[n.b. - page numbers refer to printed text. Available at https://archive.org/details/blackmansburden0000will ] CHAPTER XV I have tried to find out what made the colored people so afraid of the white people, but I have not been able to determine the cause, especially as the white people, as a rule, have always acted most kindly toward the colored people, so far as I could see. I am sure, however, that much of their fear was the result of rumors of what were known as White Caps. This was an organization of white people located principally in Lincoln county, a county on the southern border of our own, who were daily, or rather nightly, terrorizing the more respectable Negroes of that county, causing many of them to aban- don the homes they had paid for and leave the county without any compensation for their property or any pro- tection for their lives. Not only were these White Caps operating in Lincoln county, but they occasionally en- gaged in depredations in other counties. A body of such men were seen passing through our own town during this period. What their object was I have never been able to determine, as they passed through quietly and did not molest anybody. It is clear, then, that the Negroes of our locality were not so much afraid of the white people that they came in contact with as they were afraid that some action on their part might inflame the white people and cause them to form a White Cap organization. So far as I could see, then and even since then, this fear of THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 175 the white people in our locality was wholly without foundation. Still, I sympathized with the fear, because I knew of the Lincoln county White Cap organization. Governor Vardaman himself and many other white peo- ple in the state recognized the danger of allowing an or- ganization of lawless men to terrorize the Negro popula- tion, and so took steps to crush out the White Caps, and this they succeeded in doing. If I remember correctly, the Federal authorities also took part in crushing out this organization, and as a result of these efforts many mem- bers of the White Cap bands were arrested and prose- cuted ; some were sent to the penitentiary for long periods and others got off with heavy fines. The result was that we have heard no more of White Capping in any part of Mississippi. On the particular occasion of Dr. Washington’s visit, however, the fears seem to have been caused by vague newspaper rumors of many things that were happening somewhere in the state. In fact, there were one or two papers in the state,—notably, one previously owned by Governor (now United States Senator) Vardaman,— that advised the white people not to attend Dr. Washing- ton’s lecture in the capital city; but the white people paid no attention to the advice and attended the lecture in large numbers, so large, in fact, that the strain upon the Coliseum in which he spoke proved too great and the gal- lery that contained the greater number of the leading white people came down with a crash just after Dr. Washington had finished his talk. Several people were injured, one man having several bones broken. Among the most prominent of those injured was the late Bishop 176 THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN Charles B. Galloway, a friend of Dr. Washington and his race, and indeed a friend of everybody. One of our methods that has done a great deal of good has been to publish in our little paper, the Utica News, a monthly letter to the farmers,—a letter in which we try to keep them abreast of the times and to help them in various ways. The following letter, which was written at a time when the Mexican boll-weevil seemed destined to destroy the cotton crops of the South, will serve to give an idea of how we sought to help the farmers during these difficult times: “This is the time of year when every farmer who expects to succeed must begin to move and make every hour count. In some sections farmers seem to be dazed on account of the appearance of the dreaded boll-weevil. This is unnecessary. There is no need to pull up stock and branch and go to other sections, for it seems certain that the boll-weevil will continue until the entire cotton section has been visited. The sensible man will stand his ground and make the best of the situation. It has been conclusively proven by experiments made by the Agricultural Department at Washington that cotton can be raised in spite of the boll-weevil. There are some regulations, however, that must be observed. “In the first place, the land on which you expect to plant cotton must be thoroughly prepared and the cotton must be planted two or three weeks earlier than you have been accustomed to plant, and nothing but the best and earliest varieties should be planted. Then the crop must be worked at shorter intervals than you have been accus- tomed to work it,—that is, it must be pushed rapidly up THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 177 to maturity. Meantime, you must not depend upon your cotton crop entirely. Plant plenty of corn, make not only what you need for your own use, but have some for sale. Have all the vegetables and potatoes that you can use. Have some hogs, some chickens, in other words, live at home. The man who lives at home does not care much about boll-weevils. “You will find it greatly to your advantage in making this crop to chop down all your hedges, chop around the ends of the rows, burn up the brush, dig up and burn the stumps and give the cotton a fair chance. The main point is, however, that you must begin to work now, not wait several days later. If the boll-weevil scare succeeds in making you do what you should have been doing all the time, it will be a blessing in disguise. “One thing we must all remember, in connection with this year, and that is that we cannot hope to go to the merchants and buy things on credit, as we have been doing. We should buy those things, and those things only, that we are compelled to have. Fewer clothes should be worn; one or two pairs of shoes less; the extra Sunday hats and fancy calicoes should be left off. Let us buy only those things that are absolutely necessary for this year. If you will follow these suggestions, I believe you will have nothing to regret at the end of this year. “WILLIAM H. Hoitzciaw.” In order to understand the significance of such a letter as this, one must know something about the boll-weevil pest. This little insect, which made its way over from Mexico into the United States by way of Texas, almost paralyzes the cotton industry wherever it goes. Nothing 178 THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN has happened to the South since the Civil War that has so affected the people economically as this insect has done. In its ravages, it may be compared with the gypsy moth of New England, except that it exists largely upon the fruit of the cotton stalk, and unless the cotton pro- ducer follows those improved methods of cultivation that have been worked out by experts of the United States government and other agencies, the chances are that he will produce no cotton at all. Ever since the Civil War the Negroes of the Mississippi cotton belt have produced one crop annually, and that was cotton. There has been very little diversification. Up to the time the boll-weevil made its appearance they not only did not know how to produce any other crops besides cotton, but the majority of them cared little or nothing about other crops. After the coming of the boll-weevil the man who formerly pro- duced thirty bales of cotton found that he could produce only five or six, on the same land. The white planters who owned large tracts of land, on which cotton had been planted for thirty years, found that these lands now planted in the old way would in many cases hardly pro- duce sufficient cotton to pay the rent. Hence, they were unable to borrow money under such conditions from the local banks to “furnish” the Negroes and keep them try- ing to make cotton. In a majority of cases, as soon as the Negro could not get “furnished,” he lost confidence in his landlord, and in his heart at least began to class him with what is usually called ‘po’ white trash” ; and as soon as an agent from some more favored section of the country (I mean a section where the boll-weevil had not gone) came seeking labor the Negroes were ready to THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 179 join him and run from the boll-weevil, not realizing seem- ingly that the pest was gradually making its way to all the sections where cotton grew. I have seen as many as a hundred wagons, each loaded with a separate family, passing through our locality from somewhere south of us, going northward to escape the depredations of the boll-weevil. Such people only needed to be taught to stand firm and work out their own salvation. In the vicinity of this institution few people have gone away to escape the weevil. They have remained here, planted their crops, and worked under the direction of the school; and as a result they are gradually learning how to pro- duce cotton in spite of the boll-weevil. After five years of fighting this pest, we are about to conquer, the results being that, whereas we produced about one-tenth of a crop when the boll-weevil made its first appearance, at the present time this locality is producing fully two- thirds of the normal crop. Meantime, our farmers’ conferences were still doing their work annually. At these conferences I always de- livered an address to the farmers assembled, which, with the resolutions, was published not only in our own paper, but also in many daily papers throughout the state of Mississippi. The following extracts, which were taken from the Jackson Daily News, will give some idea of how I sought to help the farmers: “February 12.—The Mississippi Negro Farmers’ Con- ference met in the main auditorium of the Utica Normal and Industrial Institute to-day at ten o’clock A. M. After preliminary exercises Prof. William H. Holtzclaw, 180 THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN president of the conference, addressed the audience. The following remarks from his address were heartily re- ceived : ““Ladies and Gentlemen: We have come together in this our sixth annual conference further to consider ways and means to better the condition of the Negro farmers of this state, and to hear, from your own lips, of the progress you have made since last we met. Constituting as we do so nearly two-thirds of the population of the state of Mississippi, our conduct is bound to have a tre- mendous bearing upon the character of this common- wealth. “In this connection, I want to call your attention to the amount of crime set down to the credit of the Negroes of this state. I have recently seen a statement to the effect that 1,400 Negroes out of a million were in the chain gangs of this state during the past year. Now I think you will agree with me that, even after allowing ample latitude for too ready apprehension and conviction and all unfairness that may enter trials, the amount of criminality is entirely too great. We must do something to change these conditions. I feel that if we set our faces sufficiently hard against crime it will grow con- tinually less. We must show the criminal that there is no place in our society for him, that we will tolerate him under no circumstances. We are all eager to see the day when lynchings will be as negligible a quantity in Missis- sippi as in Massachusetts. “‘*We can help to bring about this condition by our absolute refusal to tolerate crime in any sense among us. There is not a state in the Union, in my opinion, that offers greater advantages to its Negro population than Mississippi. There is plenty of land for sale all over the THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 181 state at reasonable prices. Here is a great opportunity for us to plant ourselves firmly in the soil and make use- ful citizens. Let us strain ourselves to more than fulfill the duties of citizenship. “*To complain of obstacles is one thing and to sur- mount them is another. Our salvation here in the South is very largely a matter of Christian intelligence, thrift, industry, and morality. We must possess these or we must ultimately fail. ““T realize that we have many things to hinder us, but nothing has yet arisen to prevent us from being truthful, honest, upright, energetic, and moral men. Nothing has so far arisen to prevent our acquiring homes and develop- ing them in the highest sense. I feel, therefore, that just so long as these things are, not prevented, nothing can stay our progress, if, indeed, there be any that wish to accomplish this ignoble end.’ ”