The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, November 06, 1919, Image 8
Negro Farmer Becomes Capitalist
An interesting editorial headed
"The capitalistic class" in the Columbia
State a few days ago reads:
In this year of grace, 1919, a negro
tenant of J. N. Kirven, president of
the state fair association, beginning
the year with nothing supported by
advances from his landlord, has purchased
a wagon and team of mules,
paid all his debts, has corn and provender
for the coining year and will
have, when his cotton shall.be sold,
53,000 in cash. This man and his
family, with the assistance of a pair
of mules provided by Mr.Kirven. pro
duced, in Darlington county, 40 bales
of cotton, ten of them being long
staple, and so much cotton with the
seed at current prices is worth about
$10,000.
So this pvopertyless tenant of last
March is, at the end of the year, a
capitalist?and would no more relish
the notion of being robbed of his
gains by communists or I. W. \V. or
Bolsheviki than would Mr. Rockefeller.
The misfortune of the "Reds" is
that some people will work and will
save, thus recruiting every year the
ranks of the capitalists. It is practically
impossible to convince a man,
black or white, if he has a pair of
$400 mules, a brand new wagon and
$3,000, that communism is lovely and
that all capatilists should be hanged.
The sole hope of the communists to
convert this fellow is based on the
chance of his becoming lazy and
spending his savings of the year 1919,
or of showing bad judgment in the
investment of them, in either of
which events he would cease to be a
capitalist, becoming again a "prole
tarian."
This negro tenant of Mr Kirven
should not. however, be praised indiscrimately?it
may be that he lias not
been guiltless of offense. One strongly
suspects that throughout this year
he has done nothing to raise the
"American standard of living". Likely
enough he and his family have
consumed fatbacks and com bread,
have seldom if ever had grapefruit
for breakfast, have worn no silk
shirts, have been without the keen
enjoyment of a Ford machine and
have not spared the time, though they
may have had the money, to see the
cheapest kind of motion picture. Nor
do we imagine that they observed the
eight hour day; doubtless many a day
they toiled twelve or fourteen hours?
though it is quite possible that they
had many more holidays than other
working peopk. The working hours
in a day are long on a farm, but the
working hours :n a year are possibly
not so nany as they are in a bank
or a mill. Anyway, we suppose that
most workingmen or business men
whose wages or salaries are $2,500 a
year and who have no property would
almost as lief spend a year in jail as
to woik and live as this colored tenant
on Mr. Kin-en's plantation in
Darlington did?this man who has,
after paying his living expenses,
$3,000 in cash and mules and wagons
worth $1,000 besides.
Nevertheless, the unhappy truth remains
that most, men who have gotten.
ahead of the world, who have become
capitalists, have at one time or
other toiled as steadily and painfully
and lived as humbly as the Darlington
negro in this year of 36 cents cotton.
In the United States, where land
is abundant, whorg population is not
crowded (except in districts where it
need not be), where opportunities are
countless in number and variety, being
a capitalist or a proletarian is
for the most part a matter of choice.
The American who chooses to work
diligently, whose mind is not so much
on the "American standard of Iking"
and getting "a living wage" as upon
getting and stajing "ahead of the
game" cannot be stoped?unless he
suffers some calamity or other. The
rules of the game are very simple?
Carnegie played by them when he
was a telegraph messenger, Rocke4
feller when he was a clerk in a store,
Jim Hill when he was a railroad
bi-akeman and the negro tenant on
Mr Kirven's place in Darlington. To
be sure, a number of men are exempt
from them for a time?the men
who inherit propeity?but most of the
families of this class in the course
of a generation or two lose or spend
their property an 1 have to face the
world as the poorest faces it.
Whether a man shall be a capitalist
or a proletarian is mostly a matter
of choice. Of course, the decision
must be made in nearly cases
early in life.
It will seem a bitter saying to nianj|
people and yet it is true?there are
but two excuses for poverty in the
United States. They are physical or
mental infimity and ignorance. Ignorance
is of the two the commoner explanation
of misfortune and failure.
Tens of thousands of men in South
Carolina have in the last three years
earned enough to establish themselves
and their families in homes of their
own, to get a start as small capitalists.
but they have not known what to
do with their money, and so they have
i
1 bought silk shirts and twelve dollar I
shoes and found High Cost of Living
a faithful friend when in need of de-!
fence.
Where is the able-bodied man who
couldn't cio what Mr. Kirven's tenant
has done if he would but go and do
it?
Had this negro any distinguished
talents that made hint superior?that
lifted him in a single year into the
capitalistic class?
o
\i.?m hi?r ??f (irntdv Ex tied it ion Dies
Charlottesville, Va., Nov. 2.?William
Dixon Weaver, electrical engineer,
and memebr of the Greeley relief
expedition, died suddenly today
at his home here. He was born at
Greensburg, Pa., in 1857, was a
graduate of the Naval Academy and
served a number of years as editor of
Electrical World.
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o
A Heart-To-Heart Talk
Olanta, S. C.
Mr. Editor:
By your generous courtesy I wish
to have a heart-to-heart; talk with
my Methodist brethren and sisters of
the laity among your readers.
The education of my children ap,
peals strongly to me. I fully share
the worthy sentiment of the Rev.
James T. Kilgo, of blessed memory,
who proclaimed the fact that he could
not willingly throw his children upon ;
society uneducated, and sooner would
eat com bread and wear patched
clothing the rest of his life.
As a superannuate member of the
South Carolina Conference, with
eight children ranging from four to
twenty years of age, the three eldest
of whom are daughters, I much desire
a residence in some locality where
there is a college for women.
If only some large-hearted man or
woman, or a group of such, might
donate the use of a house for several
years (or lease it at low rental), we
would be grateful indeed for such
considerate kindness.
To make sure of securing one,
however, I hereby request that friends
reading this, who can do so without
diminishing their offerings elsewhere,
shall write me quite soon a letter or
postal card, saying: "Brother Betts.
you may each year call on me for
,$ toward paying the rent of a
home in any college town, till I give
you notice to the contrary." Any
sum from a dollar up promised this
way to assist us will be much appreciated.
The discipline allows us to reside
anywhere. ,
Respectfully,
W. A. Betts. '
o
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