The system was excellent for a thrifty, industrious, and intelligent man, for it enabled him to get a start.

It worked to the advantage of a bankrupt landlord, who could in this way get banking facilities.

But it had a mischievous effect upon the average tenant, who had too small a share of the crop to feel a strong sense of responsibility as well as too many "privileges" and too little supervision to make him anxious to produce the best results.
The Negroes entered into their freedom with several advantages: they were trained to labor; they were occupying the most fertile soil and could purchase land at low prices; the tenant system was most liberal; cotton, sugar, and rice were bringing high prices; and access to markets was easy.

In the white districts, land was cheap and prices of commodities were high, but otherwise the Negroes seemed to have the better position.

Yet as early as 1870, keen observers called attention to the fact that the hill and mountain whites were thriving as compared with their former condition, and that the Negroes were no longer their serious competitors.