n, even in advance, for it had a
certain and sure ready sale. Thus developed the crop-lien system which
in essence consists in taking a mortgage on crops yet to be raised. The
system existed among the white planters for many years before the war.

A certain amount of food and clothing was advanced to the Negro family
until the crop could be harvested, when the money value of the goods
received was returned with interest. Perhaps nothing which concerns the
Negro has been the subject of more hostile criticism than this crop-lien
system. That it is easily abused when the man on one side is a shrewd
and cunning sharpster and the borrower an illiterate and trusting Negro
is beyond doubt. That in thousands of cases advantage has been taken of
this fact to wrest from the Negro at the end of the year all that he had
is not to be questioned. Certainly a system which makes it possible is
open to criticism. It should not be forgotten, however, that the system
grew out of the needs of the time and served a useful purpose when
honestly administered, even as it does today. No money could be gotten
with land as security, and even today the land owner often sees his
merchant with far less capital get money from the bank which has refused
his security. The system has enabled a poor man without tools and work
animals without food to get a start and be provided with a modicum of
necessities until the crops were harvested. Thousands have become more
or less independent who started in this way. The evil influences of the
system, for none would consider it ideal, have probably been that it has
made unnecessary any saving on the part of the Negro, who feels sure
that he can receive his advances and who cares little for the fact that
some day he must pay a big interest on what he receives. Secondly, this
system has hindered the development of diversified farming, which today
is one of the greatest needs of the South. The advances have been
conditioned upon the planting and cultivating a given amount of cotton.
During recent years no other staple has so fallen in price, and the
result has been hard on the farmers. All else has faded into
insignificance before the necessity of raising cotton. The result on the
fertility of the soil is also evident. Luckily cotton makes light
demands on the land, but the thin soil of many districts has been unable
to stand even the light demands. Guano came just in time and the later
commercial fertilizers have po