increase of 17 per
cent. In Georgia, in 1870, it was 2,275,137; in 1880,
3,139,101, an increase of 38 per cent. In Alabama it was
1,606,299 in 1870, and in 1880, 2,586,221, an increase of 61
per cent, and in Mississippi, in 1870, it was 1,724,295, and
in 1880, 2,398,334, an increase of 38 per cent. This shows
that with all the disadvantages the South had to contend
with of their stock cattle being destroyed, the natural
advantages of climate and pasturage, to which I attribute
it, existing in the South have enabled them to increase more
rapidly their live stock than any other of the States of the
Union. That shows clearly the advantages which that country
offers for immigration and labor. This is an advantage to
labor. As I stated in my written reply to your submitted
questions, we work but few white laborers in my section of
the country. Why? Because they soon become land-owners with
the opportunities which present themselves to them. The
white men will not be there more than two or three years
before he has bought and paid for his land in almost every
instance.

By the CHAIRMAN:

Q. And he becomes an employer himself?
--A. He becomes an employer himself.

Q. Does he usually locate upon the plantation lands along
the rivers?
--A. No, sir; he cannot buy this land, because the planter
would not divide a large plantation into tracts; he would
not sell off a portion of his land without selling the
whole.

Q. In how large tracts are the plantations held? Just
mention the acreage of some of them that you are acquainted
with.
--A. I would say variously from 500 to 2,500 acres in
cultivation.

Q. How valuable are these plantations per acre?
--A. That is a question which cannot be answered definitely
except in this way: where a planter owns the land, and he is
out of debt, the land is not for sale, because he cannot
invest his money in anything that is so profitable; but
where a planter's property is mortgaged, and the mortgagee
wants to foreclose and will foreclose, and there is not in
that country the money which the planter can borrow to
relieve himself of his indebtedness, he will probably sell
his land at a small excess of his debt in order to save
something. You see there is a want of capital