value of Negro farm property; $88,000,000, Negro-owned homes other than farm homes; and $43,000,000, the value of the Negro business interests; a grand total of $654,904,855 is obtained. Thus it would appear that in 1913 Negroes might have had around $700,000,000 worth of property in their possession.
Naturally the next question that comes to mind is this: How much does the Negro owe?
Scarcely without exception the white man is his creditor, consequently what the Negro owes is to be subtracted from the amount of his possessions.
According to the Census of 1910, something like 65,000 Negro farms and 50,000 Negro-owned homes have mortgages or similar encumbrances against them. It is unlikely that this is true to any large extent except as regards the more valuable Negro properties. If the average farm mortgage is $500 and the average home mortgage $300 both together will amount to $47,500,000. It is reasonable to suppose also that the 43,000 business interests owe at least $15,000,000.
Again, while more than 150,000 Negro farms and about as many more Negro homes were reported by the census as free of encumbrance, nevertheless, it is not unlikely that they owe a large amount of money in notes, bills, etc. Nor need it be forgotten that often Negro tenants owe their
landlords fully as much as the entire value of such tenant’s personal property.[133:10] Many Negroes in one way or another owe about as much as they are worth. This is undoubtedly true of some white men, also, but the point is, what Negroes owe they owe to white men. A well-to-do farmer told the writer a few years ago that he held various kinds of small claims to the amount of more than $4000 against the Negroes of his community. So, $50,000,000 should not be an excessive estimate for such Negro liabilities.
By adding these various items; $47,500,000 in mortgages and liens against Negro farms and homes; $15,000,000 against Negro business interests; and $50,000,000 against Negro farm owners, home owners, tenants, etc., gives a grand total of $112,500,000. Subtracting this from $654,904,855, which was found to be the value of Negro property, leaves $542,404,855 as the value of Negro property when debts are paid.
Again, in regard to the statement above that Negro farm property increased in value from $222,485,096 in 1900 to $523,904,855 in 1910 one may need to be reminded that live stock and land about doubled in money value during this
time and that by 1913 they had more than doubled. This was due mainly to the wonderful increase in the output of gold mines thus making money cheaper. With this depreciation in the value of money the Negro, of course, had nothing to do.
Except for this, it is unlikely that the $222,485,096 the valuation of Negro farm property in 1900 would have increased to more than $265,000,000 in 1910 instead of $523,904,855. For during the time the Negro added but 2,645,535 acres which may be valued at $21,000,000. The remaining $23,000,000 being sufficient to allow for the improvement of the land, if any, and any actual increase of cattle and farm machinery. Now, subtracting $265,000,000 from $523,904,855 leaves $258,904,855 which was due to rise in price rather than to effort on the part of the Negro. Again, subtracting the $258,904,855 from $542,404,855, the value of all Negro property after their debts were paid, leaves $283,500,000 which, except for the circumstances over which the Negro had no influence, would have been the actual wealth of the Negro about 1913, instead of $700,000,000 as claimed.