The Montana post. [volume] (Virginia City, Montana Territory [i.e. Mont.]) 1864-1869, 1864-11-05

\ VCAA1 Abl1 akbOh ouu bou o"vHt
the negroes !; bot the planter tolerates hin
! for his vote. have seen planter march
twenty of these wretched caricatures of hu
nanity up to the polls, and when they hai
voted at his bidding, have had him turn t.
me and say, with a sneer on his lips: :"
I "This is your boasted democracy; thii
trash governs this country; jefferson CAV,
them the right of suffrage, and they sup
pose they are voting for Jefferson now"
=" But,n said 10 him, "why do you no
let them think? why not give them school!
and work pr ~ ID. .-..
"Bscaase,- he replied, off we did, they
might not vote for Jefferson"
To these "mean whites" Mr.. Cairne's
description appropriately applies, and il
applies only to them. The great, mass OF
poor whites, rs have said, are a very diff
feeent people. The poor white man labors,
! the mean white man does not labor, and
labor marks the distinction between them.
Labor makes one hardy, industrious, and
enterprising, law-abiding and useful cit
izen; idlenes, makes the other thievine,
vicious, law-breaking, and of no sort Of
account" to himself or society.
The laboring whites comprise two thirds
VI VIZ AAOO pOPuAotiOu Vi GuC CUutu, duu
they have done more for its material pro-
gress than all its chivalry" and ell its
slaves. They have done more, because they
have worked under the stimulus of free
dom, and because they vastly outnumber
the other classes. The census shows that
on the Isl of June, 1860, there were in the
fourteen Slave States, exclusive of Della
ware, one million and three hundred and
fifty nine thousand six hundred and fifty
i've white males engaged in agriculture and
other out. t.door remployments. Of this nam-
Der, nine hun dred and one thousand one
hundred and two are classed as''farmers''-
men who I'LL their own soil; two hundred and
thirty-one thousand and forty six are class-
ed as "farm laborers "-men who till the
Land of others--and two hundred and TWEEN.
ty-eight thousand four hundred and seven
as "laborers men engaged in outdoor
work other than the tillage of land. The
" farmers +" ATE not to be classed with the
planters--mer who work large tracts of
land and large bodies of slaves, but do not
work ktheInsclves-for the census takes strict
account nf tho latter. They number only
eisn..--fve rhtrsand FIVE hundred and fifty
eight, but-sach has been the working of
the peculiar institus,on-tLeY own nearly
three-fourths of the negl pes end landed
property of the South. These ono million,
three hundred and odd thousand of Labor
ing white men represent q population of
about six millions and if we add to them
the four hundred thousand represented by
the planters, and one million represented by
men in trade, manufactures, and the pro-
fessions, there can hardly remain in o total
population of less than eight millions, ,s'fve
millions of human beings who exc out a
wretched Subsistence by hunting, by fish
ing, by hiring themselves out for occasional
jobs, and by plunder." Half million
the number J. before s.ated-is vastly
nearer the truth.
Little is known at the North Of this large
working population, for the reason that
they are remote from the great travelled
routes, and have been seldom seen by ira.
vellers. They are scattered over all the
South, but are most numerous in the Bor-
der States and in Texas. The most of them
own small farms, and till the soil with their
own hands. Some Of them have one OF two
slaves, and in rare instances the more in
dustrious have acquired ten or ffteen---but
they work with the blacks in the fields, and
treat them very much rs our Northern
farmers treat their hired workmen. Before
the war the traveller in tie interior of
North Carolina would have heard the. axe
of master and man falling, with alternate
strokes, in the depths Of the evergreen for
ests, or he would have seen the two Scamp
ing out" togerher in the same tent or pine
pcle cabin, drinking from the same gourd
the darkey always after his master-eat-
ting from the same rude table, and sharing
the same bed--the cabin fioor-in common.
So, too, in Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri,
Western Virginia, and middle and upper
Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, he
would have seen the white and black
ploughing side by side, or, barred to the
waist, swinging the old-fashioned scyths,
in good-natured rivalry as to which could
cut the breadeat swath Of yellow wheat or
waving timothy, or tote the biggest bundle
of corn to the evening husking-bee. And
when the evening had come, he would have
found them gathered in the old log barn,
husking, and singing, and shouting, and
dancing to the tune of cole Virginny," or
" Rose, Rose, de coal brack Rose," played
by " old Uncle Ned" who had no wool
on de top of his head" but whose skinny
fingers, with handy blows, could rap the
music out Of 6" de old banjoes."
The more wealthy of this class some
times give their children what might be
called q fair common school education, but
fully one-half of them never learn to read
or write. The reason of this is, there are
no schools for the common people at the
South. In village, ten or twenty miles
distant, there may be pretentious " Fe-
male College," or " Institute of Learning
for Young Men," where little Latin and
less Greek" are dispensed to the young
idea at the rate. of four or five hundred dol
lars per annum, but these prices place their
"stores of knowledge % far above the reach
of the hard-toiling farmer. Only in Tenn
essee, SO far as ] know, are there any free
schools, and the scanty State allowance,
which formerly supported. them, was dealt
out with a most parsimo nious hand by the
ruling aristocracy. How much light these
institutions gave the people, may be guess
ed atfron the fact that any one was quail
fed to instruct in them who c"r,a !. read,
write, and do sums j" ;aaditior,n' iJG6T'
,.sS ~ maD :. these people being unable TO
-, it may be inferred they do not gene
rally "tako the papers" They do not.