Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 75, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 March 1917 — PROSPECTORS RETURN FROM SOUTHERN TRIP [ARTICLE]

PROSPECTORS RETURN FROM SOUTHERN TRIP

Think Georgia and Louisiana Are the States TW Those Seeking Southern Homes.

W. O. Gourley and Joe Norman, of Union township, Harvey Dayisson, Leslie Clark and James Swaim, of Rensselaer, have returned from a ten days’ trip to Mississippi and Louisiana, the first four named arriving home this, morning and Mr. Swaim Thursday. This is the second trip Mr. Davisson has taken there. On the former trip he was accompanied by Dr. Washburn and A. H. Hopkins.' All are enthusiastie over the chances to make money in that part of the south and it is probable that all will invest in the south. Mr. Hopkins is already negotiating for the purchase .of a plantation of 1,300 acres in Louisiana. This plantation is one of the historical places of the south. It has fine grounds and a magnificent residence built before the war and several sets of buildings for the housing of the negro families. Mr. Gourley hopes to purchase a plantation of 1,200 acres in Mississippi. Mr. Norman has his eyes on the Stewart plantation of 500 acres adjoining the plantation selected by Mr. 'Hopkins. This is one of the best kept plantations found on the trip. On it is a -store building in which is Kept for sale to the negroes on the place andto the adojiriing farmers merchandise of all kinds. It also has a fine residence, good barns and other _ outbuildings, several wells, six residences for the use of the negro families employed on the plantation and one stag ranch. The latter is a building in which the unmarried male help lives. 'Mr. Swaim and the writer are more modest in*' their desires. Mr.' Swaim has his eyes set on a fifty acre place a mile from Gloster which can be purchased at a bargain. Mr. i Clark has picked out a 336 acre plantation six miles from Gloster, Miss., which he has an ambition to own. About half bf this is cleared land and 1 the balance is covered with fine poplar and pine timber, which is growing more valuable every year, but would find a ready market at the present time at a good price. This section of the south offers many opportunities for ambitious farmers. Land is cheap and the quality is good, hut in the past eight years that section of the south has suffered a big backset. Eight years ago the boll weevil struck the country. Nothing else was raised there at that time. The cotton crop had always been a paying one and the farmers had no knowledge of diversified farming. They took things easy, letting the negroes do all the work and they reaped the profit. They were without ambition and were satisfied to take things as they came. The first year that the boll weevil struck them the weevil took 25 per cent of the crop. They did not worry much over this but when the second year the toll of the weevil was 50 per cent, they began to sit up and take notice and when the weevil took as its toll the third year the entire crop, they threw up their hands in dispair and many gave up entirely. A failure was something -new to them and they did not know how to meet the situation. They had gotten deeply into debt the first two years of the weevil’s visit and when their entire crop was wiped out the third year they could not pay the Interest and one of the banks at Gloster which had loaned them whenever they asked for it had to close its doors. Mr, G. H. Barney was at the head of the* band. In him the depositors had explicit confidence, and did not press him and gave him all the time he wanted to realize on the mortgages held by the bank. He did not" press the borrowers and allowed them to remain on the plantations and do the best they could and when possible he found purchasers for those who wanted to sell and today the bank has paid seventy per cent of its indebtedness and it will not be long until it wipes out all its indebtedness, paying 100 cents on the dollar. Some of the planters abandoned their farms entirely, leaving them in the hands of the bank. Others desire to sell to clear up their indebtedness and these are the farms that are on the market today at prices that would astonish our people up here in Indiana, where SIOO to S2OO land is the rule. The visit of the boll weevil has had one good result. Ifci»3lriven many to diversified farming and these are making good. But those who are still-

trying to raise cotton and nothing else are meeting with only indifferent success. The weevil is gradually disappearing, and they are having fair success with crop but not like those who arc devoting their time to diver- - X ajrixEElßK • a lvillvl ill VllCbV oW” tion of Mississippiand Louisiana will raise almost any tiling audit is possible to get three crops in a year by planting the right things at the right time. Oats can be planted in the fall and pastured all winter and harvested in the usual manner the next summer. Corn does well there and the yield is about the same as in the north. The ears are smaller but three ears .grow to a stalk where but one grows here. It is thought that wheat will do well there, but it has not been given a fair test yet. The visitors saw one field of wheat that had been planted by a northerner that was as fine a field as one would care TxTlook at, but this was his first try in this line and he was not certain as to how it would come out. Soy and velvet beans and elevens do fine, as do many other varieties of grass. There is pasture the year round ' for stock and some of tie stock raisers do not feed any grain or hay in the winter but of course those who do get the best results. Sugar cane is also a very profitable corp. At one farm which was visited on a little less than an acre of ground S3OO worth of syrup was produced. Cane with one planting gives three crops and the second and third, years require no attention excepting harvesting and making into syrup, which is done by mills for a per cent of the syrup. Sweet potatoes grow in abundance and Irish potatoes do well, as do peas, tomatoes and other gar(tenvegetables.

Taxes are very low, the land tax amounting to a little less thcui 10 cents' per acre. Grain or cotton is not taxed and the personal property tax is very light. No tiling is required and a ditch tax was never heard of in that country. The loads are not of the best. They have been ill-kept but the people have awakened to the need of good roads and they are beginning to take steps to secure better ones. A light car like a Ford is about the only car that can be used successfully there and they can be used any day in the year. For a few hours after a heavy rain it is hard to get over a road, but two or three hours of sunshine makes them as dry and in as good a condition as before the rain. Tlie soil is a red clay and makes splendid beds for macadamized roads. The northerners who have located in this section of the south have all made good; Ope northerner who went there & few has just sold one of his farms at a profit of $115,000 and has built him * line residence in one of the near-by towns. He still owns considerable land. He was from Illinois. Another farmer who moved there from lowa a few years ago now has one of the finest places in that section and is growing rich. He combines dairying along with farming, has a saw mill on his own farm and during our visit there he was sawing timber for a new residence for his son-in-law, which was in course of construction. The timber was cut from his own land. Wherever a northerner was found, there we found the best kept places and prosperity. No man with the energy and ambition of the north can fail to make a success in this portion of the south. Labor is cheap and nearly everything needed except clothing can be raised on the land. Sheep can be raised for nothing except the original outlay, as they can graze the year round. The colored labor used on the planWlbns costS oO cents a House servants are paid a dollar a week. Where the land is farmed on shares by the negroes, they are allowed three-fourths of the crop if they furnish everything. If the owner furnishes the seed and mules the ■tenant only gets half. On one plantation we visited the labor is paid SIOO per year and board. The board costs the landlord in this instance 5 cents per day for each laborer. Good tinnbery'is still plentiful in that section. The Foster Creek Lumber Co., an Indiana corporation, owns 50,000 acres of virgin timber near

Gloster and has begun the erection of a saw mill of 140,000 feet daily capacity, and are building a railroad to move the timber when cut. The railroad will be a permanent one and will run to the (Mississippi river. The company owns all the land in this trict. They wilF build a town something after the plan of the U. S. Steel Co., which built Gary. They will control all the stores and have a monopoly of all the business in the territory owend by them. They also expect to erect a paper and box mill to utilize the waste material from the saw mill and a distillery to Utilize the turpendne and other by-products from the timber. It will take at least 20 years to cut the timber oh this tract of land. After Jt is cleared the company expects to put the land on the market for fanning purposes. Now for the other side of the picture. A northerner intending to locate in the south m ust put up with J some things that he does not have in the north where living is so high. In the towns the school are good, but in the country districts they do not begin to come up with those of the north, owing mainly to they large tracts of land owned by the individual, which makes the white population less than it is here, where small farms are the rule. The merchants are not up-to-date. A well painted

house is a rarity and neglect and carelessness is the rule rather than the exception. In fact, they are fifty or a hundred years behind the times. But they are not so much to blame, perhaps, as they were raised that way. As one farmer told the writer when asked if he did any of the farm work. “Not any more,” he said. I formerly did, but what’s the use. I have decided to take it easy and let the ‘nigger’ do the work, and I will take the money.” He runs a little store in connection with Jiis farm and at the end of the season the help owes him enough for goods which ne has sold at a profit to use up his share of the crop. This is a rare instance however, as all the southerners are not like hint 7— —-

The southern people are the most hospitable to be found any place and cannot do too much for a northerner when he visits them. The negroes know their place and no trouble is experienced with them. They respect the white; man and never speak unless spoken to unless they have some business to transact. They have their own amusements and generally have their own section of the town to live in and have their own stores. As a whole they are happy. They have little money to spend, but their needs are few, and as a they are contented and happy.. They are not allowed to vote unless they can pass a certain literacy test, and but few cin pass the test and it is doubtful if many of them really care to vote. In Glouster, where we made oar headquarters, there are omy four negro voters, Colored teachers are supplied for the colored pupils. It is probable that other- homeseekers will take this trip m the next few weeks. It will pay any one to take the trip whether interested m locating there or not, as his trip will be made pleasant for him.