A large majority of the houses, 59, are reported as frame buildings, and 16 are of logs. Seven are not reported. Quite a number of houses are new; some are mere hovels or are so old as to seem hardly weatherproof. In the better ones the rooms are of fair size, are fairly well furnished, and are heated by stoves. Wood is the fuel used. Almost all the houses have gardens attached; many have also outbuildings of various kinds connected with them. A number of the houses are overcrowded. Three houses of one room have families of 6 members living in them. Of 41 families living in houses of 2 rooms, 3 families have 5 members; 2 have 6; 4 have 7; 4 have 8; 3 have 9, and 1 has 11. Of the 82 families living in these houses, 13, or 15.9 per cent, occupy one-room houses; 41, or 50 per cent, occupy two-room houses; 9, or 10.9 per cent, occupy three-room houses; 7, or 8.5 per cent, occupy four-room houses; 3, or 3.7 per cent, occupy five-room houses; 2, or 2.5 per cent, occupy six-room houses; and 7, or 8.5 per cent, are not reported. Not including the rooms of 7 families not reported, we have 177 rooms for 75 dwellings, or 2.36 rooms to a family and 2.05 persons to a room.

Of these 82 families, 43, or 52 per cent, own their own homes; 34, or 42 per cent, rent the houses they occupy, and the tenure of 5 families, or 6 per cent, is not reported. If we add to the owners the 6 families already mentioned as now buying land, we have 60 per cent owning their own homes, 34 per cent renting, and 6 per cent not reported.

The following table shows the number of families owning or renting their homes:

FAMILIES OWNING AND RENTING HOMES, BY NUMBER OF ROOMS TO A D VELLING‘ LITWALTON,

The Whealton families do not own their homes.

The following table gives the rents paid by the Litwalton families:

RENTS PAID BY FAMILIES, BY NUMBER OF ROOMS TO A DWELLING, LITWALTON,

The workers at Whealton live in the houses of their employers, and the families pay an average rent of $2 per month. An estimate of the rents, taking into consideration the different terms during which the buildings are occupied, shows an annual rental of about $1,350.

The following table, showing the number of Litwalton families, by size of family and annual income, is an attempt to get at the facts, sid is reasonably successful. It is quite certain that some of the Litwaiton oystermen reported incomes below their actual customary receipts, in the opinion, at least, of some of their neighbors who were in a pition to judge quite accurately. It is likely, therefore, that the rep it is below the correct statement of money taken in.

On the other hand, the inveterate habit of idling after earning a little money may make the estimate nearer the truth than would be supposed. The Whealton table is inserted also for the sake of comparison.

The tables following give the number of families, by size of family and annual income, for Litwalton and Whealton:

NUMBER OF FAMILIES, BY SIZE OF FAMILY AND ANNUAL INCOME, LITWALTON.

NUMBER OF FAMILIES, BY SIZE OF FAMILY AND ANNUAL INCOME, WHEALTON.

The 3 Whealton families earning over $1,000 are economic families, each consisting of 6 young unmarried men. The Whealton table is made up for the shuckers, whose total annual earnings are estimated at about $26,000. If the 105 day laborers be included, and each considered an economic family of 1 person, they would give us 15 more families earning about $50 each, an increase of $750 to be added to the total; 35 more families earning about $135, or an increase of $4,725; 5 families earning about $160 each, or an increase of $800; and 50 more families earning about $260, or an increase of $13,000; a total increase. of $19,275, bringing the total earnings up to about $45,275 for the Whealton Negroes.

Four-fifths of the Litwalton earnings, it must be remembered, are gained during the 8 months of the oyster season, and the entire Whealton earnings are gained in the average time of about 7 months.

In

In Farmville, out of 262 families, 226 made from $100 to $750 in 12 months; in Sandy Spring, of 165 families, 155 earned from $100 to $750 in 12 months; in Litwalton, of 82 families, 65 earned from $100 to $760 in a little over 8 months; in Whealton, of 77 families, 71 earned from $100 to $1,260 in 7 months. A comparison of the percentages for classes of earnings is of equal interest: In Farmville, 10.7 per cent of the families earned less than $100; in Sandy Spring, 5.5 per cent; in Litwalton, 15.6 per cent; in Whealton, 7.8 per cent. Farmville, 34.8 per cent earned between $100 and $250; in Sandy Spring, 61 per cent; in Litwalton, 62.3 per cent; in Whealton, 36.4 per cent. In Farmville, 52.2 per cent made over $250; in Sandy Spring, 33.5 per cent; in Litwalton, 22.1 per cent; in Whealton, 55.8 per cent. If the 105 day laborers are included, the percentages for Whealton are not changed very materially, as follows: Earning less than $100, 11.5 per cent; earning between $100 and $250, 37.4 per cent; earning over $250, 51.1 per cent.

In Farmville and Whealton more than half the families earned more than $250; in Sandy Spring two-thirds and in Litwalton nearly four-fifths of the families earned less than $250. In Farmville and Wheaton the labor of the Negroes is controlled and directed by employers. In Sandy Spring the largest body of male laborers and heads of families, the farm hands, is directed and largely controlled; but in Litwalton the most important body of laborers and heads of families, the oyster tongers, are subject to no control. In Sandy Spring about one-third of the families made over $250 a year; in Litwalton, a little over one-fifth. And yet the opinion prevails among the oyster people that the oyster tonger can make more money than the oyster shucker; that is, that the Litwalton oystermen ought to show a larger average income per family than the Whealton shucker.

As in the case of Sandy Spring, we must remember that the lands, gardens, fowls, cows, and so on, of the Litwalton oysterman play an 351-No. 37-01-10

important part in providing his family with food. Doubtless, also, oysters and fish provided by himself constitute an important item.

The table of prices of commodities for Sandy Spring and Farmville is reported as in the main correct for Litwalton at the time the investigation was made.

Sugar and lard are both higher now than reported in the table, as they are throughout the country. Butter costs in Litwalton as much as 25 cents the year round. Corn meal is much higher in Litwaltonfrom 15 to 20 cents per peck. Wood is much cheaper-from $1 to $1.50 per cord. Coal is not used in Litwalton.

PRICES OF COMMODITIES IN LITWALTON, IN SANDY SPRING, AND IN FARMVILLE.

The attempt to tabulate family budgets for Litwalton, as was done for Farmville and Sandy Spring, seems too inconclusive to be undertaken. Two elements enter to such an extent as to make any real approximation very difficult. The amount of food obtained from the gardens, little farms, and poultry of the large percentage (about 60) of property owners is one element; and the amount of food taken from the water in the shape of oysters, fish, and crabs, is the other. It is not practicable to estimate either satisfactorily. It may be said in general that, as of the Litwalton families 77.9 per cent earn not more than $250 (15.6 earning less than $100, and 62.3 between $100 and $250), the budgets for Sandy Spring, showing expenditures of from about $100 to $200 per annum, are also a reasonable exhibit for Litwalton.

The following list of property holders does not agree with the table of owners on page 1161. That table gave the owners and renters of homes. Some of these owned or were buying other property. Some owned property in common, here reported separately. The list includes, also, several pieces of property not owned by the present

occupants. A number of the properties are not reported by the

assessors.

ASSESSED VALUE OF PROPERTY OWNED BY NEGROES OF LITWALTON, 1900.

This table shows for Litwalton an assessed valuation of $3,256 of personal property and of $6,055 of real estate, a total of $9,311. The number of acres reported is 897.5, almost exactly double the number reported for twice the number of Sandy Spring families. This real estate is valued by its owners at $10,092, two-thirds more than the assessed value, and only one-fourth the valuation given by the Sandy Spring Negroes to their lands. It would seem that the tendency on the part of many of the Litwalton Negroes was to undervalue their property, just as the Sandy Spring Negroes seemed inclined to overvalue their realty. Included as personal property are 40 horses, 25 cows, 12 oxen, 14 buggies, 17 road carts, 8 ox carts, 1 carry log, 40 pigs, and many chickens. In addition to the personal property, and most important of all, there are 47 boats, valued by their owners at $1,328. If this valuation be what the assessor would make it, the personal property would be increased to $1,584.