22 BULLETIN 1269, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
in the direction of the developing sections of the plantation region. 
The greatest increase in the total negro population from 1900 to 1010 
occurred in those States noted for the plantation system. It is also 
true that many of the counties showing the highest percentage of 
negro population in 1910 were, in the main, the counties which had 
the highest percentage of plantation land. Of the 53 counties in 
the United States at that time with negroes 75 per cent or more of 
their population, 36 (68 per cent) had 30 or more per cent of the 
improved land in plantations. 
While statistical proof is not available, it is a well-known fact that 
practically all common laborers working for wages on the plantation 
are negroes, except in Texas* and southern Louisiana where the 
Mexican has recently come to play an important secondary roll. 
Indians (Croatans) are also used as plantation labor in the coastal 
plain section of the Carolinas. 
Recent changes. — It is not known to what extent the ratio of wage 
to tenant labor has changed in plantation districts since 1910. It is 
generally understood, however, that the proportion of wage labor is 
increasing in those sections recently affected by the boll weevil ; and 
in such sections, as a consequence, livestock farming and diversifica- 
tion in general have been adopted. Also considerable numbers of 
planters, both of cotton and sugar cane, had shifted in part during 
the World War from the wage to the tenant system. Under present 
conditions some of these will probably return to the wage system, 
provided the labor supply becomes normal. The readoption of the 
wage system is frequently agreeable to both landlord and tenant, the 
landlord desiring more active control of the land and the tenant 
desiring to shift all the responsibility to the landlord. Such reactions, 
however, may be temporary. 
For the plantation region as a whole the reverse movement gen- 
erally has occurred. Before the World War, when labor was more 
plentiful, the system of renting on plantations largely remained 
unchanged, except the more general movement already described. 
But when a scarcity of labor has occurred planters have been obliged 
to raise their wage hands to the cropper status or lose the labor 
and to allow croppers to become renters. This has resulted in a 
mixed system of renting on many plantations which formerly held 
to a definite policy. 
Reasons for preferring different kinds of labor. — There are several 
outstanding reasons why the plantation operator would prefer wage 
rather than tenant labor, provided the supply could be relied upon. 
As the tenant frequently has investment in fertilizer and usually 
one in equipment his stronger interest in a particular tract of land 
may make tenant labor less desirable from the landowner's point 
of view in carrying out consistent policies for the plantation as a 
whole. Under the wage system, diversification, fertilizing, soil 
building, and general upkeep, are made easier and more economical. 
A better quality of work may be demanded and greater crop pro- 
duction obtained. There are certain enterprises — for example, 
livestock and crops requiring skill and care in producing and mar- 
keting in which wage labor is now essential. 
The wage system eliminates the heavy advances usually made 
to benanl labor. This prevents losses from "bad accounts" by the 
landlord and enables the tenant to avoid heavy annual indebtedness. 
