a nullity;
but if he could read that contract himself and sign his own
name to it, it would be a very different thing. I never
allow a negro to sign a written contract with me before he
has taken it home with him and had some friend to read it
over and consult with him about it, because I want some
obligation attached to my contracts.

Q. It is necessary for you as well as the negro?
--A. Necessary for my protection as well as his.

Q. How many of the negroes on the plantations can
comprehend a written contract by reading it, because a man
may be somewhat educated and not be able to decipher a
contract?
--A. I cannot give you an exact proportion, for it varies to
a great extent. I can only say that that number is
increasing rapidly.

Q. From what circumstances comes this increase?
--A. From their desire to gain knowledge.

Q. Do you find that desire strong among the colored people?
--A. Very strong indeed; and there are two ideas which a
negro possesses that give me great hopes for his future. If
I did not believe the negro was capable of sufficient
development to make him a responsible small farmer, I should
not want to remain in the business that I am any longer,
because I believe that the development of my business is
necessarily based upon the development of the negro and the
cultivation of my lands. The negro possesses two remarkable
qualifications: one is that he is imitative, and the other
is that he has got pride; he wants to dress well; he wants
to do as well as anybody else does when you get him aroused,
and with these two qualifications I have very great hopes
for him in the future.

Q. What do you think of his intellectual and moral
qualities and his capacity for development?
--A. There are individual instances I know of where negroes
have received and taken a good education. As a class, it
would probably be several generations, at any rate, before
they would be able to compete with the Caucasian. I believe
that the negro is capable of receiving an ordinary English
education, and there are instances where they enter
professions and become good lawyers. For instance, I know in
the town of Greenville, Miss., right across the river from
me, a negro attorney, who is a very intelligent man, and I