" On this low plane half the black
population of Dougherty County--perhaps more than half the
black millions of this land--are to-day struggling.
A degree above these we may place those laborers who
receive money wages for their work. Some receive a house
with perhaps a garden-spot; then supplies of food and cloth-
ing are advanced, and certain fixed wages are given at the
end of the year, varying from thirty to sixty dollars, out of
which the supplies must be paid for, with interest. About
eighteen per cent of the population belong to this class of
semi-metayers, while twenty-two per cent are laborers paid
by the month or year, and are either "furnished" by their
own savings or perhaps more usually by some merchant who
takes his chances of payment. Such laborers receive from
thirty-five to fifty cents a day during the working season.
They are usually young unmarried persons, some being women;
and when they marry they sink to the class of metayers, or,
more seldom, become renters.
The renters for fixed money rentals are the first of the
emerging classes, and form five per cent of the families. The
sole advantage of this small class is their freedom to choose
their crops, and the increased responsibility which comes
through having money transactions.
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