Baton Rouge tri-weekly gazette & comet. [volume] (Baton Rouge, La.) 1865-18??, 1865-11-11
IMPORTED LABOR.

field hands in the South, is one Of
the mooted questions Of the day, and
the securing of means for accom-
plishing that end is being diligently
set forth in the light Of a necessity
by agricultural and political econo-
mists. Labor being the true source
of wealth to a nation, and the ineffic-
iency Of the system, as it exists at
present in the South, tending to
strengthen every day the convictions
of the people as to the Aexpediency
and wisdom Of testing the expert
ment Of foreign labor, it is not un.
likely that before the next planting
season, we shall see introduced upon
upon our soil, a large supply of la
borers from abroad, Of the European
as well as Asiatic stripe. v-7'-@t
In some of the West India islands,
where Coolie labor has existed for a
long while, under the apprenticeship
system, hedged in by legislative
provisions, it has been found to re-
quire much smaller outlay of CAPT
tai than is necessary for the acquisi-
ton of slaves. The Coolies are sub
jected to a severe regime of work and
discipline, though they are said not
to stand the climate as well and are
not as good laborers as the African
slaves. They are represented as
naturally mild and docile, and saga
cious withal, and make good house
servants.
Mr.. J. LITTLE SMITH, of Mobile,
whose letter on Coolie labor we find
in late number of the N. O. Ores
cent, after furnishing some very i'm
portant statistics bearing upon the
subject, closes with the following re-
| marks: "'~sF'a
Whether it be wise to endeavor to
| introduce the Chinese, should we be
able to obtain such legislation as will
force all men to specifically perform
the labor they may contract to do,
depends upon the questions whether
these Chinese have superior adap-
liability to the particular kind of
work to be done in this climate, and
whether this superiority is SO great
as to make up for the inferiority of
this race for energy and enterprise,
compared with that Of ordinary emf
grants to this country. s@a.
My own opinion is, that they
would be able to work the river and
swamp lands, which the Caucasian
races are not likely to work, but they
will do SO only when they are intro
duced in such numbers as to make
this necessary by the force Of com
| petition in labor. And the fact that
those whose apprenticeship in Cuba
has expired, do not willingly con-
tinue to labor in the fields. tends to
show this, but it does not do SO con-
clusively for all the evidence I have
on the subject leads to the conclusion
that they are very harshly treated on
the plantations of that island:
While we endeavor wisely to in
crease the number of laborers, let us
also strive to increase the produce of
such labor as we now have, and to
| induce the people of the United
States in general to allow us to do SO,
and to convince them that it is most
easy to do SO, that they have only
not to act at all that they have only
to refrain from doing harm both to
themselves and to us; that they have
only to let us provide TOR the most
unrestrained competition of labor
and the employment of capital, and
that capital and labor will so operate,
naturally, and by their own move
ment, in the directions most suitable
to the individual interests Of the
capitalists and Of the laborers, and
most favorable to the increase of the
national wealth. sa;5H i.sI .
! Mr.. DU gallon, native of Louisi-
ana, who was long engaged in the
cultivation of sugar in this State
with slave labor, and afterwards in
the French Island of Guadalupe,
with freed labor, under the system
inaugurated by the French Revolu.
ton of 1s4s, favors the N. O. Plea.
4 ,,a,,o NTH oarna vow, intoroct;,,o. NJ, 4