My acknowledgments are due Governors J. S. Hogg of Texas, Thos. G. Jones of Alabama, Murphy J. Foster of Louisiana, Henry L. Mitchell of Florida, J. M. Stone of Mississippi, and Hon. L. A. Whatley, Superintendent of Penitentiaries in Texas, and Hon. L. B. Wombwell, Commissioner of Agriculture in Florida, for crime statistics in their respective States.

I desire, also, to acknowledge my obligations to Judge J. B. Chrisman and Judge Wm. P. Cassedy, both of Mississippi, for reading portions of the manuscript.

SUMMIT, MISS., March, 1894

C. H. O.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

THE CONDITION OF THE SOUTH IN 1865

Widespread desolation-Disadvantages-The new rela-

tion of former slaves-Whims and ignorance-Use of

freedom-Attitude of the Southern people to the old

relation-Encouragement-The negroes' fears easily ex-

cited-Consequences—The spell broken-Poverty of the

South-Shylocks-Debts and distress-The credit system

introduced.

CHAPTER II.

THE CREDIT SYSTEM.

Usefulness of credit—Basal elements-Wealth and capital

-Value and production-Features of the credit system-

Opinion of Samuel Smiles-The debtor bound-Ignorance

-Carelessness-Infidelity and dishonesty-First step to

bankruptcy-A bad crop year-Lost all in ten years-The

covenant-Merchant Harlem's view of bad debts-General

effects-Millwell-Gains on a cash basis-Remedy-A

prosperous cash merchant-No general prosperity-Invest-

ments-No hostility-A serious condition.

Slow progress-Worth makes the man- -Deeds of trust-

Their intent-Effect on labor-Merchants became large

landowners-Their grip on tenant labor-Resident farmers

without labor-Decoy ducks—A big screw loose-Bitter

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memories-Patrick and Black John-Depredations-Cause
of violence-Credit system and cash-Lien laws, the back-
bone of the system—“ Prettiest business in the world "—
Five hundred men tied up-"Eight hundred do my bid-
ding"-Honesty relegated to an inferior position-The
galling yoke-Unscrupulous transactions-Lien laws have
not benefited the negro nor the white people-Lien laws
have placed a discount on all services-Strike the laws from
the statutes—A large class has the experience, a small
class the gold, as the fruit of these laws.

CHAPTER IV.

COTTON PRODUCTION

"We never do "-Our business system-Henry W. Grady

-Comments by the New Orleans Picayune-Debts and

cotton production-" His line of credit"-The chances-

Hon. B. H. Hill-Wade Sherman's experience-Canons

of commerce perverted-The difference-More cotton-

From Maryland, through Texas-" Superb estates "-A

million bales in excess-Corn acreage, short-Live at

home.

CHAPTER V.

TESTIMONY

Farmer Haygood and Merchant Caperton-Credit, cash,

and discount-Who pay the bad debts?-Ninety million

bales could have been saved-Samuel Drew-Alexandre

Dumas-Farmers handicapped-Does not know-Need of

sympathy-Fifty to one hundred and twenty-five per cent.

-Credit, the money-making business-High prices-Testi-

mony in Alabama-Senator Irby-The true cancer-Ray-

mond Gazette of Mississippi-The Selma Times of Ala-

bama-Louisiana — Mississippi-Tennessee - Arkansas—

Texas-Five million dollars lost per annum-Elements

of high prices.

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CHAPTER VI.

TESTIMONY CONTINUED

The first step-What Alabama reports-Florida-Georgia

-South Carolina-Over thirty thousand liens in eleven

counties-North Carolina-The situation unchanged in

1893-Groping in the dark-Local disturbances-The

Clarion Ledger of Mississippi on the lien laws—A practi-

cal example-Cost to record liens-Gains on cash basis at

various rates-Gains on cash basis to ten men-Gains on

cash basis to 2,005 men on 10,000 bales of cotton for

twenty years-Not a local condition-Joseph Baxendale.

CHAPTER VII.

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS .

Arrearage in food crop-Cereals in 1860-Cereals in 1889

-After twenty-nine years, seven States had less grain than

in 1860-Cotton absorbed-The lesson of Table III.-

Increase of the acreage and population-Increase of white

and black-Persons engaged in agriculture in ten States—

Cause of deficiency in grain-Shortsighted political econo-

mists-The labor cause-Laborers on farms classified—

Value of negro labor in Table VIII.-Deterioration-What

they do not raise-Productions of Hayti-"The people

make the country "-Productions in Jamaica-The situa-

tion in the English West Indies-The proof from three

lands-Value of Southern farms-Value of ten Northern

States-The experience from 1870 to 1879.

CHAPTER VIII.

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Little things-Value of method-The live stock cause-

Deficiency-Live stock in 1860 and in 1890—Balance sheet

of losses-Statement of a Mississippi merchant-A long

step toward independence-Food products of 1860, 1870,

1880, 1890, and 1892-Fertilizers and fences-Fruit of

twenty-seven commercial crops-Thirty years' experience—

The dawn of a better day.

OUR BROAD ACRES

CHAPTER IX.

Our vast domain-The ten States-Comparisons-Farm

land-Ownership-European and railroad ownership-

Americans-Locality of alien lands-Railroad land and

the German Empire compared-Land owned by syndicates

in the South-The land movement-Size of farms in 1860

and in 1880-Number cultivated by owners-Cultivated on

the rental plan-Cultivated on the share plan—Total of

these, per Table VI.-Tenure of farms-Difference in

twenty years-Large plantations on the increase-Owner-

ship in 1860 and in 1880-Who own these farms?—Shy-

lock's plan-Effect of our business methods on the land

question-The statement by the St. Louis Republican-

England's farm tenantry, by Senator D. W. Voorhees―

The patent and passport of the Anglo-Saxon race-Salaries

of England's clergy-England's landlords-Opinion by

Ruskin-Peril to the American estate-Opinion by the

World-Galveston News-The Panhandle of Texas-Land

corporations and Governor Hogg of Texas.

CHAPTER X.

THE PERVERSIONS IN BUSINESS

Business, an honorable term-Moral distinctions defaced-

The science of exchange-The service of the merchant

class-American farmers-Bad men-Crookedness in busi-

ness-The situation of the South, an invitation-The gall-

ing yoke-Ruin and riches-Might is right-Honest Mr.

Hacker-The epitaph-Another pernicious doctrine—The

retaliatory idea-Unscrupulous failures in business-

Honest failures—Perjury-The Cretians-The Bengalee-

A catalogue of lies—Negative goodness—The lack of indi-

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