Universitas Georgiae 1785, Et Docere et Rerum Exquirere Causas [figure desc: A seal] MARCH, 1915
Bulletin of the University of Georgia
Volumne XV Number 3
Phelps - Stokes Fellowship
Studies, No. 2
Rural Survey of Clarke County, Georgia,
with Special Reference to the Negroes
Entered at the Post Office at Athens, Ga., as Second Class Matter, August 31, 1905, under Act of Congress of July 16th, 1904. Issued Monthly by the University.
Serial No. 235
During the academic year 1912-1913 there was established in the University of Georgia a Fellowship for the study of Negro problems in the South. The resolution of the Trustees of the Phelps-Stokes Fund in creating the Fellowship reads as follows:

"Whereas, Miss Caroline Phelps Stokes in establishing the Phelps-Stokes Fund was especially solicitous to assist in improving the condition of the negro, and"

"Whereas, It is the conviction of the Trustees that one of the best methods of forwarding this purpose is to provide means to enable southern youth of broad sympathies to make a scientific study of the negro and of his adjustment to American civilization,"

"Resolved, That twelve thousand five hundred dollars ($12,500) be given to the University of Georgia for the permanent endowment of a research fellowship, on the following conditions:"

"1. The University shall appoint annually a Fellow in Sociology, for the study of the Negro. He shall pursue advanced studies under the direction of the departments of Sociology, Economics, Education or History, as may be determined in each case by the Chancellor. The Fellowship shall yield $500, and shall, after four years, be restricted to graduate students."

"2. Each Fellow shall prepare a paper or thesis embodying the result of his investigations which shall be published by the University with assistance from the income of the fund, any surplus remaining being applicable to other objects incident to the main purpose of the Fellowship. A copy of these resolutions shall be incorporated in every publication issued under this foundation."

"3. The right to make all necessary regulations, not inconsistent with the spirit and letter of these resolutions, is given to the Chancellor and Faculty, but no changes in the conditions of the foundation can be made without the mutual consent both of the Trustees of the University and of the Phelps-Stokes Fund."

I appointed as the first Fellow under this foundation for the year 1913 - 1914 Mr. W. B. Hill a graduate of the University in the Class of 1913, and placed the work under the direction of Professor R. P. Brooks, of the department of History. The present study is published in pursuance of the requirement in the second condition attached to the Fellowship.

DAVID C. BARROW, Chancellor, University of Georgia.
PREFACE.

The first of the Phelps-Stokes Studies, published by the University of Georgia in 1914, was the result of an investigation into the conditions of Negro life in the city of Athens. The second year's work under this foundation, here presented, extends the study to include the Negroes of Clarke County, exclusive of Athens. The study takes the form of a rural survey of the county, canvassing the conditions prevailing among both whites and blacks, because it was felt that after all the really important questions are, what are the Negro's relations to his white neighbors, and how do his conditions compare in certain respects with the conditions prevailing among the whites?

It would have been neither practicable nor profitable to consult all of the 1300 farmers of the county. Instead an effort was made to confer with a number of representative men of both races in each district of the county. I succeeded in obtaining information from 52 white landowners, 30 colored landowners, and 70 Negro tenants. Three months in the winter of 1914 were spent in the study of economic conditions, and two months in the spring were used in the work on schools and churches.

W. B. HILL.
Athens, Ga., February, 1915.
Rural Survey of Clarke County, Georgia, with Special Reference to the Negroes
&
CHAPTER 1.
LOCATION, TOPOGRAPHY, AND EARLY HISTORY.
1. Physical Characteristics.

What is now Clarke County was a part of Franklin County before the Revolutionary War, and was afterwards included in Jackson, when that county was created by the Legislature in 17961.. Clarke County was cut off from Jackson by an act of the Legislature in 1801, but was not settled at that time. The county was named for the Revolutionary hero, General Elijah Clarke; probably the name was suggested by an Indian trading post named Clarkesboro, which was located near the present northern boundary of the county.2. The new county had an area of 250 square miles. It will be interesting to trace the changes which made an originally large county the smallest one in Georgia. The first land taken from Clarke was in 1801, when part of the county was annexed to Madison. The next land taken was added to Oglethorpe in 1813. Madison County was given more land at the expense of Clarke in 1829. But the greatest reduction came in 1875, when the entire county of Oconee was created from Clarke. This left Clarke an area of 74,012 acres, or 115.6 square miles.3.

Athens had grown to be an educational center of the State, and had secured a city charter in 1872. Although Athens was at this time much larger than Watkinsville, the smaller town was still the county site. Many of the citizens were in favor of making Athens the county site, but the Watkinsville people naturally opposed the change. The Legislature settled the matter in 1875 by creating Oconee County from the southern part of Clarke, with Watkinsville as the county site, and Athens, became the site of Clarke. Part of the town of Winterville was added to Clarke from Oglethorpe in 1906,4. and the present boundaries of the county are as follows: On the north, Madison; on the south and southwest, Oconee; on the northwest, Jackson; and on the east, Oglethorpe.

Clarke County is situated in the hill country of Northeast Georgia, about forty miles from the Blue Ridge Mountains, whose peaks can be seen from Athens on a clear day. The average elevation of the county is 800 feet. The trend of the water systems is to the southeast, and the ridges leading down toward the sea form the

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water-sheds. The principal streams are the forks of the Oconee, one of them known as "Middle River," which meet in the southern part of the county. The county has been described as a "succession of high ridges with broad backs, whose sides descend rapidly as the streams are reached and the general appearance of the country has all the characteristics of that belt of country lying forty miles from the Blue Ridge range in Virginia and the Carolinas." 5.The soils 6. of Clarke County may be classified as red lands, gray sandy, mulatto, and alluvial bottom soils. The red clay lands, about sixty-five percent [per cent.] of the total area, occur in two belts about six miles in width extending across the county. This soil has an average depth of about eighteen inches, with a tougher red clay subsoil. Containing little sand and being fine-grained and compact, the red clay land is very retentive of moisture. It is best suited for corn, clover, and wheat, but more than half the red clay area is usually planted to cotton.

About thirty percent [per cent.] of the county is taken up by gray sandy land, which forms a belt some three miles wide in the middle of the county. This soil is sixteen inches deep and has under it a yellowish or reddish clay, which is not so retentive of moisture as the red land. This land washes more easily than the red clay soil, and is more rapidly exhausted. On the other hand, it recuperates faster than the red clay. It is best adapted to cotton and oats.

The bottom lands comprise about five percent [per cent.] of the land area. They vary in width, but are narrow, as a rule. This land consists of a dark, alluvial loam, often having a subsoil of tough pipe clay, bluish or white. This land is admirably suited to corn.

The forest growth on these lands is about as follows: on the red clay lands, Spanish, red, black, and white oaks; chestnut, pine, and hickory; on the gray lands, white, red, Spanish and post oaks; hickory, pine, and chestnut; on the bottoms, hickory, birch, pine, oak, and walnut.

No health statistics are available, but the county has an excellent health record, due to the climate, and the rolling character of the land. The few deaths that occur from contagious diseases are usually from pulmonary tuberculosis and typhoid fever. Deaths from diphtheria, scarlet fever, measles, and mumps are rare. There are occasional cases of smallpox, but practically no deaths from this disease. Malaria is almost unknown. This is explained by the fact that the county is located in the Piedmont section, and that the land is well drained by the creeks and rivers. The numerous streams of the county are not sluggish, but fairly swift at all points, with a number of shoals and rapids. The banks of the streams are elevated, and this has the effect of facilitating drainage, as well as

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Clarke Co. Stream[figure desc: map]

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preventing overflows, which in more level country often cause lagoons and swamps. Under the paragraph "Temperature and Precipitation" below it will be shown that the county has a climate almost ideal for health.

The most important of the streams comprising the county's water systems are the two forks of the Oconee River, which unite on the Oconee County line in the lower end of Clarke. The rainwater falling on the area drained by these two rivers runs off rapidly, due to the rolling character of the country. This tendency is offset to some extent by the woodland covering some twenty-five percent [per cent.] of the total area. Then, too, the nature of the ground is such that much rainwater is readily taken up, and later finds its way into the numerous branches and creeks forming the tributaries of the rivers. The flow of water in the rivers and larger creeks is well maintained, while freshets and overflows are very rare.

The following table gives the Climatological Data for Athens, 1909-1913 7.Table No. 1 Climatological Data for Athens, 1909-1913.[figure desc: table]

The annual mean temperature for these five years was 61.36 degrees Fahrenheit. From the table it is evident that the hottest days usually occur during the latter part of August. The average of the highest temperatures is 100 and of the lowest 14.2. The coldest days during the five years were mostly in January. The average total rainfall per year was 49.9 inches. The wettest season of the year varied between spring and summer, while the least rain-fall was in November in four of the years; the average number of rainy days per year was 109.

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Taking the normal volume of the rainfall per month for these years, the total fall for the winter months is 14.7 inches, for the spring months, 11.7 inches, for the summer, 14.54, and for the fall, 10.38 inches. These figures show clearly that the rainfall is well distributed throughout the year. From these data it is obvious that the county has a climate free from extremes of temperature as well as "wet" and "dry" seasons. Such a climate is well adapted to agriculture, and excellent from the standpoint of health.
2. Settlement and growth.

In 1801 the Board of Trustees of the University of Georgia, having decided to place the new institution in Jackson County, fixed upon the site of Athens as a proper. location, and in the same year that part of Jackson was laid off as Clarke County.

The erection of the first building began at once and in the same year the college was formally opened to students, Professor Josiah Meigs, then of Yale, being the first president. In 1804 President Meigs graduated the first class from the institution. The first settlers in Clarke were from Virginia and North Carolina, but later people came in from the older counties to the south. The settlement around the University continued to grow, and a town charter was secured in 1806, the name of Athens being selected for the little college town. At this time Athens was further north than any other town in Georgia, and therefore nearest to the Cherokee reservation 8. The county government was established in 1802, and a courthouse was erected at Watkinsville, seven miles to the southwest.
b. Population by decades.

"Like the other hill counties of Georgia, Clarke was settled by people of moderate means,"9. who lived on farms which were small compared to the large slave plantations of the cotton raising counties, Morgan and Wilkes, for example. But slaves were brought in faster than White settlers came, as the population figures show.
Table II.
White and Black Population.
Year White Black Percent [Per cent.] Black
1810 5000 2628 31
1820 5285 3482 39
1830 5438 4738 45.5
1840 5603 4919 47
1850 5513 5606 50
1860 5539 5679 50
1870 6488 6453 49
1880 5313 6388 54.5
1890 7072 8111 53.4
1900 8230 9478 53.5
1910 11502 11767 50.5

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Before the Civil War there were two agricultural systems in Northeast Georgia. One was the plantation system, followed by the large slaveholders, and the other was the small farm system, in which the farmer, often with a few slaves, but sometimes without any, raised corn and other food crops, and did not depend on cotton for his money crop, as did the large slaveholder. These small farmers could not compete with the planters, so they emigrated to the hill counties, like Jackson, where land was cheap. This exodus of whites resulted in counties like Wilkes and Greene having a good many more slaves than white people, while in Jackson and Madison the whites were decidedly in the majority. Clarke was divided between these two systems, the plantation system obtaining in the southern part of the county, but the small farmers predominating in the county as a whole. As a result, the number of whites and Negroes was very nearly equal, and this is the case today. Thus Clarke is situated on the border of the "black belt," the counties to the southeast being "black," and those to the northwest, "white." 10.
TABLE III.
Table Showing Rural and Urban Population of Clarke County,
1870-1910.11.
Urban (Athens). Rural (Rest of County).
Year White Black White Black
1870 2248 1679 4240 4774
1880 3017 3011 2296 3377
1890 4715 3924 2357 4187
1900 5055 5190 3265 4288
1910 8612 6316 2890 5451

The table shows that the rural Negro population of the county has exceeded the rural white population since 1870, and has grown relatively faster. The loss of white and black population between 1870 and 1880 in the rural section was due to the cutting off of Oconee County in 1875. The Negro population of Athens came from the counties both to the north and south of Clarke. For thirty years after the war the negroes coming to Athens generally came from old slaveholding counties such as Wilkes and Greene. Of later years the migration of the blacks to Athens from outside of Clarke has been scattering, but usually from the "white" counties.12. The increase in the white population of Athens has been due 'to the facilities for manufacturing offered by the water powers of the Oconee, and to the educational advantages of the city.

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3. Economic History.

It will be interesting to compare the white and Negro population of Clarke County with that of two adjacent counties, one in the black belt and one outside of it. The figures for periods of twenty years are these:
TABLE IV.
Population Movements in Clarke (a border county), and Adjacent
White and Black Counties.13.
Clarke Jackson Oglethorpe
Year White Black White Black White Black
1810 5000 2628 8742 1827 6851 5440
1830 5438 4738 6180 2824 5659 7951
1850 5513 5606 6808 2960 4382 7877
1870 6488 6453 7471 3710 4641 7141
1890 7072 8111 13780 5396 5686 11264
1910 11502 11767 21544 8613 7342 11388

Looking at the population of Oglethorpe for 1810, it is seen that the slaves were in the minority, which means that the small farmers outnumbered the planters. But by 1830 the black population exceeded that of the white, and by 1850 this difference became more marked, due to a decrease in the white population of 1,277, and a stationary black population. The increasing difference was caused by an exodus of the whites, carrying a few slaves with them. Some of the small farmers had evolved into planters, and were buying up the land of their less prosperous neighbors. Slaveholders coming in from the lower counties, where the land was being exhausted, also bought out small landowners. These small farmers moved on to Clarke, Jackson, and other counties, where land was cheaper.

Looking now at the figures for Clarke, it is seen that during the interval from 1810 to 1850 the number of slaves increased over 100 percent [per cent], while the number of white people remained practically the same. In. the southeastern and eastern parts of the county the small holdings were being absorbed by the planters, and the small farmers were moving to Jackson and other counties to the north. The southern part of the county is in the "plantation belt" today, while the northern part is made up of smaller farms. The land in Puryear's District, the most southern one in the county, bordering on Oglethorpe and Oconee, is held mostly in large tracts, and is either rented out to white or Negro tenants, or worked by supervised Negro share and wage hands. The northwestern part of Clarke is "whiter" than the southeastern, the "blackest" district being Puryear's -- the plantation district -- where the whites constitute only 18 percent [per cent] of the total population. In Buck Branch, which also borders on Oglethorpe, the whites make up only 22 percent [per cent]

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Clarke County Distribution of Population and Settlements

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of the total population. In Bradberry's, however, the white people form 43 percent [per cent] of the population, and in Kinney's, 35 percent [per cent]. Both these districts border on Jackson County. From the figures for Jackson, it is evident that this county is out of the black belt.

4. Civil Divisions.

Table V.
Showing the Population of the Militia Districts by Races.14.
Area,
G. M. sq. mi. Name White Percent [Per Cent.] Black Percent [Per Cent.]
216 10.4 Athens 9080 57 6837 43
217 9.27 Ga. Factory 363 52 332 48
218 23 Puryear's 193 18 872 82
220 22.5 Buck Branch 646 21 1337 79
241 13.6 Bradberry's 331 22 427 78
1347 14.2 Kinney's 315 43 584 57
1467 6.5 Princeton 318 35 434 65
219 15.9 Sandy Creek 256 21 944 79
Total, 11,502 49.3 11,767 50.7

This table shows that only two districts in the county, Athens District and Georgia Factory, have a white population exceeding that of the Negroes. In the case of the Athens District, this is because the white people outnumber the colored people in the city. In this district, outside of Athens, there are 521 negroes and 368 whites. Georgia Factory District is about equally divided, the whites being 31 in excess of the negroes. The explanation of this is that there are in this district two cotton mills, Georgia Factory and the Whitehall Yarn Mill, employing white operatives. The factory town of Whitehall has a population of 230.15. On the farms the negroes outnumber the whites. Princeton District has two mills, Princeton Factory and the Cord Mill, which are smaller than those in Georgia Factory. But in this case the increased number of whites is more than offset by negro settlements at Allenville and Chestnut Grove. The Allenville settlement is a suburban one, many of the negro residents working in Athens. Chestnut Grove, however, is a strictly rural settlement, most of the negroes owning their farms. With the exception of Athens, Duck Branch District has the largest population, both white and Negro, in the county. After Puryear's, this is the largest district in the county, and has a white settlement at Tuckston, in addition to the town of Winterville, with a total population of 465. And just outside of Athens, there is a large Negro settlement and a fertilizer plant employing Negro labor. Sandy Creek District borders on Madison, a white county, and we

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should expect this district to be whiter than those touching the black counties. The explanation of the fact that only 21 percent [per cent] of the population is white, is that the Negroes have ought up a good deal of land in this district, both individually and in clubs. The clubs purchase tracts of land and subdivide it among the members. They returned for taxes16. 2,963 acres, 1,790 acres more than was returned by the negroes of any other district. These farm owners are rather scattered, but a number of them live at Settlement.

Notes

1. 1. Smith, G. G., Story of Georgia and the Georgia People, p. 221.
2. 2 Strahan, C. M., Athens and Clarke County, p. 9.
3. 3 Ibid, p. 10. The U. S. Census gives the area of Clarke County as 72,960 acres. Census 1910, Abstract for Georgia, p. 658.
4. Census 1910, Abstract for Georgia, p. 636.
5. Straban, op. cit., p. 11.
6. Census 1880, Vol. VI, Cotton Production in the United States, Part II, p. 92.
7. This table was compiled from bulletins of the U. S. Weather Bureau entitled Climatological Data for Georgia, for the years 1909-1913.
8. Strahan, op. cit., p. 9
9. Smith, op. cit., p. 253.
10. Brooks, R. P., A Local Study of the Race Problem, in Political Science Quarterly. June, 1911, p. 197.
11. Woofter, T. J., Negroes of Athens, Ga., p. 6. Bulletin of the University of Georgia, 1912. Phelps-Stokes Studies, No. 1.
12. Ibid., p. 7.
13. Brooks, op. cit., p. 198.
14. This table was compiled by the U. S. Census Bureau, and is not to be found in any printed report.
15. Census 1910, Abstract for Georgia, p. 344.
16. Tax Receiver's book, of Clarke County, 1913.
Chapter II.
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS.
--

1. Land area in farms.

The Thirteenth Census, that of 1910, reports that 67,1521. of the 72,690 acres forming the area of Clarke County are in farm land. The percent [percent.] of the county's land area in farms is 92.0. In 1900 the land area in farms was reported as 61,310.2. The increase in land area in farms during the ten years of the Census period was thus 5,842. Of the land in farms reported in 1910, 44,788 acres were reported as improved land, an increase of 6,221 in the acreage of improved land over that reported in 1900. At present 66.7 percent [per cent.] of the farm land is improved. The area of unimproved land reported in 1910 was 1,634, and that of woodland, 20,730 acres. The average number of acres per farm is 48.6, and the average number of improved acres, 34.2.
2. Farm values, 1900 and 1910.

During the ten years between the twelfth census and the thirteenth, there was an enormous increase in farm values. In Clarke County the value of land, as reported by the Census, rose from $627,540 to $2,444,057, an increase of $1,816,607. This increase is partly explained by the fact that the 1900 census was taken during a period of depression, while that of 1910 was taken during the reaction from a financial panic, and because of this reaction land had taken on a "boom" or fictitious value. The value of houses on farms was reported in 1900 as $271,240, and in 1910 as $713,245, the increase being $442,005. Other increases are as follows:
Table VI.3.
Farm machinery, 1910 $129,595
Farm machinery, 1900 48,460
Increase 81,135
Animals on farms, 1910 358,116
Animals on farms, 1900 110,142
Increase 247,974
Value of animals slaughtered on farms in 1909 20,557
Value of animals slaughtered on farm in 1899 13,031
Increase 7,026
Received from sale of animals in 1909 31,233
Received from sale of animals in 1899 5,910
Increase 26,323

The Census does not report property ownership by races, but from the tax digest of Clarke County some idea can be had of the amount of property owned by Negroes. The aggregate value of land, including the buildings thereon, was returned in 1913 at

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$1,387,656.4. Of this total, $149,260, or 10.8 percent [per cent.], was returned by the Negroes. The total value of horses, mules, hogs, sheep, cattle, and all other stock returned was $228,115. In the case of this item the difference is not nearly so great, as the Negroes returned $69,005, or 30.3 percent [per cent.] of the total. The value of carriages, wagons, buggies, plantation and mechanical tools returned for taxes was $32,520 [32.520]. Of this sum only $235, or seven-tenths of one percent [per cent.] was returned by the Negroes. The total value of "all other property not enumerated" was $51,440, and the Negroes returned $1,000 of this, or 1.9 percent [per cent]. All of this was returned by the Negro taxpayers of Sandy Creek District.

3. Number of farms.

A special schedule secured from the Census Bureau shows that there are 1,382 farms in Clarke, 912 being farms of colored farmers, and 470 farms of white farmers. These figures are misleading unless some explanation is made of what the Census Bureau considers a "farm." In defining "farm," the Census says: "When a landowner has one or more tenants, renters, croppers, or managers, the land operated by each is considered a farm."5. Under this definition a plantation worked with "croppers," as a share tenant is called, is reported as several farms, although in reality it is one farm, since it is under the supervision of one man, the owner or manager. The croppers go to work by the farm bell, and are practically wage hands paid with a part of the crop instead of with money. The farm of a renter, however, is under the supervision of the tenant himself, and is a farm in every sense of the word.6. The excess of Negro over white farms is, of course, due to the definition given the word "farm."

Of the farms of white farmers, 161, or 34.3 percent [per cent.] of the total, were reported as being between 20 and 49 acres. More white farms are in this size group than in any other. Eighty, or 17 percent [per cent.] of the white farms, are between 10 and 19 acres, while 95, or 20.3 percent [per cent.] are between 50 and 99. The 29 to 40 acre group contains 447, or 49 percent [per cent.] of the farms of Negro farmers. Sixteen and six-tenths percent [per cent.] of the Negro farms are between 10 and 19 acres, and 17.3 percent [per cent.]. are between 50 and 99.
4. Tendency since the Civil War of size of farms to decline.

While the plantation system is still followed in some counties of Georgia, it has been almost abandoned in Clarke County. After the war the plantation system was very difficult to maintain, due

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to the difficulty of controlling Negro labor. Many of the Georgia planters gave up the system altogether, and divided their lands into smaller farms, which they rented out for cash or cotton. Others maintained the system in a modified form, by farming part of the land with wage hands, and working, the rest "on halves" with tenants. Since the share tenant works under the landlord's supervision, the plantation was still one large farm, instead of many small ones, as in the case of the rented lands. All three of these systems were found on some of the farms in Clarke County. But the changing conditions tended to break up the plantation system, and its fall resulted in the creation of several small farms in the place of one plantation. The tendency since the War has been for the farms to grow smaller.Cotton -- the County's main crop.[figure desc: A photograph of a field of cotton.]

5. Tenure of Farms.

Farms are classified for Census purposes as follows: those operated by owners; by renters; by share tenants; and by managers. There is also a class between owners and tenants, known as "part owners." A part owner owns part of his farm and rents the rest from some one else, or works it on shares. A renter pays a stipulated amount of cotton for his land, or in rare cases a cash rental, while a share tenant or cropper pays his landlord a part of the crop, usually one-half. For this reason croppers are often called

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"halvers." Most of the Negro croppers work on halves, but a few of them, and a larger number of the white croppers, farm on the "third and fourth" plan. Under this plant the tenant pays the owner a fourth of the cotton raised and a third of the corn. These croppers, like the renters, furnish their own stock and implements, while the "halvers" use the landlord's stock and tools. Renters are sometimes called cash tenants, but this term is not appropriate in Clarke County. They are usually referred to as "standing renters." A renter is supposed to "put himself through," that is, not to depend on his landlord to furnish him provisions on credit, or lend him money. Most of the white renters finance themselves, and some of them sub-let land to Negroes on halves. But in the case of the Negro renters, a good many landlords "stand for them" by going security for them, or give "orders" on stores for provisions and other supplies, settling up with the tenant when the cotton and other crops are sold.

TABLE VII.
Table Showing Tenure of Farms, 1900 and 1910.
1900. Share
Total farms. Owners Part Owners. Renters. tenants.
White 359 147 25 101 71
Negro 480 79 32 200 164
1910.
White 470 177 34 107 152
Negro 912 128 70 336 375

Nine white farms were reported in 1910 as being supervised by managers. No Negro farms were operated by managers. These figures show an increase of 432 Negro farms during the ten year period. As there was a large increase in "land in farms" between these Census periods, we would expect a marked increase. The 130 percent [per cent.] increase in the number of Negro croppers and the 60.3 per cent. increase in the number of renters shows that a good many wage hands became tenants. The number of white renters increased only 7 percent [per cent.], while the number of Negro renters increased 60 percent [per cent.] This is an unhealthy sign, as is shown by the opinions expressed in the following paragraph. The Negroes greatly prefer renting, on account of its freedom from control, and have been able to determine to a considerable extent the terms of their contract.
6. Questionnaire as to the relative merits of different forms of tenancy.

When asked to give their opinions as to the relative merits of the wage system, cropping, and renting, a majority of the white landlords replied that the wage system was best from the landlord's standpoint; cropping, from the laborer's standpoint; and the wage system, from the standpoint of the care of land. But opinion was

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OWNERSHIP AND TENANCY[figure desc: A bar graph comparing race in the ownership of farms.]

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very much divided on these questions. Forty-eight and seven-tenths percent [per cent.] of the farmers interviewed answered that, from the landlord's point of view the wage system was preferable; 36.5 percent [per cent.] stated that cropping was more desirable; 12.2 percent [per cent.] gave it as their opinion that renting was most satisfactory.7. Several landlords could see no difference between working wage hands and croppers. Looking at the question from the tenant's point of view, 68.4 percent [per cent.] said that cropping was the best system; 24.3 percent [per cent.] thought the laborers were better off as wage hands; 9.7 percent [per cent.]held that the tenant makes more money by renting; while a few replied that it depended largely on the man. Their opinion was that if the tenant knew how to farm, he could make more profit by renting, but if he needed supervision he ought to work on halves. Sixty-five and eight-tenths percent [per cent.] said that the wage system was best, as far as the land was concerned; 29.2 percent [per cent.] preferred cropping; 4.8 percent [per cent.] thought cropping and working wage hands equally good, and both vastly superior to renting. No landlord said that renting was best for the land.

In the appendix will be found a number of answers to this question, giving various reasons for the preferences expressed. The prevailing ones in favor of wages from every standpoint were these: A farmer working wage hands has better control of his labor than one who works croppers; the land can be kept up better under the wage system than by cropping; the owner does not have to put up so much against the laborer's time as under the cropping system; and a laborer who wants to save can save as much as a wage hand 'as he can as a "halver," unless he has a lot of help. The advocates of cropping said that the croppers do better work than wage hands, and do not have to be as closely watched, because they have an interest in the crop; they get the benefit of the landlord's knowledge of farming, and hence are in a position to make more money than a wage hand. The landowners who preferred renting were nearly always absentee landlords, and their argument was that the owner knows what he is going to get from his renter, and does not have the labor of supervising him.
7. Landownership among Negroes.

The following figures from the County Tax Receiver's books show the acreage and value of land owned by Negroes in each district of the county, and the value of their city and town property.

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Table VIII.
City or
District Acres of land. Value of land. town property.
Athens 592 $16,550 $324,365
Ga. Factory 191.5 3,625 -------
Puryear's 782.75 9,760 1,250
Sandy Creek 2,963.4 53,630 525
Buck Branch 1,143 20,410 300
Bradberry's 1,173.75 15,920 -------
Princeton 1,154 20,845 450
Kinney's 443.75 8,520 600
------- ------- -------
Total 8,415.75 $149,260 $327,490

The total acreage returned by both races was 70,232. The Negroes, then, own 12 percent [per cent.] of the total area. The value of city or town property returned by the Negroes was 5.5 percent [per cent.] of 5,895,290, the total value of city or town property returned.8. Of the Negro landowners interviewed, 34.8 percent [per cent.] had not finished paying for their farms, but most of them had paid over half of the purchase price. One Negro farmer had been in possession of his place 35 years, another 25, and a third 22 years. The average length of time that the Negro landowners had owned their farms was 9.6 years. Some who had paid for their land had mortgaged it to buy more land. Undoubtedly some land is sold to Negroes who are able to make the first payment, with the expectation that they will not finish paying for it. The Negro, holding a bond for title, has to pay the taxes, and if he fails to make his payments the landowner has practically rented him the land and escaped taxes. But this is not a general practice. One white farmer said that some of the land sold to Negroes was land that had been rented so long that it had greatly depreciated in value. Under the cotton rent system, the renters are not encouraged to grow any soil-replenishing crops, and as the prevalent one-year lease system supplies no incentive to build up the place, they soon "rob the land" and move on to another farm. A white renter explained the increase of Negro farm ownership in his district by calling attention to the fact that the Negro, on account of his low standard of living, could make the first payment on a tract of land more easily than a white tenant could.
8. Does the County feed itself?

While Clarke is a county able to feed itself, the one-crop system so generally followed makes the county dependent on outside sources for food supplies. Instead of raising provisions on their farms, many of the farmers, especially the tenants, put their attention

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on cotton, the "money crop," practically to the exclusion of everything else except corn and forage crops for the stock. The "rations" are bought in town with the money from the sale of cotton. From the 1910 Census the following figures were worked out by Mr. E. C. Branson for the "Home and Farmstead."9. Home raised meat supply, per person, 1910: Butter, of an ounce per day; milk, nearly of a pint per day; eggs, 1/2 egg per day; poultry, 1/4of a fowl per week; pork, nearly 1/15 of a hog per year; beef, 1/15 of a beef per year; mutton, 1/200 of a sheep or goat per year. These figures show how deficient the county is in supplying itself with meat. In this connection, however, it should be remembered that Clarke is the smallest county in Georgia, with a population only 35.9 percent [per cent.] rural, and the city of Athens, whose population according to the last Census was 15,000.

From the same source these figures have been taken to show to what extent the county does not sustain itself: population, 23,723; annual food bill, $1,930,659; annual feed bill for domestic animals, $561,800. Crops, including town-raised vegetables, $1,162,968; animal products, county and town, $541,301; total, $1,714,269. Shortage, $778,190. Clearly the county does not sustain itself.

It must be said, however, that some of the large landowning farmers do raise feed and forage crops for their stock. But they are more than offset by the tenants, both black and white. Yet the whole blame for the production of cotton to the exclusion of truck farming and cattle raising cannot be laid upon the tenant. The absentee landlord has his rent paid in cotton, in the expectation of high priced cotton in the fall. And the farmers who live on their places could have their tenants raise more food crops in proportion to cotton.
9. Farm labor.

Nearly all of the wage hands of the farms of Clarke County are Negroes. The average wage is $15 a month and board. The wages sometimes range from $12 to $18 on one place, depending on the worth of the laborer. The wage hands are paid more, as a rule, on the farms nearer the city than on those farther out. Most of the farmers estimated that their "hands" cost them a total of $20 a month, when the wage was $15 or $16. Where the farmer has only one or two laborers, they often get their meals in their employer's kitchen, and sometimes this method of boarding the help is followed on places where a half dozen wage hands are employed. But as a rule the laborer's rations are issued to him by the month or week, more often the latter. Where the plantation has a commissary, the laborers draw their provisions just as the croppers do theirs. But the prevailing custom is for the farmer

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to buy the provisions and issue them to the hands. The commissary has the added advantage to the farmer of reducing his own grocery bill, as well as enabling him to save on his laborer's hire, by getting the provisions at wholesale rates. When the planter runs a store, the store takes the place of a commissary. The provisions given the laborer are, of course, part of his wages, and he has the advantage of the cropper, whose supplies are advanced to him, often with an added charge of ten percent [per cent.] interest.

The planters hire their wage hands by the year when they can get them. This is the only means by which they can be sure of having labor at the time when it is most needed. In order to employ a hand, it is nearly always, necessary to advance him money. Just before Christmas is the best time to hire Negroes, as this is the time when they are most anxious to get money. After the hand has signed a contract to work a year, and has received an advance on his wages, sometimes he fails to report for work. The employer can then have the Negro arrested on a charge of cheating and swindling, but cannot make him fulfill the contract, as this, would be a violation of the peonage law. But his case serves as an example to the other hands. One farm manager stated to the investigator that he tried to keep in debt to the laborers, instead of keeping them in debt to him. He refused to let his hands spend their money before they earned it. In this way, he said, the hands were better satisfied, as they did not have to pay debts with their wages as soon as they received them. He admitted that this custom had been hard to establish, but claimed that it was more satisfactory than the prevailing one.
10. Child labor on the farms.

The Negro farmers, both tenants and landowners, rely to a large extent on their children's help in the field. The amount of land cultivated by a cropper depends on the size of his family, and how many of his children are old enough to "help in the crop." It is customary on the larger places for the owner or manager to hire the cropper's family to help out the wage hands in rush seasons. The use of the children by the Negroes is the cause of the divided school term in the colored schools. Some of the colored farmers are dependent on their children's help, but in many cases children too small to be of much value as farm help are taken out of school. Even where the children are not taken out of school in such numbers as to make the school attendance below the limit allowed for maintaining the school, it is not deemed expedient to keep the school open, since this would cause a breaking up of the grades.
11. Scarcity of labor.

Very few of the white farm land owners answered "Less," to the question, "Is it more or less, difficult to get laborers than it was ten years ago?". And these men called attention to the fact

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that the price of farm labor had advanced greatly. One farmer said that his hands cost him about $10 a month in 1904, and $18 in 1914. Another farmer whose place was near Athens said that the increase of the Negro population in Athens and the fact that the city had built in the direction of his place probably explained why he could get laborers more easily than he could ten years ago, although he had to pay them higher wages. The majority of the farmers interviewed said that laborers were much harder to get than they were ten years ago, and most of them added that while the quality of labor was not so good, the wages had advanced. A farm manager who was an overseer of long experience said he found it about ten times as hard to get hands, and a number of farmers expressed the opinion that farm labor was "about half as good" as it was ten years ago. Various explanations were offered on this point. For example, a common reason given for the scarcity of labor was that the Negroes were moving to town, where wages were higher, and the hours were not so long as on the farm. Other explanations were that the Negroes found employment in fertilizer plants, and in the construction of public works. Some farmers said that so many more Negroes were now renting land or cropping that the number of available laborers had been greatly reduced. This is doubtless the correct explanation of the shortage. The increase of farm land under cultivation since 1904 has created a larger demand for hands, and this helps to explain the scarcity of labor.

12. Transportation.

Clarke County has five railroads, the Seaboard Air Line, the Southern, the Georgia, the Central of Georgia, and the Gainesville Midland. The Seaboard is the only main line in the county. The Gainesville Midland is a local road connecting Athens and Gainesville. The Georgia has a station at Winterville; the Central has one at Whitehall; and the Gainesville Midland at Oconee Heights. These are the only railway stations outside of Athens. By reason of the central location of Athens, the small size of the county and the excellence of the country roads, the people do not suffer on account of the small number of stations. The county is remarkable for its system of public roads, which are among the best in the State. Many of them have been relocated since they were laid out. There are about 200 miles of graded roadway in the county.10. Half of this mileage has been top-soiled with a sand-clay mixture which greatly improves the road. The cross roads have been worked to some extent, but the most attention has been put on the main thoroughfares of the county, leading to the county sites and towns of adjoining counties. The county convicts are used to maintain and improve the road system.

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Clarke County R.F.D., Railroads, Post Offices[figure desc: A map of Clarke County showing all the locations of R.F.D., Post offices and Railroads.]
Part 13

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13. How the farmers are financed.

In order to show how the Negro tenants are financed, let us take for example ten from one district, eight renters and two croppers. Every one of these tenants depends on a merchant at Athens or Winterville for credit. Four secured credit by putting a mortgage on their cotton crop; that is, either by giving a crop lien or by agreeing to sell their cotton through a cotton factor; three got their supplies at their landlord's store in town; one put up his stock as security and another both his stock and crop; and one obtained credit by having his landlord endorse his note. Twenty-two percent [per cent.] of the Negro tenants are supplied from farm commissaries.11. These, of course, are all croppers. A few farmers buy provisions for their croppers, but when the farmer has neither a store nor commissary, he generally gives the tenant an order on a store. Of the Negro tenants, 58.3 percent [per cent.] depend on credit at a store, half of these furnishing some security, such as a mortgage on stock or a note endorsed by the landlord, and half getting an order on the store from their landlord. These tenants are practically dependent on the landlords to finance them, and even where they borrow money from a "warehouse man" or cotton factor, the landlord nearly always endorses for them. Most of the tenants who get their credit at stores by means of orders are renters. Eleven percent [per cent.] of the colored tenants borrow money from their landlords. This small division represents both croppers and renters. Eight and four-tenths percent [per cent.] of the tenants either "run themselves," have their provisions bought by their landlord, or borrow from a cotton factor.

The bank is the most popular source of credit with the white landowning farmers, 44 percent [per cent.] of those interviewed depending on this source. The farmer usually gives a note, and sometimes a mortgage on his land. Some of the farmers who patronize the banks as a general thing also go to cotton factors for loans at times. The interest paid to the bank was generally reported as 8 percent [per cent.] but in a few cases as high as 10 percent [per cent.] The cotton factors "carry" the white farmers to a larger extent than the merchants do. Of the farmers interviewed 23 percent [per cent.] said they depended on the cotton men to a larger extent than on banks or merchants. The cotton factors charge 8 percent [per cent.] on money lent, and the farmer agrees to sell a certain number of bales through the cotton dealer. The farmers relying on merchants for credit make up 21 percent [per cent.] of the total interviewed. Instead of borrowing money they buy their supplies on credit, paying up when their cotton is sold. The rate of interest is one percent [per cent.] a month, or 12 percent [per cent.], if the account runs a year.

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The Negro landowners are to a large extent financed by merchants. Forty percent [per cent.] of them said that they depended largely on merchants for credit, although a number of these borrowed from banks or cotton factors at times. The banks and cotton factors are about equally popular with the Negro landowners, 28 percent [per cent.]per cent. borrowing from banks and 24 percent [per cent.] from cotton dealers. The Negroes also often buy merchandise other than provisions from merchants, on credit, sometimes paying a high rate of interest. For instance, the difference between the time and cash price of goods is nearly always 10 percent [per cent.], and "a cent a month" is often charged in addition.

And the merchants sometimes offer the landowners a certain percent [per cent.] of the tenant's purchases, in order to get the tenant trade. Of course, this extra revenue comes out of the tenant's pocket.
Notes

1. Census 1910, Abstract for Georgia, p. 658.
2. Census 1900, Vol. V, Part I, p. 271.
3. Ibid, p. 426, and Census 1910, Abstract for Georgia, p. 658.
4. Tax Receiver's Books of Clarke County, 1913.
5. Census 1910, Abstract for Georgia, p. 265.
6. Brooks, R. P., Agrarian Revolution in Georgia, Chap. IV.
7. An effort was made to see ten farmers of both races, tenants and land-owners, in every district.
8. "City or town property" means real estate inside the corporate limits of Athens or Winterville. This is a somewhat curious situation. but it seems to be the case that rural Negroes own a little property in these towns.
9. Home and Farmstead, Athens, Gal, Vol. XIII, No 33.
10. Estimate of J. L. McLeroy, County Commissioner in charge of roads, 1914
11. This and the succeeding percentages are not based on the total number of tenants, but on those interviewed, about ten in each district.
CHAPTER III.
EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS.
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1. Management and supervision of the school system.

The management of the common schools of Clarke County is in the hands of the County Board of Education. This board consists of five men, appointed from the county by the Grand Jury. No two members can be from the same district, and all must be landowners. They are paid $2.00 a day for every day spent in attending to their duties as members of the board. It is the duty of the board to receive the reports of the County School Superintendent, and the monthly reports of the teachers, and pass on them before they are sent to the State School Superintendent. They also consider measures recommended by the County Superintendent, and in a general way have charge of the county school system.

The County School Superintendent is elected by the people for a term of four years, and is paid a salary of $1,095 a year. The incidental expenses of the superintendent or "commissioner" are also paid. This officer has direct charge of the schools, makes contracts with the teachers, supervises their work, and advises the county board on school questions. Each school is supposed to have three local trustees, who were formerly appointed by the county board, but under a new law are elected by the school patrons in their respective districts. Several of the schools have failed to elect trustees. Under the law, the local trustees recommend teachers, who are appointed by the County Superintendent, subject to the approval of the County Board. A community so desiring may have the superintendent appoint a teacher without election, but must notify the superintendent to this effect in writing. Teachers desiring appointment apply to the superintendent, and present their license and recommendations.
2. Number of schools, white and black, by districts.
Public schools.1.

Clarke County has 28 common schools outside the city of Athens, 14 for the whites, and the same number for the Negroes. The school districts correspond to the militia districts, but there are more schools in some of the districts than in others, because of the uneven distribution of population. Of the eight militia districts, the Athens district is, of course, best supplied with schools, on account of the city school system in Athens, and the presence of state and private institutions there. Outside of the city limits, there is only one white and one colored school in this district.

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Clarke County Schools and Churches[figure desc: A map of Clarke County that identifies the location of white and black churches and schools.]

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Kinney's District has two white schools, and one colored; Sandy Creek, three white and two colored; Buck Branch, three white and three colored; Puryear's, one white and two colored; Georgia Factory, one for each race; Princeton, one for the whites, and three for the Negroes; and Bradberry's, two white and one Negro school. The civil divisions of the county have been indicated on the school map, since they coincide with the school districts. From this map it will be seen that three of the white and two of the colored schools are "county line" schools. This is rather unfortunate, because pupils from other counties attend these schools, and such pupils are not paid for from the Clarke County pro rata of the State school fund. The teachers are obliged to look to the other county for their remuneration for teaching these children, and, as they are not always sure of getting paid, their salary is uncertain. One of these county line schools is maintained by Clarke because a dozen white children in that school district can not attend school anywhere else. Clarke pays the teacher only twenty dollars a month. More than half of the pupils are from another county. These statements do not apply to the Winterville school, which is located in a town. In addition to the schools of the county, there are several white and colored schools in other counties attended by children from Clarke. And some children attend school in Athens, but they have to pay for the privilege, as the city schools are supported by municipal taxation.

Private schools.

The only white private school in the county is the mill school at Whitehall. A "Model and Training School," colored, in Sandy Creek District, gets $500 a year from the Slater Fund. The "Normal-Rural," as the model country school on the campus of the State Normal School is called, is supported four months of the year by the Normal School. These three schools will be described later in detail.
3. Description of schools.
White.

Nine of the white schools are one-room schools; but two are large enough to be converted into two-room schools, should the number of pupils demand it. Three of these schools have cloak rooms, and two have porches. Four schoolhouses are two-room buildings, and two of these have one cloakroom each, and one has two cloakrooms. One of the two-room schools, that at Tuckston, is using only one room. The Winterville school has five class rooms and a library. All the school buildings are frame structures, and all except one are painted, but three need repainting badly. Seven of the buildings may be said to be in good repair, six are in fair condition, and one is in bad shape. The Winterville school is the

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only one provided with artificial lighting, swinging lamps being used. Every school room in use is provided with a stove, but the Normal Rural has the only jacketed heater in use. Only three schools have their interiors painted, but practically all are ceiled. Most of the white schools have patent school desks, 200 being in use in the county. The other schools have double desks manufactured in Athens. Five schools have wells on the school property, but only three are in use. Not being used throughout the year, the school wells get in bad condition. One of the schools using its own well also gets water from a nearby spring on private property. Nine schools get their water from wells on private property. The distance of these wells from the schools varies from 200 feet to 200 yards. One of these schools also makes use of a spring. The Winterville school has a well on the grounds that is covered and equipped with a pump.

Delapidated Negro church used as a school.[figure desc: Picture of the side of a church on lifts.]

There is a great difference in the appearance of the grounds of the different schools. The Normal Rural and Tuckston schools have school gardens, but the grounds of the latter school were ruined by the county's taking top-soil, from them to surface the road. The Hodges and Bethaven schools have rose bushes planted out in the yards, and the Buchanon and Fowler schools have flower beds in front of the school buildings. The Princeton school is located

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on a steep hillside, and the school property is practically useless as a playground. Some of the school grounds present a very bleak appearance, not having a shrub or plant on them. With a few exceptions, the interiors of the white schools are well decorated with pictures, flags, and maps. Four schools have poor blackboard facilities.

Colored schools.

Four of the colored schools are held in churches. These are the Billups's Grove, Timothy, Allenville, and Brooklyn schools. The St. James school building is not well suited to school purposes. The Mount Sinai and Shiloh schools are held on the first floor of lodge buildings. All of the colored schools are one room buildings,Negro church, school, and lodge hall. A social center in Puryear's District.[figure desc: Picture of a white church in the woods.] except the Model and Training school, which has three rooms, and the, Midway school, which has two. Two of the other school buildings are large enough to have partitions put in them. Two of the one-room schools have two teachers, and the teachers necessarily interfere with each other to some extent. The Model and Training and the St. James schools are consolidated schools. The schools held in church buildings are the poorest ones in the county. One of these buildings is unfinished, and another is in a very dilapidated condition. But, with one exception, these schools are the only colored schools that are artificially lighted, having swinging lamps, and bracket lamps along the walls. The church schools are as unattractive within as they are from the outside. The blackboard

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facilities are wretched, and the frame benches are poor substitutes for desks. There are no pictures or maps in these schools, and few in- most of the others.

All the schools are heated with unjacketed stoves, some of which are in bad condition. The Model and Training school is the only one that has a garden, and flowers and shrubbery in the front yard. It is in pleasing contrast with the other schools, whose grounds are bare and unattractive. Three of the colored schools are located on the edge of a wooded grove, and this helps the appearance of the grounds to some extent. Nine schools depend on private wells forType of unimproved School Grounds. (White).[figure desc: A picture of a school house with some children on the right.] their water supply; and four get water from springs off the school grounds. Two schools have wells, and one of these uses its well. Only two of the Negro school buildings are painted. None of the colored schools has patent desks, but four have double benches made in Athens. Four of the buildings in use are in good condition, five in fair, five in bad condition, and three unfit for use as school houses.
Private schools.

The mill school at Whitehall and the Model and Training school may be classed as private schools, although the last named is really a county school, which gets funds from other sources. The mill school runs for eight months, and is free to the children of the

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factory operatives. It is supported by the owners of Georgia Factory. The teacher of this school is a high school graduate, who has had normal training. The school is held in a church, and the enrollment is 40. The building is heated by an open fire place, and the equipment is rather poor. The church benches are used in lieu of desks and the school has no blackboards or maps. This school is run to satisfy the mill operatives, who want a school of their own.

The Model and Training school has already been described as the best colored rural school in the county. It is also one of the best in the state. It is located in a thickly settled Negro district, five miles from Athens, on the Danielsville road. One of the threeOutdoor gymnastic drill, Model and Training School.[figure desc: Children lined up for exercise outside of their school.] rooms is elevated above the level of the others, and sliding doors are arranged so that all three rooms may be thrown together, providing an auditorium with a stage. The interior of the building is painted, and nicely decorated with pictures, maps, and flags. The school has a library of over 1,000 books. The school is also equipped with an organ, a victrola, and a drum. The four acres included in the school grounds were included in a tract of land bought by the first land club, and were deeded to the county by the Negroes. The school house was erected by the General Education Board. In order to get the appropriation from the Slater Fund, the school raises the difference when the county does not give the school $500 a year. This school has been established ten

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[figure desc: There are two images on this page. On is a picture of a group of students in front of a small school. The other is a picture of a group of students in a garden.]

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years, and five pupils have finished, its course, which goes through the eight grammar grades. Two of these are at Hampton, and three are teaching. The principal of the school is a graduate of Atlanta University, and one of her assistants is a graduate of Spellman Seminary, Atlanta. The school is a social center in the community, being used as a meeting place for the corn club, and for land club meetings. The Fair Association meets in the school to raise money for premiums to be awarded at the colored county fair. The school gives instruction along industrial lines, not only to the pupils, but to the older Negroes as well. There is a parent-Pupils of the Normal Rural School at lunch.[figure desc: A picture of students sitting at a long table.] teachers association known as the "Industrial Club," but the patrons do not give the school the financial aid that they might.

On the campus of the Normal School is located the only white country school in the Athens District. This is a model school, conducted to show the Normal students what can be done in a one-room, one-teacher, rural school. The Normal School pays the expenses of this school four months out of the year, and the patrons pay five dollars a year for equipment and supplies. The school building is fitted out with the most modern equipment. The building is lighted by four windows, all on one side of the room, thus eliminating cross-lighting, which gives trouble in so many country schools. The school has an oil stove, and a complete outfit for cooking and dining. Sometimes the pupils cook dinner during the

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noon recess, but usually they set the table, and eat their lunches in the school room. Those living near the school often go home for dinner. Each place at the table has a plate, bread-and-butter plate, knife, fork, spoon, tumbler, and napkin. The pupils work in shifts, each shift setting the table on certain days in the week. The children have a school garden and the grounds are planted out with flowers, shrubs, and fruit trees. The children have erected bird boxes, which help to get them interested in nature study. The seniors at the Normal School observe the lessons taught in this school, and sometimes teach classes, but the school is not intended as a practice school.

4. School statistics.

The State of Georgia appropriates each, year $2,500,000 for the common schools, which enables them to run five months. This fund is prorated among the counties according to population, the division between the races being left to the county officials. In Clarke County only 33 percent [per cent.] of the money used for the rural schools goes to the Negro schools, although of the children of school age 63 percent [per cent.] are Negroes. The salaries paid by the. county to the white teachers during the year were as follows:2. To male teachers, $854.20; to female, $4,440. To the Negro teachers, male, $67.69; female, $2,615.34. Total for whites, $5,294.67; for Negroes, $2,683.03; grand total, $7,977.70. These figures do not represent the total salaries paid to teachers, as the county pays for only a five months term, and some of the schools are supported longer than this by local assistance. Only one of the Negro schools runs nine months. The average monthly salaries paid the teachers by the county are: white males, $70.00; white females, $48.20. There are only two white male teachers, one of whom is paid $80.00 per month, the other $60.00. The one colored male is paid $24.00; the colored female teachers are paid an average of $23.45. The average monthly cost of tuition, to the county, per white pupil, is $2.40; per Negro pupil, $.73.

The total value of the 14 white school houses is $9,900, an average of $707. Three of these are owned by individuals, the average value being $400. The county owns only five of the 14 Negro school houses, the value being $2,700, or an average of $540. Four of the negro schools are owned by individuals, the average of these buildings being $200. The remaining five negro schools are conducted in church buildings or lodge halls. The following table shows the enrollment and average attendance at each school, and the number of teachers in the grammar and high school grades:

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[figure desc: This figure contains 4 pie charts that compare the enrollment and attendance of black and white school age children.]

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Table IX.3.
White Schools.
Teachers
Grammar High School
School Enrollment Average Grades Grades
Male. Female. Attend. Male. Female. Male. Female.
Winterville 56 64 96 4 1
Buchanon 18 11 18 1
Tuckston 16 17 11 1
Belmont 12 9 18 1
Centerville 17 17 21 1
Princeton 49 41 51 1 1
Hinton Brown 13 14 24 1
Hodges 18 17 25 1
Fowlers 17 16 22 1
Normal Rural 32 14 24 1 1
Oconee Heights 35 35 46 2
Lamkins 20 15 22 1
Barberville 16 11 17 1
Bethaven 6 6 9 1
Total 325 283 404 1 18 1 1
Table X.
Colored Schools.
Teachers
Grammar High School
School Enrollment Average Grades Grades
Male. Female. Attend. Male. Female. Male. Female.
Model & Train. 83 115 81 2
Midway 93 96 106 2
Oak Grove 22 29 43 1
Billups Grove 22 26 32 1
St. Lukes 42 48 61 2
Mortons Chapel 56 65 65 2
Macedonia 30 34 33 2
Allenville 28 33 43 1
Timothy 13 22 25 1
Chestnut Grove 49 68 60 2
Brooklyn 25 40 37 1
Mt. Sinai 41 31 46 2
St. James 82 86 75 2
Shiloh 39 50 59 2
Total 625 743 730 1 22

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The next two tables show how the pupils are distributed in the grades:
Table XI.
White Schools.
GRADES
School 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Winterville 12 16 11 88 11 13 12 13 13 11
Buchanon 11 4 2 8 4
Tuckston 13 4 4 2 6 3
Belmont 4 3 4 4 6
Centerville 11 1 7 8 6 1
Princeton 29 15 10 11 9 10 6
Hinton Brown 29 15 10 11 9 10 6
Hodges 6 5 8 5 4 1
Fowlers 10 3 6 4 8 1 1
Normal Rural 18 7 7 11 3
Oconee Heights 16 14 12 15 8 3 2 1
Lamkins 8 7 9 7 4
Barberville 5 7 8 4 3
Bethaven 1 1 2 2 2 1 3
Total 154 92 100 91 67 40 30 14 13 11
Table XII.
Colored Schools.
GRADES
School 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Model and Training 69 42 34 29 12 5 5
Midway 48 46 49 18 15 13
Oak Grove 12 11 10 10 5 3
Billups Grove 25 7 11 3 2
St. Lukes 18 20 18 22 5 4 3
Mortons Chapel 56 19 20 18 7 1
Macedonia 20 16 15 12 1
Allenville 30 14 10 7
Timothy 22 7 1 4 1
Chestnut Grove 67 18 12 7 8 5
Brooklyn 47 7 4 7
Mt. Sinai 20 10 8 24 10
St. James 74 22 14 19 13 6
Shiloh 57 18 16 5 3
Total 385 257 212 185 80 39 8
Two of the white schools ran nine months, three ran seven months, and one six. The other white schools had no local aid and ran only for five months, the length of the public or free school term. Only one colored school had a term longer than five months, and this school's term was nine months.

The next table gives the number of children of school age, by races, in the militia districts of the county.

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Table XIII.
School Census, 1913.
Districts White Negro Grand
Male. Female. Total. Male. Female. Total. Total.
Athens 55 73 128 55 65 120 248
Bradberrys 31 38 69 77 71 148 217
Buck Branch 100 96 196 180 205 385 581
Kinneys 62 59 121 101 90 191 312
Princeton 57 45 102 56 84 140 242
Puryears 22 20 42 125 125 250 292
Sandy Creek 37 34 71 109 124 233 304
Georgia Factory 79 91 170 49 46 95 265
Total 443 456 899 752 810 1562 2461

In Georgia, "school age" means from 6 to 18 years of age. The table shows that there are nearly twice as many Negro children of school age in the county as there are white. The figures for the Athens District are for the rural part of that district, outside the city limits. Puryear's District has only 42 white children of school age, and, as a good many of them do not attend school, it is hard for the Belmont school to keep going. Some of the people send their children to Winterville.
Comparison of the races with regard to school attendance.

Of the 899 white children of school age, 638 are enrolled in the schools, and the average attendance is 421. Thirty of these children attend school in other counties; of the total, 70.9 percent [per cent.] are enrolled, and 65.9 of those enrolled is the average attendance. Forty-nine and two-tenths percent [per cent.] of those enrolled are boys. Of the 1562 Negro children, 1381, or 88.4 percent [per cent.] are enrolled, but the average attendance is only 737, 53.4 percent [per cent.] of those enrolled. Forty-eight and one-tenth percent [per cent.] of those enrolled are boys. Eleven of the Negro children attend school outside of the county. A large percent [per cent.] of the Negro children are enrolled, but the white children attend school more regularly than the Negroes. The percent [per cent.] of negro children enrolled in the schools is remarkably large, and it would seem from the figures that the Negroes are more anxious to send their children to school than the whites are. The poor attendance on the part of the Negroes is due to the fact that their parents need their help on the farm. But this is not always the case, for the Negroes do not seem to appreciate the value of regular attendance, apparently not understanding that a child's schooling does not amount to much when he attends fitfully. Some of the white children are probably kept out of school altogether to work on the farms, but the white people as a whole are not as dependent on their children's help as the Negroes. The percentage of white children enrolled in the schools ought to be as good as that of the Negro children, if not better. Some children

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of both races, too small to be of much use at home, are kept out of school, but as a rule it is the larger ones, whose help is valuable to their parents in working the crops.

Illiteracy.4.

Exclusive of the city of Athens, 24.9 percent [per cent.] of the population of Clarke County, above the age of 10 years, was reported as illiterate by the Census of 1910. There are 200 illiterate whites, or 9.2 percent [per cent.] of the population included in this age group; and 1306 Negroes, or 34.7 percent [per cent.] of those ten years old and over. The total number of illiterates in both races was 1506, for the entire county.
5. Funds for support of the schools.

Lack of funds makes the maintenance of the county school system a very difficult matter. The money paid by the state for the common schools is not sufficient to pay adequate salaries to the teachers, and meet other school expenses. Furthermore, this money is never paid promptly. Rather than make the teachers wait months for their pay, the county board borrows money and pays them. The interest on this money borrowed during the year 1913 was $267.40, a sum which would have gone far towards improving the school buildings and grounds of some schools. In the days when the county sold whiskey through a dispensary at Athens, the school system was well maintained, the teachers were paid good salaries, and were paid promptly. At the time the dispensary was abolished, the county had $13,000 available, not having used all the money paid by the state to the county for schools. To run the schools with money made from the sale of whiskey was a strange way to educate children, but schools cannot be run without money. This school fund has been used up, and the schools get no money now except from the State, as local tax has been defeated. Two districts were in favor of local county tax, but after investigating the matter the people of these districts decided against local district tax. The state law on local district tax is extremely unsatisfactory. The district must elect two officers, a secretary and a treasurer, the latter under bond. The district local tax is collected by the county tax collector and turned over to the district treasurer. The County School Superintendent gives the district treasurer the district's share of the county's school fund, and the treasurer pays the teachers in his district, but the Superintendent controls the schools, as in the other districts. The district officers report all corporations in their district to the Comptroller General of the State, who collects the tax on them and sends the money to the treasurer. The

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two district officers have to make a quarterly report to the State Superintendent of Schools on the condition of the schools in the district. All the treasurer receives for his work is a small percentage of the money handled by him. The districts have not, been able to find men willing to undertake this work.

6. High Schools.

The only high school in the county, outside of Athens, is the Winterville school for whites. This school has ten grades, each of the five teachers having charge of two grades. All the teachersWhite church and school on the Lexington road, the line between Puryear's and Buck Branch Districts.[figure desc: A picture of a white church surrounded by trees.] are college graduates. Besides the pupils from Winterville, this school has pupils in attendance from Buck Branch, Georgia Factory, and Puryear's Districts, and from Oglethorpe County. Winterville is an incorporated town, but there is no municipal school tax levied. However, the people of Winterville and the patrons support the school very loyally. In order to supplement the school fund so as to have a nine months session, scholarships are sold at $15.00 apiece. Each patron is supposed to purchase a scholarship for every child of his in school. Those unable to do this, pay what they can, and the well-to-do people buy extra scholarships. Several citizens who have no children in school subscribe for scholarships in order to make up the necessary amount.

The school has a playground of two acres. The school house is a frame structure, having six rooms. It needs repainting, and the

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blinds should be repaired. The rooms are artificially lighted with swinging lamps. All the rooms are fitted with patent school desks. The school building has been used for school fairs, but the pupils hold their public exercises in the town auditorium. The present building is too small, and ought to be replaced by a brick structure, having a larger seating capacity, and a school auditorium.

7. Organizations.

One serious defect in the county schools is the lack of organization among the pupils and patrons. Only one white school reported a parent-teachers' association. As a rule, though, every school has one trustee who takes an active interest in school affairs, and looks after repairs on the schoolhouse.
8. Facilities for recreation. Libraries.

Another striking defect is the absence of recreational facilities. The Model and Training school and the Normal Rural are the only schools having any playground [play-ground]apparatus to speak of. The play-grounds [play-grounds] of the other schools are woefully lacking in this respect. Most of the grounds are either too small or too rough for ball games.

Six of the white schools have so-called libraries. One teacher of a white school having no library lends the children books. The Winterville school has a library of 550 books, especially selected for the different grades. The Normal Rural has an excellent little library of 50 books. The other school libraries range from 12 to 75 books. One teacher said that her school library was -a good one, but was not of much use to the school, as most of the pupils were in the lower grades, and the books were too advanced for them. Only two colored schools have libraries, but one of these is unusually well selected. The other consists of 30 books, some of them text books.
9. School rules and regulations.

The school term of those schools having no local aid begins January fourth. In thirteen of the colored schools, and in some of the white schools, the session is divided into a winter term of three months and a summer one of two. The County Board of Education determines when the summer session of each school shall begin, after considering local conditions. The maximum and minimum number of pupils in any school is left to the superintendent, but no teacher is allowed to enroll more than the maximum number, or continue the school after the attendance falls below the minimum, usually 20. Each teacher is required to keep a register. Any pupil absent from school two consecutive days during any school month, except for unavoidable cause, may be suspended. Pupils are not allowed to change schools during the term, except with the superintendent's consent. Pupils of school age, living in adjoining

------ page 45 ------
counties, may attend a school in Clarke, provided there is no public school in, their own county, nearer their residence; but teachers have to keep a separate register for their names, and teachers are not paid by the Clarke County Board for these pupils. Pupils are required to attend the school nearest their residence. Teachers are required to. open their schools by 9 A. M., sun time, and to engage in actual work with their pupils not less than six hours each day. Pupils are not allowed to attend school unless they have the necessary books. Schools houses belonging to the county cannot be used for other than school purposes except by permission of the board. "Patrons are expected to furnish fuel and other necessary articles and supplies for the use of the school, and to make and pay for such repairs, as may be needed to schoolhouse or furniture."

10. Results of the School Questionnaire.

Most of the information obtained from the questionnaire for schools has already been used. One of the objects of this questionnaire was to find out what preparation the teachers have had for the their work. Five of the white teachers are college graduates, and three are normal graduates. Eight are graduates of high schools, and three of these have attended college. Three teachers, not high school graduates, have attended normal schools and colleges. Three teachers hold high school licenses, or professional certificates; eighteen hold general elementary licenses. Eleven teachers have attended summer school. The others teach during the summer, and hence cannot attend.

Three of the colored teachers are college graduates, three are normal graduates, and nine are graduates of high schools. Two reported that they had completed the eight grades of grammar school. Six hold general elementary licenses, and eighteen hold primary licenses. Four colored teachers have attended summer school.

Another object of the questionnaire was to ascertain the size of the school grounds, and what the sanitary conditions at the various schools were. One of the white schools has three acres, and can get more land when it is needed. Five schools have two acres each; seven have an acre a piece [apiece], and one has only three-fifths of an acre. One of the colored schools has four acres; four have two acre grounds; two have one and one-half; two have three-fourths of an acre, and one has only half an acre. Ten of the white schools have two outhouses, and the other four schools have one. Four Negro schools have no outhouses of any sort. These schools are held in churches. One negro school has a double toilet, consisting of a frail shack with a partition in it, and used by both boys and girls. Toilets of this kind work for

------ page 46 ------
immorality and are worse than none at all.5. Three Negro schools have one outhouse, and the remaining four have two each. In the case of one white school, the school grounds are so small that the toilets are too near the school building. Most of the toilets are not kept in a sanitary condition. This statement applies to both the white and colored schools. The cause of this neglect may be ascribed to the fact that there is no provision for having them looked after. In some cases, the teacher hires a man to do this work, and at some schools a local trustee has the toilets cleaned. As a rule, the school toilets are the poorest type of privies, unpainted, and some of them are almost ready to fall down.

Eight white teachers answered the question about supervised play by saying that they did supervise the children's play. This means that they stay on the grounds at every recess. Four white teachers reported that they played with the children at times, or gave occasional supervision. One white teacher suggests new games, and directs the play of the children. One white teacher said that she supervised the play of the younger children. The Model and Training school was the only colored school that reported regular supervision. Three colored teachers play with the children, particularly the younger ones, and three reported some supervision of play.

On the question of schools as social centers, seven white schools reported that the school house was used for some purpose out of school hours. The use made of the schools is occasional, not regular, being generally for school entertainments to raise money. One school building is used as a union meeting house, and one is used as a Sunday School. The colored schools housed in churches are, of course, used for church and Sunday School purposes. One colored school house is used for lodge meetings.
11. Comments on the school situation.

The investigator questioned teachers, local trustees, and patrons, to learn what criticism they had to make of the schools. Many of the colored local trustees said they considered it a mistake to divide the short school term, but they did not see any way to avoid it, as most of the patrons would take their children out of school to help with the spring planting. All of the trustees were in favor of having at least seven months school, but most of them thought that two of these would have to be the months of July and August. The trustees of those schools held in churches thought that the most urgent need was a school building, so that the children could have desks instead of benches, and good blackboards. It was pointed out by several trustees that the large, two-teacher schools should have a partition put in them. One trustee said that the schools

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ought to have better teachers, but that they had fairly good ones, considering what the teachers were paid. Another suggested that some plan be adopted to keep the teachers from moving from one school to another so often.

The white trustees all said that they considered the school session given by the state entirely too short, and a number of them expressed the opinion that it was the duty of the patrons to supplement the school fund, so that every school would have a seven months, or, if possible, a nine months, term. Opinion was divided as to whether the term would have to be divided into a winter and summer session, but the majority was in favor of a continuous session. One trustee of a county line school said that each county ought to furnish a teacher, or else Clarke ought to furnish two, and another room be added to the school house. Two stated that the school grounds were too bare and unattractive, and that the patrons ought to plant them out in shrubs. These two also said that the school houses needed repairs.

On the whole, it must be admitted that the schools of Clarke County, white and black, are inadequate. This is due to the fact, that the people of the county depend wholly on the state appropriation for schools, which is insufficient to sustain an effective system. In two elections the people of Clarke have refused to authorize local taxation for schools. No improvement is to be expected until the public conscience on this subject is aroused. An effort was made two years ago to introduce the "county unit" idea. Under the terms of the proposed arrangement, the administration of the city and rural schools was to have been combined, the term in the rural sections, raised from five to nine months, and other improvements needs. This scheme was defeated at the polls by the united action of property owners in the city of Athens, who disliked the extra tax involved, and of country people, who feared they might become liable for the educational bonds of Athens. The rural sections, furthermore, were opposed to surrendering the control of their schools, as was represented to them would be the case should the new system be adopted. It is said that even the tenant class oppose local taxation for schools, believing that the tax would eventually fall on them in the shape of increased rent, a groundless assumption, as the landlords are far from, being in a position to raise rents arbitrarily.

When the teachers were asked how much cooperation [co&246peration]they received from the patrons, very "different replies were made. For instance, one teacher said, They cooperate [co&246perate] with me as much as I have any right to expect; I never ask for anything without getting it," while another replied, "The school patrons seem inclined to work against me, rather than with me; they do not want their children disciplined." Other replies were: "They help me to secure regular attendance"; "At times they meet to discuss the school's

------ page 48 ------
needs"; "I get some cooperation [co&246peration], but all my pupils are from tenant families, and they do not feel any permanent interest in the school."All these replies were made by white teachers. One of the colored teachers answered, "The parents do not make the children attend school as they should. The attendance falls off most as the end of the term approaches." Another said "No, the patrons do not cooperate with me much, except by contributing ten cents a month for crayon and other supplies."

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Notes

1. The facts and figures in this chapter were obtained from the County School Superintendent, from the teachers, patrons, and local trustees, and from personal observations by the investigator.
2. Gail I can't find the corresponding foot note
3. This table and tables X, XI, XII, and XIII were compiled from the County Superintendent's report to the State Superintendent. This report is not published in extenso.
4. The Census of 1900 did not report illiteracy for the County exclusive of Athens City, so it is impossible to say how much illiteracy declined in the rural part of the County during the last ten years.
5. Weatherford, W. D., Present Forces in Negro Progress, p. 122.
Chapter IV.
RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS.
A. Religious Conditions.
1. Number of Churches.
Active.

In Clarke County, outside the city of Athens, there are 17 colored and 8 white churches. Of the white churches, two are on the county line, and have members living in other counties. As there are two white Methodist churches and one white Baptist church over the line in other counties, with congregations made up partly of people living in Clarke, these were regarded as belonging to Clarke, and the county may be said to have eleven white churches.
Dormant.

Two colored churches are practically dormant, as one has no regular pastor, and only occasional services, while the other has become a mission church with only a dozen members. Several of the white churches are not gaining in their already small membership.
Dead.

There are two dead churches in the county, one white and the other colored. The white church died because it was built in a community already supplied with churches, and the failure of the colored church was due to the fact that it was a "family affair," that is to say, was founded by a family of one denomination in a settlement made up of people of another denomination. Such churches are foredoomed to failure through lack of sustaining membership. One white church has within recent years been moved over the county line into Madison County. Four white churches have died out in Clarke inside of the last twenty-seven years.1. This was probably due to the movement to town which has been going on in Georgia, and to the increase of absentee landlordism and Negro tenancy in Clarke County.
2. Churches and population.

Outside of Athens there is a white church for every 185 persons, and a colored church for every 308 persons. The white churches have a total membership of 1041, and the Negro churches 2486. Hence 42.9 percent [per cent.] of the whites and 50.4 percent [per cent.] of the Negroes attend church in the county. Practically all the Negroes claimed membership in some church, but when asked where their church was located, the investigator would often be told that it was ""way

------ page 50 ------
down in Oglethorpe." The Negroes are very loath to move their membership from one church to another. So when they migrate to Clarke from other counties, they keep their membership in the old church, and attend services at churches near their new home. One clerk of a Negro church was found in another district from that in which his church was located, several miles away from the church. There were three churches of his denomination nearer his home than the one with which he was affiliated. The white "mill" churches suffer from the same trouble. One white church in a mill settlement was carrying the names of twenty-five persons Negro Methodist church in Sandy Creek District, 12 members. The membership of this church was depleted by emigration to Arkansas and Mississippi.[figure desc: A picture of a wooden house.] on its roll who had moved to another mill and were attending another church.

The figures showing the membership in Clarke County churches, by race, are apt to be deceptive unless other factors than number and size of churches are considered. Besides being the smallest county in Georgia, Clarke has an excellent road system, and both whites and Negroes attend church in Athens, as well as in other counties. There are a number of both white and colored churches in other counties not far from the line of Clarke. The white people, especially, attend churches in Bogart, Oconee County; Arnoldsville, in Oglethorpe; and in Hull, Madison County.

------ page 51 ------
3. [4.]Denominations; relative strength.

The prevailing denomination among the white people is the Methodist; and among the colored people, the Baptist. All but three of the eleven white churches are Methodist; while fourteen of the seventeen colored churches are- Baptist. Of the other three Negro churches, two are Methodist and one is a Primitive Baptist. Eleven of the fourteen Negro Baptist churches are in the "Jeruel Association," which supports the Jeruel Academy at Athens. The other three Negro Baptist churches in the county are in the "Northwestern Association," which contributes money to a Negro Industrial school at Monroe, Ga. One of the white Baptist churches is in the "Appalachee Association," and the other two are in the "Sarepta Association."
4. [5.] Preachers.

None of the white churches has a pastor on full time. Two of them have pastors serving one other church; five have pastors serving two others; and four have pastors with three other churches under their charge. Of the seventeen colored churches, five have pastors on half time; six have pastors serving two other churches, or on one-third time; and six have pastors with three other churches to look after, or on one-fourth time. In addition to the regular preachers, the Negroes have a good many vounteer or lay preachers. The colored churches suffer from dissension, which frequently results in the secession of part of the members and the forming of another church. It will be noticed that while there is a large number of colored churches, considering the size and population of the county, four have less than a hundred members. Some of these should be combined so as to have services three Sundays every month, if not four.

While there is doubtless much foundation for the oft-repeated charge that the Negro preachers are lax in their personal morality, yet some of the Negro preachers in this county hold a high position in their church community, and are landowners, setting their people a good example by their thrift. One Negro preacher was found who had served his church twenty-five years, and was held in high esteem by the members of his congregation. The Negroes show a disposition to favor the preacher who can put on the "rousements" and get the congregation to a high pitch of emotion.
5. [6.]Church statistics.

The following tables, obtained from the ministers and secretaries of the various organizations, give in succinct form the principal facts bearing on the church situation.

------ page 52 ------
[figure desc: Three tables that compare the preachers of different churches. Table XVI examines the different White Methodist Churches. Table XVII. examines the White Baptist Churches. Table XVIII. examines the Colored Baptist Churches. These tables consist of the name of the church, district, property, membership, salary, years, how often preaching, church societies, and Sunday school membership.]

------ page 53 ------
Table XIX.
Colored Churches, Methodist. [figure desc: A table that continues from the previous page. Table XIX. describes the colored Methodist churches and also includes information on the one Primitive Baptist Church.]

B. SOCIAL CONDITIONS.

The social conditions existing in the several districts of the county are, of course, affected by the distribution of the white and Negro population. In the blackest district of the county there is only one white school, which is not expected to open next year, and all the white churches have died. In this district, as might be expected, are located the strongest Baptist and Methodist colored churches in the county, and two good colored schools. In the white districts the colored churches are weaker, and the schools are not as good as where the Negroes are in the majority. Absentee landlordism and tenancy have had the effect of making the rural districts blacker, and this has not helped social conditions among the whites. There has been a movement to town among the Negroes, but in Clarke County it, has been more marked in the case of the whites. The tenants on absentee-owned farms are usually Negroes, and the movement of the white tenant class to the cotton mills has helped to decrease the white rural population.

The county is sadly deficient in the matter of organized recreation. The only social organization among the whites is a Dramatic Club at Winterville. The custom of going to Athens every Saturday, except in the spring when the farmers are pushed for time, is followed by both races. The trip is a very easy one to make from almost every point in the county. Among the negroes, the favorite forms of recreation, especially during "laying-by time" are "visiting around," fishing and hunting (only in season, according to reports), going to Athens and other towns, attending lodge meetings, school "performances," and baseball games.

The housing conditions among the Negro tenants, and in some cases, among the landowners, are very bad. The Negro tenant house seldom has more than four rooms, and usually two or three. This means that the families are crowded in many cases, two or more persons must occupy one room. Many of the tenant houses, are built without weatherboarding, and very few are painted. The

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[figure desc: Two pictures on one page. The first picture is described as follows: The old style of Negro cabin, built of hewn logs. This type of house is passing out of existence, but many of the "boarded up" tenant houses are little better. The second picture is described as follows: Common type of Negro tenant house.]

------ page 55 ------
yards are often littered up with trash, and the sanitary conditions leave much to be desired. A very pleasing contrast is offered by the homes of the Negro landowners, many of them having well-kept premises. But in spite of the difficulties under which the Negro tenants labor, they are undoubtedly better off than the renting class in town, since they are not crowded together in dirty settlements, but have plenty of space and fresh air to offset the poor housing conditions.Typical home of Negro landowner in Sandy Creek District.

The Negro lodges.

The lodges having the largest membership among the country Negroes in Clarke County are the Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, United Gospel Aid Society, Good Samaritans, Masonic, and the Independent Benevolent Order. The Masonic, Odd Fellows, United Gospel Aid, and the "I. B. 0." are best represented, most of the lodge halls in the county outside of Athens being the property of one of these organizations. The members of the other societies usually belong to a lodge in Athens. The dues paid per month by members depend on the amount of insurance carried, and usually range between 25 and 85 cents. The "sick benefits" paid to members who are thrown out of work on account of sickness is nearly always 3.00 a week, though in a few cases less. Fifty cents a month is

------ page 56 ------
the amount of dues the Negroes generally pay to carry this insurance. The amount paid by the lodge on the death of a member in good standing is $300 in the case of practically all the lodges, but this depends on how long the membership has been carried, and what dues have been paid. The country lodges are not as strong as those in town, for the country Negro is not so confirmed a "joiner" as is the town Negro. The explanation of this is that in the country the longer distance which has to be covered at night in order to attend a meeting furnishes a serious drawback. Then, too, the tenant farmer does not have as much ready money throughout the year as the wage earner in town, and finds it harder to pay his dues.Meeting of the Corn Club at the Model and Training School.

Cooperation [Co&246peration] among Negroes for acquiring land.

In 1900 an educated and intelligent colored woman, Mrs. Judia C. Jackson Harris, wife of a teacher in the Athens City Schools, inaugurated a settlement scheme in Sandy Creek district, which has proved a uniquely successful and significant undertaking. Mrs. Harris entered a neighborhood of negro renters, none of whom owned land or home, and induced a group of them to organize a Mutual Benefit Society for the purchase of land and the development of a healthy rural settlement. The first club contained ten members. They paid in $100 in cash in 1900 and obtained bond for title to a tract of forty acres (later increased to fifty-five acres), the purchase

------ page 57 ------
price being $350 for the forty acres. In 1908, all payments having been made and title having been secured to the land, the tract was divided among the members, each receiving an amount proportionate to the sum he had contributed.

A second club of seven members was organized in 1903 for the purchase of a tract of thirty-two acres at 25 per acre. A third club, formed in 1906 with seven members, purchased sixty-five acres at 23.50 per acre. In both cases the purchase price was paid in accordance with the terms agreed upon and a satisfactory division of the property made. Two other clubs have since been organized. The total amount of land acquired to date is 440 acres, the total amount paid out is $3,330.

A group of landowning farmers has thus been created. The story, however, does not end here. Mrs. Harris succeeded in enlisting outside aid and has erected the school already described as the Rural Model and Training School, by far the best rural school in the county. A model cottage was also built as a residence for the originator of the plan. The school and home form the nucleus of the community, which has been named "Settlement." Fifteen of the new landowners have erected neat homes. The school is well supported by the community and now has an enrollment of 244 in nine grades. In addition to the regular studies, work is given in domestic science and elementary agricultural science.

The homeowners of Settlement are adapting themselves readily to advanced ideas of cooperation [co&246peration] in other ways than the buying of land. They own a cooperative [co&246perative] saw mill, a cotton gin and a threshing machine. Both men and boys have been organized into Corn Clubs to encourage the development of this important crop, so generally neglected by Negroes.

It would be difficult to overestimate the value of this experiment in cooperation [co&246peration]. It serves as an inspiration to the county and state. The general condition of affairs in the community is a powerful commentary on the social value of changing shiftless renters to responsible landowners.
Notes

1. Home and Farmstead, Athens, Ga., Vol. XII, No. 33, p. 3.
Appendix 1

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APPENDIX A.

Table No. 1. Value of Farms and Farm Property, Clarke County, 1910.
Land $2,444,057
Land in 1900 627,450
Buildings 713,245
Buildings in 1900 271,240
Implements and machinery 129,595
Implements and machinery in 1900 48,460
Domestic animals, poultry, etc. 358,116
Domestic animals , poultry, etc. 1900 110,142
Percent [Per cent.] of Value of all Property in:
Land 67.1
Buildings 19.6
Implements and machinery 3.6
Domestic animals, Poultry, etc 9.7
Average Values (Number of all farms, 1,382):
All property per farm 2,637
Land and buildings per farm 2,285
Land per acre 36.40
Land per acre in 1900 10.23
Table No. 2 Size of Farms
Percent [Per cent.] of all Percent [Per cent.] of all
Size of Farms farms operated by farms operated by
White Farmers Colored Farmers
19 acres or less 26.7 26.6
20 -- 49 acres 34.4 49.2
50 -- 99 acres 20.3 17.3
100 -- 174 11.1 17.3
175 -- 259 acres 4.2 1.1
260 -- 499 2.0 .2
500 -- 999 1.4 .0
Table No. 3. Tenure of Farms.
Percent [Per Cent.] of All Farms
Operated by
White Colored
Owners 37.6 14.1
Part owners 7.2 7.7
Renters 22.8 37.1
Share tenants 32.4 41.1
Table No. 4. Value of Live Stock on the Farms.
Cattle:
Total Number 2,479
Dairy cows 1,516 [1.516]
Other cows 224
Other cattle 1,479
Value $56,114
Horses 707
Value $94,325
Mules 1,155
Value $181,035
Swine 2,177
Value $15,915
Sheep 112

------ page 59 ------
Value $484
Number of poultry of all kinds 18,137
Value $9,028
Number of colonies of bees 348
Value $674
Table No. 5. Yield and Acreage of Principal Crops.
Acres Yield
Corn 9,172 105,100 bushels
Oats 1,930 34,404 "
Wheat 687 6,106 "
Rye 20 222 "
Potatoes 204 19,277 "
Hay and forage 3,202 3,698 tons
Cotton 23,207 9,346 bales
Dry peas 541 1,897 bushels
Sorghum cane 56 296 tons
Table No. 6. Farm Expenses
Labor -- Farms reporting 564
Cash expended $59,256
Rent and board furnished 25,257
Feed -- Farms reporting 416
Amount expended $29,243
Fertilizer -- Farms reporting 1,129
Amount expended $78,855

APPENDIX B.

Some answers to the question, "Opinion as to relative merits of wage system, cropping, and renting, from the standpoints of the landlord, laborer, and care of land." These answers include all the reasons given for preferring one system to the others.

1. From the landlord's standpoint, the wage system is superior to the other two, because it gives him better control of his hands, and enables him to keep up his land. We have to depend on croppers, though, because we cannot get enough wage hands. Cropping is the best system for the tenant, because it gives him the benefit of the landlord's expert knowledge of farming. Land can be kept up best under the wage system, and suffers most under the renting system.
2. I believe that cropping is the best system for the landlord, because under that system his hands have an interest in the crop that wage hands do not have, and hence do better work. As far as the tenant is concerned, I don't see much difference in working on halves and working for wages, except when the tenant has a family. Then, of course, he can make more at cropping, because of the help furnished by his family. The wage system keeps up the land best.
3. From every standpoint I think the cropping system is superior to the other two. The farm owner has laborers who are interested in the crop, and are not trying to kill time. It certainly is best

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for the tenant, if he has any family to help him, because he makes so much more at it. One of my croppers, who has considerable help, cleared 700 last year. I can keep my land up as well with "halvers" as I can with wage hands.
4. The wage system is the best one for the landowner. Croppers cost him more than wage hands do. And at busy seasons the owner can hire the laborer's wife and children as extra hands. The laborer certainly makes more out of cropping. It takes wage hands to keep land up.
5. I believe cropping is best for the landlord, the tenant, and the land. A tenant working on halves knows that the better the crop, the more he will get out of it, and therefore he does better work than a wage hand, and does not require such close supervision. The tenant makes better crops under this system than he does as a renter. I can tend my land as well with croppers as with wage hands.
6. The landlord can make more out of the half share system, provided he can get families who will work. Unless a laborer has a family large enough to be of real help to him in the field, he will do better to work for wages. Land can be built up faster and cared for better with wage hands than with croppers. The cropper is interested in the crop, but not in keeping your land up.
7. From the landlord's standpoint, the cropping system is best if he stays on his farm, or is in a position to supervise his tenants properly. But the tenant can make more at renting provided he is a fairly good manager, and knows something about farming. Under the half share system, the better crop he makes, the more rent he has to pay, while as a renter he clears everything over the specified rent and his expenses. I prefer wage hands from the standpoint of taking care of land.
8. The wage hand system is better for the owner and his land. The tenant, of course, makes more out of cropping. I would let my land lie fallow before I would rent it. The rent paid hardly equals the damage done the land. All my croppers work on halves, and they did well last year. None failed to pay up and have some-thing besides.
9. If I could get the wage hands I would not have a cropper on my land. The landowner can make more money and take better care of his land with hired hands. Cropping is best from the laborer's standpoint.
10. I prefer to work my land with wage hands, but enough of them cannot be secured, and I think share tenants are preferable to renters. It depends largely on the tenant whether he will make more as a renter, share hand or wage hand. One reason I would rather have wage hands if I could get them is because the land can be improved faster under this system.

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11. I would do all my farming with wage hands if I could get them. The tenant working on halves does better than the wage hand or renter, as a rule. Wage hands and croppers are about equal when it comes to taking care of land.
12. From the landlord's standpoint, I think the best plan is to rent land to white men, or else work it with negro croppers or wage hands. The white tenant does best as a renter, and the Negro laborer as a wage hand, except when he has a family large enough to help him. I can take care of my land better with croppers than with wage hands.
13. From every standpoint I think cropping is better than renting or working land with wage hands. It is the most desirable system, since it makes more money for the landlord, and gives the tenant a better chance.
14. If your land is in good condition, and does not built up, the cropping system is best for the landlord has considerable help, the laborer can do better as a than as a cropper or renter. For improving land the system is certainly the best.
15. The landowner makes more money with wage hands, and keeps his land in better condition with wage hands, but the laborer makes more out of cropping.
16. I have not been able to keep my land up with croppers, and this year I have only wage hands. The landowner has to put up too much against the Negro's labor under the halves plan. The tenants make more out of cropping than they do out of renting. I prefer the wage hand system to either.
17. Working croppers is more profitable to the landlord if he is raising mostly cotton, but if he is raising other crops and practicing rotation, he makes more money with wage hands. If the laborer has children old enough to help him in his crop, he does better as a cropper than as a wage hand. From the standpoint of the care of land, wage hands are better than croppers or renters.
18. I work my farm altogether with wage hands, because it is more profitable than cropping or renting, and because the land can be tended best under the wage hand system. The laborers do better as wage hands than they do as croppers.
19. I consider the wage hand system better than cropping or renting from every standpoint.
20. From the standpoints of the landlord and the care of land, the wage system is best. From the tenant or laborer's standpoint, cropping is the best, because the tenant makes more out of this system of tenancy.
21. The wage system is more profitable to the landlord. The tenant, of course, makes more money by working on halves. The cropping system is unfair to the landlord. He has to put up too

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much against the Negro's labor. The landlord, therefore, carries the risk. Working wage hands certainly beats cropping, as far as keeping up land is concerned.
22. I prefer the wage system, and think it superior to the others from every standpoint. It is the most businesslike way to farm.
23. Cropping is more profitable to the landlord and the laborer. I have been able to take as good care of my land with croppers as with wage hands.
24. From the landlord's standpoint, I don't see much to choose between cropping and working wage hands, because the land can be kept up under both systems, and both are profitable to the landlord. Both of these systems are certainly to be preferred to renting. The laborer makes more money out of cropping than he does by working for wages.
25. From the landlord's standpoint, I think renting is best. Under this system the landlord knows what he is going to get for his land, and is not bothered with looking after his tenants. And the tenants seem to do better as renters. They certainly prefer renting to working for wages or on halves. From the standpoint of the care of land, cropping is the best system.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Brooks, R. P., A Local Study of the Race Problem. New York: Political Science Quarterly, June, 1911.

The Agrarian Revolution in Georgia, 1865-1912. [..] University of Wisconsin Bulletin No. 639.

Hart, J. K., Educational Resources of Village and Rural Communities. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1913.

Monahan, A. C., and others. An Educational Survey of a Suburban and Rural County. (Montgomery County, Md.) Washington: Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Education, No. 32, 1913.

Murphy, E. G., The Basis of Ascendancy. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1909.

The Present South. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1904.

Presbyterian Department of Church and Country Life, Wilson, W. H., Director. A Rural Survey in Missouri. (No date). Ohio Rural Life Survey. "Church Growth and Decline in Ohio." (No date). New York Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S.

Smith, G. G., Story of Georgia and the Georgia People. Atlanta: Franklin Printing and Publishing Co., 1900.

Stevens, O. B., Georgia Historical and Industrial. Atlanta: Franklin Printing and Publishing Co., 1901.

Strahan, C. M., Athens and Clarke County. Atlanta: Charles P. Byrd, 1893.

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Taft, Anna B., Community Study for Country Districts. New York: The Presbyterian Department for Missionary Education, 1912.

Weatherford, W. D., Negro Life in the South. Nashville, 1911.

Present Forces in Negro Progress. Nashville, 1912.

Woofter, T. J., Jr., The Negroes of Athens, Georgia. Athens: Bulletin of the University of Georgia, Volume XIV, Number 4, 1913. (Phelps-Stokes Fellowship Studies, No. 1.)