The Booker T. Washington Papers, Vol.3, page 8, Oct. 1889, U. of Illinois Press

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The BOOKER T. WASHINGTON Papers it seems impossible to shake off. Its evils have grown instead of decreasing until it is safe to say that 5/6 of the. colored farmers mortgage their crops every year. Not only their crops before, in many cases they are actually planted, but their wives sign a release from the homestead law and in most every case mules, cows, wagons, plows and often all household furniture is covered by the lien. At a glance one is not likely to get the full force of the figuers representing the amount of interest charged. Example, if a man makes a mortgage with a merchant for Moo on which to ''run'' during the year the farmer is likely to get about $50 of this amount in Feb. or March, $50 May, 50 in June or July and the remainder in Aug or Sept. By the middle of Sept the farmer begins returning the money in cotton and by the last of Oct whatever he can pay the farmer has paid, but the merchant charges as much for the money gotten in TU1Y or Auk. as for that ~ t~ ,., ., . ~ gotten in Feb. The farmer is charged interest on. all for one year of ~c months. And as the ''advance'' is made in most cases in provisions rather than cash, the farmer, in addition to paying the interest mentioned, is charged more for the same goodly than. one buying for cash. If a farmer have 6 in a family say wife and 4 children, the merchant has it in his power to feed only those who work and some times he says to the farmer if he sends his children to school no rations can be drawn for them while they are attending school. After a merchant has ''run'' a farmer for 5 or 6 years and he does not ''pay out'' or decides to try mortgaging with another merchant the first merchant in such cases usually ''cleans up'' the farmer that is takes every thing, mules, cows, plows, chickens fodder- every thing except wife and children.. It is not very often that the merchant furnishing the supplies owns the land. This in most cases is rented from a different party. So you see that the ~ parties, farmer and merchant, who have the most contact with the land, have no interest in it except to get all they can out of it. The result of all this is seen in the ''general run down'' condition of 4/5 of the farms in Alabama houses unpainted fences tumbling down, animals poorly cared for, and the land growing poorer every year. Many of the colored farmers have almost given up hope and do just enough work to secure their ''advances.'' One of the strongest things that can be said in favor of the colored people is, that in almost 8