Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1862-01-15
THE Proc OsED NEGRO POLICY I'm


W among Olu HOIlhcIu eHehh6S5 ana ny the
following from the Chicago Post it will be seen
that instead o. discussing slavery in the Confed-
eracy, they are talking about the introduction of
the peculiar institution among themselves.
The article Is a curiosity:
ATTEMPT TO AFRICANIzE TIE STATE OF
ILLINoIs.-We nave been aware for sometime
of a design upon the part Of large capitalists and
perhaps corporations, TO put into execution in
this State, a system of labor which, in effect,
will be to convert Illinois into a slaveholding
| State, and degrade white labor. We had hoped,
however, that the design would never find prac-
teal form. and would never be seriously press
ed. but we find it has secured to its support some
of the newspapers of the State, and we think it
time to warn the people against the ubiquitous
scheme. The plan is an extended one. 1t is
proposed to excite the people by stirring and
glowing relations of the vast wealth to the
State and to the West that will result from the
growth of cotton and by exhibiting the figures
to prove that each acre Of land now idle, or only
half worked, if only cultivated by vigorous and
systematic labor in the growth Of cotton and
other products, would yield to the State such an
increase of profit, as in a short time would
make the lands of Illinois richer than the mines
of California. Agricultural and scientific assO-
Citations are to be enlisted in the cause. Through
| blcSb anu All OlltI dNdllhDlC uitduo5 III ptoplC
are to be " worked up =" to such a pitch of ex
p~ectation that popular feeling will override pop
ular reason, and State governments and Legis-
latures, not daring to face the popular storm,
will yield an acquiescence, if no more, in the
grand scheme. When the cupidity of the peO-
pie shall have been appealed to sufficiently,
and when the improvement of every mans land,
or its purchase at extrsvagant prices, and when
countless local benefits shall have been i'm
pressed upon the public as certain results TO
follow the grand scheme, it i is hoped aud ex-
pected that the deformities, the i%niquities aud
denominations of that scheme, will not be re-
garded with such horror as they merit.
The object Is to develop to their utmost ca
pacity the agricultural resources of the State of
Illinois, and this development is to be accom-
plished by negro labor!
Before the present Congress adjOurns it is ex-
pected that some provision will be made for the
slaves of the Southern States who may be con-
hscated. III colonization propositions of the
President, of Mr.. Trumbull and of Mr.. Blair,
will be defeated. leaving It for Congress to pro-
vide some measure for the support, care and
government of the emancipated negroes. This
work Of cOnfseatOn and emancipation, it is ex
pected, will be extensive in the States of Ken
lucky and Missouri, and, if the Federal line be
extended, throughout the district of the lower
Mississippi. It IS part of the scheme, that as
these slaves are emancipated they are TO be
treated as the paupers are treated in sOme Of the
New England Statos-thati is, sold by auction
with this difference In New England the man
who will agree to support the paupers for the
lowest sum gets them. In this case the slaves
are to be given to those who viii agree to take
them to a loyal State, clOtLe and feed them, pro-
vide for their wants, instruct them in agTieul-
ture or other pursuits and e~mployments and in
turn for this care, etc, he shall have the pro-
ceeds Of their labor. The man or company who
shall take them for the shortest time, will of
course get the negroes. The emancipated, con-
fiscated negroes are not to be sold again into
slavery Oh no! That would be revolving but
they are to be bound out for a term of years as
apprentices and as these apprentices will be-
come such under the laws of the Federal govern
ment, and as by those laws they are to be taken
to some loyal State, the purchaser can snap his
fingers and laugh at any provision of State law
or constitution Erbidding the introduction OF
negroes, free or slave, within their limits.
Thus provided with an abundance of labor, the
managers of the great developments of the agri-
cultural resources of Illinois" viii soon be able
to stock the prairies Of the State with the negroes
taken from the rebels. OF course all cannot be
employed Gin raising cotton some must raise
corn, and others wheat; some must pillow and cut
wood, and attend to cattle; some must superin
tend the sheep, and others the hogs; the negro
women must not be idle; those not needed on the
must be hired out in towns, cities, villages
and elsewhere as household servants. Those of
the apprentices who are mechanics or who show
an adaptability for such work, will be put at
labor of that kind every neighborhood viii have
its tsnneTy worked by negro labor; every neigh
bOThOOd will have its shoemaker and harness
shops worked by negro labor every neighbor-
hood will ave its masons, its carpenters, its
blacksmiths, and its painters, all from the ranks
of the apprentices" Instead of having hor
daughters working and toiling over the wash-tub
and in the dairy, each farmers wife can hire
three or four apprentices who will do the bard
for a small sum paid to the masters. With
holt a dozen farm houses thus supplied with
cheap domestic labor, and the white inmates re-
from the oppressive toll to which they had
been accustomed, 1t IS but human to suppose
young men and women ia a short time viii
look upon their accustomed dTudgery as 'nig
gers work" and seek the relief already attained
by their neighbOrs, In this way with colonies of
these apprentices at convenient points through
the State, the agricultural resources Of Illinois
rapidly develop" and as cheap negro labor 1
is introduced, free white labor must be expelled.
The growth of cotton may be attempted, but
that is not the object. The man who can EN-
ploy fifty negro hands at an ANNUAL cast Of iood
and clothing, can put more ground under cult
and produce a given quantity of wheat, |
corn, sheep, beef and pork, for far less money
than the man who in addition to the ksepinEh
has to pay his hands from S100 to $500 year
zach. With an unlimited stock Of negroes large
IandhOlders in a few years viii so far outstrip
the small farmers who have no negroes, that the
latter will either have to hare apprentices OF sell
out to the proprietOrs of the negro colonies.
In less than one year, should the number of
,Onfscated negroes in Missouri and Kentucky be
As large as 1t is expected, through the agency Of
lalf a dozen large landed proprietors, including
FOR instance the Illinois Central railroad GONNA
ny, one hundred thousand negroes, men, women
and children could be put at active and profta-
Die employment in this State If We add 10 this
number the thousands of negroes not confsca-
but Tunaways, who would fee to the negro |
leighborhoods and eventually become practical
f not legal apprentices, we would soon have as
arge a negro population as Kentucky or Ten
lessee,
In a newspaper article It is impossible, of
course, to consider this scheme in detail. From
we AVE said, however, it viii not be diff
to understand how and by what means it is
o be rendered popular, Nor does space permit
the evils to be stated. Sufficient, however,
be seen 10 demonstrate that it is a scheme to
ifricanize the State Of Illinois to introduce a
race, that, though not slaves legally, are
practically slaves as II they were held by q
Master under the laws Of Carolina. Nor is it to
,e forgotten that after a few years familiarity
the apprentice system, and the inevitable
ont smpt into which it will bring white labor,
he step toward slavery as a regular institution
# the State would be a mere matter of form. In
he meantime the political power Of the owners
f these apprentices, would be growing, and
White laborers would be driven Off to other States
where labor had not ceased to be honorable and
emuneTative, and in this way the masters, may
We may not say owners, of these apprentices,
gould rapidly control the government and &C
Of the State.
As yet the projectors of the scheme have said
Of the introduction Of confiscated ne
rOes as apprentices. They have confined
10 learned articles upon tho growth
{ cotton and the development Of the great natu-
al resources of the State. Il is but Just that
70 .hn1-ll 49, d. IL -ro:o.t L. nj nuLli.Iu | :.