Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1863-11-05

DIFFICULTIES OF THE SYSTEM

very sincere friend of the reelabor ystem now trial
in the State Of Louisiana will interest many Of readers
The letter from which copy published in the Gin
| cinnat Gazette two three weeks ago:
| New ORLEANS, SEPTEMBER o. 1868
The practical operation of free negro labor in the South
may be seen in Louisiana imagine better than in any
other State. mean the practical operation as it will be
after the rebellion shall have been crushedwth all the
obstacles and discouragements both in substance and in
/ detail that will annoy both whites and negroes
In this military department than 10 any other,
great wealth found the advent OF our troops still
remaining the plantations In this department more
than any other the negroes have remained the plan
ations, and the crops, which of great value were
also accessible and confined within smaller space.
For this the attention of Gen. Butler and of Gen
Banks has been forced to the subject and the of
the department have been largely used in gathering and
protecting the crops, which in their turn, have pro-
| duced an immense revenue TO the Government.
The plantations have been carried in three different
ways They have been first leased to Northern contrac
tors second to resident owners third carried by
Government under the supervision of In all
these free labor alone s employed. The negroes
come and go at will, and whips stocks used by
the overseers While various arrangements are made as
to the feeding and clothing of the negroes the theory in
all substantially the The negroes choose
| their owners, and work for wages
Now, presume that if you inquire of many of the
who have witnessed the operations of this system
they will eterate the old story that the negro is not fit
for free labor that he is greater thief and vagabond
than that he negects his family sqnanders what
money he geta, and is the same ignorant debased
the contaband camps where thousands of them lying
idle and dying daily of disease and diet to which they
are unaccustomed They will point you to the small rem
nants of slaves which still remain the plantations
which they have been born and raised and who live by
stealing and the little they raise without Offering
to lift fger to the working off of the bounteous crops
which notwithstanding the neglect of the past two years
still grow this luIurant soil Then they will subsde
into the usual wadds about the character of the negro
asd leave you half convinced in spite Of your pr'udces
that there future for this country unless the negro
returned to slavery deported to other country
FREE PLANTATION
Now REIMBURSEMENT and deportation are equally impos
sble and npracticabe and must make up minds
to manage keep the negroes at work whess
they now are In order TO devise this means we must
consult, not old prejudces which only applied if at
ALL to past state of things, but the facts which
and indisputabe And of these facts to which can
testify OF my knowledge, il, that under certain
dtions negroes formerly slaves will work for wages and
will become honest Industrious and truly ambitious of
improving their condition have spent several days on
the plantation leased at present by the Government to
George +. Brott, of the firm of Brot & Davis of New
Orleans This firm has also leased several other panta
tons either side of the river. This the east
bank twenty four miles from the city and half mile from
the Red Church Mr. Brott is live Yankee, born in New
York and resident for several years past Minnesota
He shrewd and ergec aud honorable in his dealings
He treats his negroes just as be would white giving
them s their rights aud demanding his He treats
this whole thing purely matter of business, without
the slightest seutmentasm any preconceived theory
and may say here that he is thoroughly convinced that
the negroes will work far better free than slaves If
they 0niymanagcd right The overseer is Mr.. Keenan,
born in Illinois, of Irish parents and resident in this
try about twenty years He has been an oyerseer long
time and has the management of very large sugar
| estates Formerly he very harsh with his negroes,
but in time came that kindness aud fair dealing was
effective He began to treat them, not AS brutes,
but simply with kindness and rigid justice and the result
is that he has been very successful in taking off large
crops He tells that his mode of treatment here
substantially different from what was under the system
slavery except that when negro dsobeys grunbes,
instead Of being whipped he is shown the road that
put off the place Every hand has his task assigned to
him when the nature of the work will admit of it, After
his weeks task is performed he is at liberty TO work for
himself For instance, the work is wood-cnttng
cord day the task Many of the handle their task
in four days and in the that leaves them two
three days to themselves during which they cut from four
t. eight cords for which they get dollar cord talked
to negro the other day had cut ten cords extra
during the week After paying the wagner Two bits
twenty-five ceuts load-for the wagner must have
something Of course-he gets dollars and half for
his WEEKS work. Now is the harvest time for task work
They make at wood choppng than at any thing
else 10 the cotton picking and sugamakng they
have time for task work But at all other times they
have extra time, which they employ in tending their corn
gathering moss "a sort of parascal tendrl that
on the trees and doing odd Jobs for themselves They
have all the land they want to work and the OF all the
| teams and farm implements. Their working time is from
daylight till seven when they have hour and half for
breakfast then till noon when they have two hours for
dinner then till sundown. They stop work at noon
Saturdays This is much liberal allowance Of time
than they have been accustomed to- ard they appreciate
that fact Not shirk allowed to remain for moment
mutinous obstinate negro is instantly discharged.
The hours for work must BE- puncliousy observed No
sham sick and get into the hospital No indul-
gence il allowed inconsistent with the rules of the place or
the gathering of the crops.
WILL THE LABOR PAY7
doubt whether any planter under the system Of slave
ry could show good profit their plantations Mr.
Brott will the end Of the He has both places
the McCutchns and the Rost which contain about 800
acres $40 a cane 600 OF corn and 225 OF
cotton great deal Of the is poor, owing to the
neglect of the planters last year and take care
OF their seed Ii has co. been very bad season
for cotton The expenses of both places including re-
pairs aud implements, will fall below $40 900 All
this will be than paid by the noasses and cstern
bottoms" Then there will be between 100 and 200
hogsheads Of sugar worth at least $50 bogshead There
will be 200 bales OF cotton worth $500 bale The total
value of the crop will be about $4,000 Of this one
half (nett) goes to the Government aud one-tweneth
(net) to the hands which leaves balance Of upward OF
500 900 clear profit The old planters did not pay one
half to the Government onetwenteth their negroes
Their incomes must have been between $4,000 and
500 900 year nett aud yet their plantations were al
ways mortgaged and their crops sold beforehand.
THE OTHER RESULTS OF THIS SYSTEM
Now, what does all this amount to in the end Given
the above system of labor and two hundred negroes OF
both and all ages from day to hundred years
and for third item, large sugar aud cotton plantation
what the results The irst and most important re-
cult is large profit to the proprietor He pays one-haf
the nett proS to the United States and he has already
will sign receipt in full This would make the total pro-
E,rtu .llar. 49, H..