St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1863-10-29
z.a-~ssr 80 - ~ f~e~
LETTER FROMNEw ORLEANS.
A FREE PLANTATION.
From the Cincinnati Gazette
NEw ORLEANS, September %.

From the Cincinnati; Gazette.
NEW ORLEANS, September %.
Now reinstatement and deportation are
equally impossible and impracticable, and
we must make up our minds to manage in
some way to keep the negroes at work
where they now are. In ordere to devise
this means, we must consult, not our old
prejudices, which only applied. if at all,
to past state of things, but the facts;
which are new and jndisputable, and one
Of these facts to which l can testify of my
own knowledge is, that under certain con-
ditions, negroes formerly slaves, uW aeorA
for raJes, and become hone$t, Industrious,
and truly ambitious Of ineproc;ng their
condition. I have spent several days on
the plantation leased at present by the
Government to George F. Brott. Of the
firm Of Brott L. Davis, Of New Orleans.
This firm has also leased several other
plantations on either side Of the river.
This one is on the east Lank. twenty-four
miles from the city, ard ha]e 4 mite from
| the Red Church.
Mr.. Brott is live Yankee, born in
New York and resident for several years
past in Minnesota. &c is shrewd and en-
crgetic, aid Honorable in lis dealings.
Hc treats his negroes just as he would
white men, giving them all their rights,
and demanding his own. He treats this
whole thing purely as a matter Of bust
ness, without the slig ghtest sentimentalism
Tor any preconceired theory, and l may
say here that he is thoroughly convinced
that the negroes will work far better free
than as slaves, if they are only managed
right Their overseer is--Keenan,
born in Illinois, Of Irish parents, and resi-
dent in this country about twenty years.
He has teen an overseer long time, and
has the management of some very large
sugar estates. Formerly he was very
harsh with his negroes, but in time came
to see that kindness and fair dealing was
more 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 me that his mode
o! treatment here is rot substantially DIFF
ferent from what it was un Ter the system
of slavery, except that when negro DISC
beys or grumbles, instead Of being whip
ped, he Is ''shown the read, that is, 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 now
is wood-cutting. u cord day is the task.
Many of the hands cut their task in four
days, and some in three; that leaves them
two or three days to themselves. during
which they cut from four to eigb: cords,
FIR which they get a dollar d cord. l
talked to one negro the other day who had
cut ten cords ezra during the week. At
ter paying the WAGNER two bits load, (for
the wagner must have something, Of
course,) he gets seven dollars and halt
for his weeks work.
Now is the harvest time for task work.
They Can make more at wood choppi' 6
than at anything else. T., the cottou-pick-
ing and su gar-n,aking season they have no
time for t"sk work. But at all other
times they have extra time, which they
employ in tending their corn, gathering
:smoss, ia sort of parasitical teudril that
} grows On the trees,) aud doing odd jots
for themselves. They have all the land
they want to work, and the use oc all the
teams and farm implements. An old
auntv with whom [ talked, who has been
on the place forty-one years, tod me they
wee never $, well treated as noT. Their
working time i from daylight till seven,
when they have an hour and half for
breakfast then till noon, when they have
two hours for dinner then till sundswn:
They stop work at noon on Saturdays.
This is much more liberal allowance of
time than they have been accustomed to,
aad they appreciate that fat. The cook.
house is turned into a schocl-house and
the little children and even older persons
are taught to .eal The shed Of the SUI
g,r-housc serves for holding divine service,
:, which they ha>e never before been allow
ed to do. Their rations are better and
more costly than ever before, as we'll as
more abundant, and they never have to
spend their own money except to obtain
such luxuries as they have mind to buy.
Mr. Keenan,, the oversecr, is very strict
in al his dealings-strlct to himself and
strict to them. Nota shirk is allowed to
remain for mamcnt \ mutinous or OBJ
stinatc negro is instantly discharged.
The hours for work must be punctuous-
" observed. No man can sham sick and
Get into to the hospital. No indulgence
is allowed inconsistent with the rules of
the place OF gathering Of the crops. Ev-
erybody is compelled to be courteous and
kiud and orderly and the example is set
by the whites on the plantation and ev-
erybody is compelled to be strictly honest
in his dealings. Within these rules every
privilege and latitude is allowed 49,