Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1865-07-28
The Freedmen of North Carolina.

We have received the annual report Of
the Rev. Horace James, Superintendent
of Negro Affairs in North Carolina, for
the year 1864. 1t is an interesting and
instructive document Of about sixty pages
and affords a very conclusive answer to
the question as to whether the negro is
capable of self support. The Rev. Mr.
James is a gentleman well known in thi.
vicinity, and his statements are worthy
of public confidence everywhere. His
task has been no easy one, and difficulties
innumerable have beset his path. Al
the time covered by this report we were
holding few posts upon the borders Of
North Carolina, and had some miles Of
debatable ground, where life and proper
ty were equally insecure. The total
number of negroes in that department
within our lines on the first day of Jan
uary, 1864, was l7,419. They were
frequently moved from place to place,
were enlisted into our own army, and
harassed by that of the Confederates ;
they died 10 scores Of the small pox, and
of the yellow fever, and twenty-three per
cent. of this number were infrm and
sick, too old or too young to labor. The
Government had adopted toward them
no fixed policy, and they were tired with
every discouraging circumstance h t
could well be imagined. In the face of
all this the result is all that any reasona-
BILE man could expect, and much better
than many feared. We give some ex-
tracts relating to their pursuits and earn
ings
"The negroes prefer turpentine farm
ing to cotton raising, less capital being
necessary, and the cash returns being
quicker. The trees, after being boxed,
begin to produce turpentne Immediately,
and the boxes are dipped four or five
times in season. The results of the
first dipping being put in barrels and sent
to market before midsummer, it is not
necessary TO wait until autumn before
realizing any gains by the operation.-
Negroes have hired from the Treasury
Agent from 5000 to 10000 trees apiece.
One plantation near Havelock, leased by
a white man, contains 10000 trees, and
not less thrn 125 colored hands were en-
ployed upon it, at wages varying from
fifteen to thirty-fve dollars per month.
On the Ball Plantation, near Newbern,
about fifty negroes were given employ
ment in raising cotton. Upon all these
plantations the results were favorable,
and the crops (thanks to our Generals,
who kept the rebel armies we'll employed
were secured aud marketed
safely. 1t is impossible for me to give
in figures the results of this labor of the
freedmen. But this may be said, with
an assurance Of stating the matter with
in the bounds of truth. Two hundred
and seventy>fve thousand dollars were
paid during the last year to colored en-
ployes, upon these cotton and turpen-
tine plantations, in cash, or in its equiva-
Tents, clothing, food and domestic sup
plies. More than twelve hundred labor
ers were thus employed, ministering by
their toll 10 the support Of not less than
5000 coIored people. When this process
can be carried on IN ertenso the "negro
question" need give political economists
no more perplexity. Make them lords
of the land and every thing else will
naturally follow. There is more land
lying waste in Eastern North Carolina
than is needed to support, in indepen-
dence, ten times the negro population
now within our lines"
During the attack on Newbern, 10 Feb
ruary, the negroes did efficient service,
but they were thereafter obliged to aban>
don their outlying settlements and come
wthin our lines.
In regard to the poor whites it is said ::
"The poor whites of the South are a
more helpless and spiritless race than
the negroes of the same section, and, in
deed, naturally inferior to them. They
have more pride, but less activity; they
make more pretension, but possess fewel
mental resources. Being unused to labor,
they know nothing of its processes, and
are therefore incapable of selfsupport.-I
From twelve to fourteen hundred of them
have been fed by government, in Beau
fort and vicinity, while only three or four
hundred negroes have received aid in
the same sub-district, the whole number
of each being nearly equal. In Newbern,
where there are more than eight thousand
colored refugees, but little more than
three thousand eat government bread"
The earnings of three hundred and
five colored men in Newbern, for the
year, amounted to 1851 .562. Among
them were turpentine gatherers, traders,
cotton farmers, shoemakers, &c. The