DIXIE FARMERS GET SOME LAND
Mitchell, George S.
Dixie Farmers Get Some Land By George S. Mitchell Executive Director, Southern Regional Council rpHE LAST FIFTEEN YEARS in I Southern agriculture have miii the play of forces of change...
...Conversely, white tenants dropped less in the non-southern states than in the South...
...Other states which reduced their numbers of tenants heavily were: Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana and Alabama...
...1 jy contrast, the ni.istate which did not gain in Negio owners in the war period war K< i lucky, when- the loss was light, 2.7...
...41.5% Louisiana...
...Thus, for the fifteen-year period under consideration white farm owners in the South grew1 remarkably — 23.1%—while Negro owners only crept ahead at the rate of 4.2...
...Tenancy and sharecropping declined less among Negroes than among Whites...
...Far fewer Negro farmers, in proportion to their numbers, climbed into ownership than white farmers...
...w E lack, it seems, sincerity...
...18.7% Virginia...
...My own travels about the South convince me that almost every factor pertaining to government and culture is on ,i better level in areas in which a hi...
...The eastern seaboard states had more moderate reductions...
...Generally speaking, the border states yield figures less encouraging to Negro agriculture, and tho states of the lower South show the best gains in Negro farm ownership...
...In the non-southern states while farm owners increased only 5.7%, as against 23.1% in the South, and Negro farm owners outside the South declined 17.5% as against the Southern increase of 4.2...
...In Florida, Arkansas and Mississippi the reduction of white tenants was very great...
...Richard Armour...
...Of the white farmers, a little better than 1,390,000 were owners or part owners, and of the Negro farmers, 186,000 wen...
...White owners increased 11.3% during 1930-40 und nearly as much again, 10.7%, in the five war years, 1940-45...
...16.6% North Carolina...
...As ;i matter of theory, it should prove to be true that race relations'are bett< r in those rural areas in which Negro and white farmers have holdings and tenure that are similar in size and kind...
...With the Negroes it was well under a third...
...For all farm operators, the South lost in our period only 5.4% of its white operators, and almost a fourth of its Negro operators (24.6...
...THE GROWTH in farm owners in the South was remarkably greater than in the rest of the country...
...stand why the United States has not had the acoiwmic crisis injalhbln indicated by Marxian theory...
...22.1 % South Carolina...
...As between Negro and white owners, the percentage of increase for the two periods, 1930-40 and 1940-45, show some interesting contrasts...
...32.3% South Carolina 28.1% , Mississippi 27.7% ./Alabama...
...25.1% Tennessee...
...The figures were: nonSouth, decline of 20.2...
...5.7% On increases in Negro owners (including part owners), the ranking of the states is quite different: Florida...
...32.4% Oklahoma...
...08.1% Texas...
...25.9% Louisiana...
...44.8% Florida 44.0% Arkansas 42.3% Louisiana.......40.8% Mississippi _ 39.9% Georgia ................35.7% Tennessee...
...contrasts in the increase of white owners...
...li percentage of farms are worked by owners or by tenants whose landlords own only one, two or three farms...
...7) White croppers declined 54.1...
...News item...
...v * FROM ALL these figures one can ('raw the conclusion that in the rvo 1 1 1 eriod of agricultural prosperity the South has had a satisfying—not to remarkable increase in numbers <i farm owners...
...A far heavier percentage of Southern Negro farmers left agriculture in the fifteen-year period than white farmers...
...White sharecropping came near to extinction in Oklahoma, with a decline of 87.4...
...Incidentally, in most of the states of the lower South, white owners increased more than twice as much as Negro owners...
...26.9% Arkansas...
...Owners were C3% of all white farmers and 2fj% of all Negro farmers Here are some interesting changes in the fifteen-year period: 1) White farmers of all kinds declined 5.4...
...While the number of Negro own...
...The smallest loss was North Carolina, 16.7...
...41.0% Alabama...
...23.3% Viriginia...
...i . has increased, (hey have grown onlv in the years of peak prosperity, :md even then not a.s rapidly as while owners...
...South, decline of 37.5...
...27.0% Tennessee...
...This is the final straw...
...THESE FIGURES for tenancy include sharecroppers...
...26.5% Florida...
...32.0% Non-South...
...owners or part owners...
...41.6% Kentucky...
...ON THEIR MARX Russiou economists cannot undo...
...Doubtless many of us could'cite communities which by relationships i,ood or bad would back up this pom I of sociological theory...
...12.6% South Carolina...
...15.3% United States...
...In 1945 the thirteen Southern States had a little short of 2,100,000 white farm operators and about 660,000 Negro farm operators...
...On the whole, the period from 1930 to 1945 is encouraging in this respect—more so, however, for the white farmers of the South than for the Negroes...
...For increases in white, including part owners: Georgia...
...23.1% Non-South...
...Virginia lost 17.3%, South Carolina 11.8%, and North Carolina only 2...
...We should have toppled long before— It's against the Marxist law...
...I confess to a preference for Ihe pattern of the family farm...
...36.0% On sharecropping specifically tho reductions as we know were very great...
...We cling to our prosperity And make them wait and wait...
...12.3% Mississippi...
...37.3% Florida...
...It is interesting to note that Ihe number of farm tenants declined in every single Southern state during the fifteen year period...
...In Negro sharecropping the greatest reductions were again in the Southwest...
...Well over half the white croppers left that category...
...20.7% North Carolina...
...11.5% Texas...
...Texas lost within sneezing distance of half its white tenants, and over 62% of its Negro tenants...
...Their number was increasing moderately in the two year period 1945-1947 a little more for the country as a whole than lor the South...
...63.5% Arkansas...
...0.1% Viiginia 5 5% Tennessee 5.6% Oklahoma . -I 5% Kentucky 26.2% South 4.2% Non-South 17.5% Very roughly, it could be said from these figures lhat in the states of the lower South, both whites und Negroes made remarkable gains in numbers of farm owners, while in the border states and in the upper South, white increases in owners were smaller than in the lower South, and Negro owners grew only slightly or actually decreased...
...in the war years...
...4.8% United States...
...32.0% South...
...Here are the detailed figures on percentage changes in number of farm tenants of all kinds (including sharecroppers), for the period 1930-1945: White Texas...
...In the changes of the next period, I am hopeful that the South will apply a conscious pressure to broaden the pattern of ccjualitarian land ownership...
...Negro owners declined 4.5% in the <ic pit - sion-New Deal Era, but gained 9.1...
...6) Negro tenants, including croppers, decreased 32...
...37.5% Non-South...
...26.2% Georgia...
...27.5% Texas...
...11.9% Georgia...
...15.4% Louisiana...
...Though often we've been wrong before...
...South—36% outside and 32% within...
...20.2% Non-white Oklahoma...
...27.1% Mississippi...
...Oklahoma lost 92.2...
...11.6% South...
...28.8% Kentucky 27.0% North Carolina...
...We don't cooperate...
...0.7% Arkansas...
...16.0% Alabama...
...The increase has hi en quite unevenly distributed by line...
...17.4% Kentucky...
...North Carolina had the smallest reduction in white tenants, 15.3%, and also the smallest reduction in Negro tenants, 4.15...
...Oklahoma was reduced in white tenants by 45'!, and Negro tenants by 68...
...The next highest loss was Arkansas, 44%, followed by Alabama, 42.2%, and Louisiana, 40.7...
...11.7% United States...
...Florida dropped 72% of its white sharecroppers, and Louisiana 64.5...
...6.7% North Carolina...
...The state figures show interesting...
...5) White tenants, including croppers, decreased 37.5...
...Dixie Farmers Get Some Land By George S. Mitchell Executive Director, Southern Regional Council rpHE LAST FIFTEEN YEARS in I Southern agriculture have miii the play of forces of change more powerful than any that have boe>i at work for several generations...
...White tenants of all kinds decreased more than Negro tenants...
...15) Negro croppers declined 31.2...
...Texas and Oklahoma showed the greatest decline for both races...
...The only three stales which did not show losses in Negro owners in the depression - New Deal period were Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina...
...Unfortunately, they are not available on a race breakdown...
...Thus in 1945 roughly three-fourths of the farm operators of the South were white and one-fourth were Negro...
...Negro tenants dropped a little more outside than within tin...
...29.6% South...
...33.7% Alabama 31.3% South Carolina 30.3% Virginia...
...In Texas the loss was 78.7...
...In Texas it was 72...
...2) Negro farmers of all kinds declined 24.6','',3) White farm owners increased 23.1...
...I have only got them by census regions (which differ from the grouping used heretofore) and the changes are for a different period...
...Many who are concerned with the economic and governmental health of the South ern States have watched closely the figures on farm ownership and farm tenancy...
...4) Negro farm owners increased 4.2...
...OF COURSE in all these changes the figures for hired farm laborers are important...
...Hired farm laborers for the U. S. as a whole decreased 17.5% between 1940 and 1945, and in the South, decreased 20.8...
...In no other Southern states was Negro sharecropping reduced by anything approaching these ¦ figures...
...48.8% Oklahoma...
Vol. 32 • March 1949 • No. 13
