a negro laborer. There is no
prejudice against his doing so either on the part of the
farmer hiring him or the negro hired.

Q. He may hire some white and other colored laborers, I
suppose?
--A. Yes, sir.

Q. Do they work together?
--A. Yes, sir.

Q. How in regard to the value of the hill lands you have
spoken of in the State of Arkansas; as compared with the
alluvial, what is the difference in value?
--A. It is very great. There are farms in Arkansas that can
be bought, partially cleared up, and with some improvements
upon them, for from $5 to $20 an acre, less than the rent of
fair lands on the river. There is no finer section of
country in the world--I say that unhesitatingly--for a
foreign immigrant, or the immigrant from the East, or from
anywhere, than is afforded to-day in Arkansas and Texas.

Q. And political disturbances are at an end?
--A. We apprehend nothing at all; there is no reason why we
should.

Q. You were speaking of the necessity of the education of
the laborer of the South, the negro especially. Will you not
describe to us the actual condition of the masses of the
colored people in the matter of education, to what extent it
has progressed, and what facilities and opportunities exist,
and what additional are required?
--A. It varies in different sections. For instance, Georgia,
and Tennessee are probably ahead of any of the Southern
States in point of educating the colored people; they have
more facilities; they have negro primary schools and
colleges where a man is educated. The education that I was
speaking of, more particularly for the negro, is a plain
English education, sufficient to enable him to read and
write.

Q. What we call up North a common school education?
--A. A common school education. I will illustrate that.
Suppose a negro comes to me to make a contract that I have
written for him, and he cannot read or write. I offer that
contract to him, and I read it to him. He touches a pen and
signs his mark to it; there is no obligation attached at
all. He says at once, "That man is an educated man; he has
the advantage of me; he shows me that contract; I do not
know what is in it; I cannot even read it." Therefore a
contract made with a negro in that way is almost