had brought to help her two young Negroes whom he suspected. Colonel Cresswell had prevented the Tolliver land sale, only to be inveigled himself into Zora’s scheme which now began to worry him. He must evict Zora’s tenants as soon as the crops were planted and harvested. There was nothing unjust about such a course, he argued, for Negroes anyway were too lazy and shiftless to buy the land. They would not, they could not, work without driving. All this he imparted to John Taylor, to which that gentleman listened carefully.
“H’m, I see,” he owned. “And I know the way out.”
“How?”
“A cotton mill in Toomsville.”
“What’s that got to do with it?”
“Bring in whites.”
“But I don’t want poor white trash; I’d sooner have niggers.”
‚ÄúNow, see here,‚Äù argued Taylor, ‚Äúyou can‚Äôt have everything you want‚ÅÝ‚Äîday‚Äôs gone by for aristocracy of old kind. You must have neighbors: choose, then, white or black. I say white.‚Äù
‚ÄúBut they‚Äôll rule us‚ÅÝ‚Äîoutvote us‚ÅÝ‚Äîmarry our daughters,‚Äù warmly objected the Colonel.
‚ÄúSome of them may‚ÅÝ‚Äîmost of them won‚Äôt. A few of them with brains will help us rule the rest with money. We‚Äôll plant cotton mills beside the cotton fields, use whites to keep niggers in their place, and the fear of niggers to keep the poorer whites in theirs.‚Äù
The Colonel looked thoughtful.