the bulk of the 

 Slavish farmers in Virginia. The colony was begun more than 25 

 years ago by a few Bohemian and Slovak families from the industrial 

 and mining communities of western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, 

 who were seeking agricultural homes. These early settlers came to 

 Virginia with little money, without friends, but stimulated by the 

 desire to make homes for themselves on the fertile lands of the upper 

 James. 



Life, however, was not all roses in Virginia for these first settlers. 

 They were not known in the region, nor were they recognized at their 

 true worth. They did not possess the easy credit they command to- 

 day, nor — the even more valuable asset - the confidence of the native 

 residents. They had to struggle against heavy odds. Gradually, by 

 sheer pluck, good behavior, unbounded energy, and by hard work, they 

 have won the recognition of the native Virginians. To-dav the colony 

 enjoys the full confidence of the people of southeast Virginia, and 

 in the city of Petersburg and their respective counties they are very 

 highly regarded. 



Slavs they are, every one of them; Slavs, however, who are proud 

 of their origin, and who are zealous in their efforts to command the 

 respect of their fellow citizens — Slavs who are loyal, patriotic Ameri- 

 cans. They are respectful of the traditions of the old South, and are 

 eager, active builders of the new South. On all sides they enjoy 

 the confidence of and command the respect of the Virginians — they 

 are foster children of the Republic who are growing into the fullness 

 of true citizenship under the care of the old mother State. 



In the whole colony, which is represented to a certain extent in all 

 of the so-called nine south-side counties, including Amelia, Brunswick, 

 Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Greensville, Nottoway, Prince George, 

 Surry, and Sussex, there are possibly as many as 3,000 Slavs. Slo- 

 vaks predominate, and, it is interesting to note, they hold a place 

 equally as high as the Bohemians. There are a few Russian Poles 



