TENANCY AND OWNERSHIP AMONG NEGRO FARMERS 
19 
The poorest class of owners had one head of work stock for each 
13.4 acres in crops; the best accumulators had one head for each 
17.2 acres. This suggests the probability that there was a more 
efficient use of work stock on the farms of the best accumulators 
than there was on the farms of the poorest. The poorest tenant 
accumulators had on an average only $10 worth of equipment value 
for each crop acre; the best class of tenants, approximately $17. 
The corresponding classes and figures for owners were respectively 
$16 and $26 per crop acre. It is fairly evident, therefore, that there 
was a close relation between low equipment value per acre of crop 
land and low ability in accumulation of wealth. 
It is possible to overemphasize the value of better equipment as 
a means of improving the economic status of poor accumulators. 
Nevertheless these data seem to indicate that low equipment value 
is one of the difficulties standing in the way of greater accumulation 
of wealth by the poorer classes. On the one hand, it may be regarded 
as one of the disabilities due to failure to accumulate; on the other 
hand, the lack of equipment probably tends to limit income and 
therefore the power to accumulate. 
RELATION OF TENURE AND SUCCESS IN ACCUMULATION TO EDUCATION OF OPER- 
ATORS AND THEIR CHILDREN 
The money value of an education has been often erroneously 
measured by comparing the incomes of people of different school 
attainments. The error in this method is found in the assumption 
that education is the cause of all of the difference in income received 
by the various groups. In Table 16 data are presented on the educa- 
tion of the various classes of accumulators in this survey. 
Table 16. — Education of specified classes of 261 colored farmers accumulating 
wealth in Southampton County, Va., and of their children 
Class of accumulators 
Average 
grade 
attained 
by 
operator 
Children 
not 
above 
school 
age 
Average 
grade 
attained 
by 
children 
above 
school 
age 
Average age of 
children 
Grades 
I to IV 
Grades 
V to VIII 
Tenant class: 
Poorest 
Grades 
4.1 
4.6 
4.8 
4.1 
4.3 
5.2 
Number 
116 
114 
95 
100 
139 
143 
Grades 
5.1 
5.3 
6.1 
5.3 
5.3 
6.0 
Years 
11.2 
10.7 
10.6 
12.0 
11.6 
7.8 
Years 
16.7 
16 1 
Medium 
Best.... 
17 1 
Owner class: 
Poorest 
17 2 
Medium 
16 4 
Best 
15 8 
Some relationship is indicated between the education of the opera- 
tor and his success in accumulation. For each class of tenure the 
best accumulators had attained a somewhat higher average degree 
of advancement in school than the medium accumulators, and the 
latter in turn had attained a somewhat higher average degree of 
advancement than the group of poorest accumulators. 
The average grade attained in school by the children of these 
negro farmers was somewhat higher for the best group of accumulators 
in each class of tenure than for the groups of medium and poorest 
accumulators. Of course, this might be attributed to the higher 
average age of the children of the latter group. 
