56 
BIT.LF.TTX 1224, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Table 18. — Average cash rent paid by white and colored tenants in relation to value 
of land. 
Group. 
32 
33 
34 
35 
36 
37 
38 
39 
40 
41 
42 
43 
44 
45 
46 
47 
4S 
Total or average 
White tenants. 
Colored tenants. 
Number 
Average 
Average 
Ratio 
Number 
Average 
Average 
Ratio 
rent per 
value 
rent to 
rent per 
value 
rent to 
acre. 
per acre. 
value. 
acre. 
per acre. 
value. 
Dollars. 
Dollars. 
Per cent. 
Dollars. 
Dollars. 
Per cent. 
137 
4.08 
90 
4.5 
18 
4.02 
79 
5.1 
725 
2.86 
45 
6.4 
408 
2.81 
30 
9.3 
367 
3.08 
46 
6.6 
156 
5. 10 
68 
7.5 
309 
5.23 
85 
6.1 
235 
6.83 
129 
5.3 
873 
5.85 
62 
9.5 
1,577 
10.72 
84 
12.7 
3,990 
8.58 
102 
8.5 
15,362 
12.07 
111 
10.8 
213 
5.32 
105 
5.0 
48 
6.08 
80 
7.6 
409 
8.39 
184 
4.6 
24 
7.82 
153 
5.1 
389 
3.58 
76 
4.7 
64 
5.89 
54 
10.9 
679 
3.07 
37 
8.3 
823 
5.08 
56 
9.1 
1,375 
1.73 
28 
6.3 
18, 042 
2.90 
30 
9.6 
888 
2.62 
29 
8.9 
2,149 
2.58 
27 
9.4 
1,625 
3.40 
47 
7.2 
1,897 
4.28 
44 
9.7 
585 
3. GO 
103 
3.5 
198 
3.80 
66 
5.7 
170 
5.44 
65 
8.4 
499 
8.71 
94 
9.2 
96 
220 
44 
5.0 
39 
1.60 
30 
5.3 
319 
3.92 
76 
5.2 
755 
4.19 
00 
7.7 
13, 149 
4.81 
70 
6.9 
42, 294 
6.68 
65 
10.3 
Table 18 shows that there is a striking difference in the rents paid 
by the white and colored tenants for lands of the same value. This 
is brought out most clearly in the columns showing the ratio of rent 
to value. Does this mean that the white tenants are paying less 
than the land is worth or that the colored tenants are paying more 
than it is worth ? Both are probably paying more than the land it- 
self is worth, for reasons to be explained, but this does not explain 
the difference in the average rents paid by each group. 
In the South the plantation owner is more than a landlord. He 
is the manager of his plantation and devotes a large part of his time 
and energy in supervising and directing the work of his tenants. 
These tenants on the plantations are mostly negroes, for very few 
white tenants are found there. The negro tenants, for the most 
part, do not work effectively, except under a high degree of supervi- 
sion. This supervision the landlord gives and is paid for it in the 
form of higher rents. 
In addition to being the active manager of the plantation, the 
landlord assumes the burden of risk in case of a crop failure or a 
disastrous drop in cotton prices. Losses due to either of these 
causes are usually borne by the cash tenant in most places, but not 
so in the plantation regions of the South. While the cash tenant in 
the South supplies his own working capital, he is unable to assume 
these risks. His ability to pay the rent depends entirely upon the 
success of the cotton crop. If this fails, he has almost no other 
crops to fall back upon and but little property, so that if he paid the 
rent he w T ould be forced to sell his working capital to do it. If the 
landlord forced him to do this he would lose a tenant, and this he 
can not afford to do. The result is that the landlord frequently takes 
all or part of the loss. Since the risk involved is considerable be- 
cause of the great dependence on the cotton crop, the landlord must 
receive materially higher rents to compensate him for assuming it. 
