The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1862-06-28
Communications.
For The Cecil Wing.
The Abolition OF slavery in New Jcr-
Sey-ItS Causes and Results.
BY MRS. lamar DAVIS.
NO, Ill.


There has always been large class of
frccholders in New Jersey; the owners
and occupicrs of small farms, say of rs
Or so acres, who were accustomed to
manual labor whose vigorous arms held
the pillow or swung the sickle of their
own free will, and to procure the COM
forts of life for their households Neither
the inclination or pccuniary ability Of
these men permitted the constant en-
ployment, supervision and support of
slaves but they hired occasionally dur
ing the busy seasons of sccdtime and
harvest, sometimes BY the month and
sometimes by the day We find several
history of the times. The "a C of wages
as prescribed by law was IS. per day,
with board, for farm laborers, and IS. Cd.
for carpenters and other mechanics 1t
is not in the least strange that these
men always and invariably preferred
white to colorcd laborcrs. In nine times
out of ten the wife Or daughter was
expected to perform the entire kitchen
labor of the family. Whether or not
degradation is attached to labor in itself,
it becomes degrading when wife is
called upon to serve her husbands
negroes, and any man possessing the
q. least refinement of feeling would shrink
from bcholding bis wife cooking, wash
ing and performing mental offices for
negro, with whom the difference of race
forbade the association of equality
Wi Ii the white laborer it was different.
He sat by the same hearth, c from the
same table, convcrscd freely with the
daughters, and if temperate and indus
urious might aspire to the hand Of the
most beautiful and thrifty. Thus the
whole country was studded with small
farms, particularly in the southern couu-
ties. Agriculture was the labor and
office of frceMcn. The farmers required
assis auts at work and companions by the
frcside. They asked friends rather than
menials. The hired man was Of their
blood, their complexion, their religion,
their language, and their manners. They
could m,nsle freely i'll the simple amuse-
mcnts Of the day, could worship in the
same pew at church, and participate i'll
the same pursuits. Now if slavery
dcgradcs labor, as we hear asserted, and
if free white laborers are necessarily
unwilling to enter into competition with
slaves, why is it that when slavery was
tolerated in New Jersey viii laborers
could be procured in plenty at very low
wages, and now when slavery is forbid
den they can scarcely be procured at the
highest prices! Why is it that labor
was considered more honorable then than
now that young men were reader TO
hire out, and when hired were more elf
cicnt and trus worthy Every aged
person in the State will tell you that
this was the fact and one fact is worth
thousand theories Perhaps, however,
the chief preference was given TO white
laborers, because they really were the
best =; and this difference between white
and colored laborers is one Of race, not
of condition or circumstances. That there
is difference, and a very great differ
cnce, any farmer who has been in the
hal,it of employing both will tell you.
" Do you ever hire negroes e. [ have
often asked, and have almost invariably
:. received the same answer:
n "Rarely, or only when cannot help
N~it." ,'.a..
"Why is this they work cheaper, !
believe" M
Well, they are not such good hands
They don't take hold of work life white
men do"
All, how is that I"
"The white man works chcerfully
from a sense of his standing with his
employer. In many instances | have
hired white men who seemed TO feel as
much interest in getting the work done
and we'll done, as if they we're the only
ones TO be benefited thereby. | have
never seen negro who could, would, OF
did, identify himself with his employers
interest, or business, in the least de-
gree" -.
Then will follow some ludicrous ancc-
dote, Illustrative of the constitutional
Discrimination of the negro to labor. A
said and sober deacon related the fol-
lowing:
I" 1t is the custom in New Jersey to
run pillow through the burrows Of q
potato field, and then harrow the ground
by which process the bulbs are lief,
exposed on the surface, and picking then
up is an employment usually appropria-
ted to half-grown lads. AT this work he
set negro, whom he had hired for ;
month. The potato field was plainly il
view from the house, and the gentleman
sea led in the parlor with company, ant
lookin thence observed that the fellow