sections, it is usually one-half.

The ordinary arrangement of share tenancy under which the negro in the
cotton belt now works provides that the landowner shall furnish a cabin in
which the family may live and an acre or two for a garden. In addition,
working stock, implements, and seed are supplied by the owner of the land.
Both tenant and owner share the cost of fertilizers if any are used, and
divide equally the expenses of preparing the crop for market and the
proceeds of the sale. This arrangement means, of course, that the
capitalist takes the laborer into a real partnership. Both embark in a
venture the deferred results of which are dependent chiefly upon the
industry and good faith of the laborer. By a seeming paradox it is only the
laborer's unreliability which gives him such an opportunity, for if he were
more dependable, the landowner would prefer in most cases to pay wages and
take the whole of the crop. Because the average negro laborer cannot be
depended upon to be faithful, he is given a greater opportunity,
contrary to all ordinary moral maxims.

When the share tenant lives on the land he may be a part of two
different systems. There are some large plantations over which the
owners or managers exercise close supervision. The horses or, more
generally, the mules are housed in large common stables or sheds and are
properly looked after. Some attempt is made to see that tools and
implements are kept in order. If the tenant falls behind in his work and
allows his crop to be overrun with grass or is unable to pick the cotton
as it opens, the owner hires help, if possible, and charges the cost
against the tenant. In other words, the owner attempts to apply to
agriculture some of the principles of industrial organization. The success
of such attempts varies. The negro tenant generally resents close
supervision; but on the other hand he enjoys the community life of a large
plantation. In the end, in the majority of cases the personal equation
determines whether the negro stays or moves.

At the other extreme is the landowner who turns over his land to the
negro and hopes for some return. If the tenant is industrious and
ambitious, the landowner gets something and is relieved of the trouble
of supervision. Often, however, he finds at the end of the year that the
mules have deteriorated from being worked through the day and driven or
ridden over the country at night; the tools and implements are broken or
damag