remains with the manager of the
company. Advances are in cash (except fertilizers), as no store is
conducted by the company and interest is charged at 8 per cent for the
money advanced and for the time said money is used.

On this place in 1902, H. W., a man aged 68, with wife and three
children, owning a horse, a mule and two cows, did as follows. He and
his son-in-law are buying eighty acres. They made a good showing for the
first year under considerable difficulties and on land by no means rich:

Debits. Credits.
Fertilizer $ 34.88 Cotton $390.32
Whitewashing 3.00
Liming 19.76
Lease contract 180.00
Cash 130.36
Interest 3.12
-------
$371.12
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Balance Jan. 1, 1903 $ 19.20

This leads me to mention the question of land ownership on the part of
the Negroes. This has not been mentioned hitherto for several reasons.
In the first place the data for any detailed knowledge of the subject
are not to be had. Few states make separate record of land owned by the
blacks as distinct from general ownership. The census has to depend upon
the statements of the men themselves, and I have heard tenants solemnly
argue that they owned the land. Again a very considerable proportion of
the land owned is also heavily mortgaged, and these mortgages are not
always for improvements. Nor is it by any means self evident that land
ownership necessarily means a more advanced condition than where land is
rented. Moreover, a considerable proportion of the _farms_ owned are so
small that they do not suffice to support the owners. Conditions vary in
different districts. In Virginia it has been possible to buy a few acres
at a very low price. In parts of Alabama, or wherever the land has been
held in large estates in recent years, it has often been impossible for
the Negro to purchase land in small lots. Thus, though I believe
heartily in land ownership for the blacks and believe that well
conducted land associations will be beneficial, I cannot think that this
alone will solve the questions confronting us. Retrogression is possible
even with land ownership. Other things are necessary. On the basis of
existing data the best article with which I am acquainted on this
subject appeared in the _Southern Workman_ for January, 1903, written by
Dr.