The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1865-07-08

The following order from the General
commanding the district embraci'g
Lynchburg, Va, illustrates some of the
practical embarassments attending the
DISRUPTION of the Southern labor system:
HEADQUARTERS Mil. DISTRICT,
LYNCHBURG, VA, June a. !
General Orders, No. %.
l. The frequent complaints of planters
that they are burdened with helpless
women and children whose natural pro-
tectors are upon the plantations of their
neiyhbors, are useless, it having already
been announced in General Orders, No.
l5, from these headquarters, that faml-
lies should be brought together Oh the
same farm, or satisfactory arrangements
made for their support by persons em-
ploying the husband and father.
II. Persons having able-bOdied men IN
their employment who may have famI-
lies on other plantations, and who re-
fuse to let them go to their families or
allow them 20 bring thrir families to
them, will be compelled tn do justice tn
both the freedmen and their neighbors.
Ill. The price of labor has been fixed
i'm several localities at five dollars per
month for first class labor, and i'll pro-
norton for less efficient labor. In sane
tioning this arrangement, 1t was under
stood that the wages mentioned was TO
include clothing, food, house rent. fuel,
and the usual privilege of gardens, as
heretofore, for the laborer and his FANNY
". When the freedmen are willing /"
remain on the plantations of their form
or uwncrs. zsSrUne family, and they are
willing to keep them and provide for
them. as has heretofore been customary,
and when the neighboring planters can
arrange among themselves for the present
year for the families of the able bodied
men that may be upon other farms and to
give them a sufficient portion of the
growing crop to keep them from want
from Christmas until the first of April,
the freedmen performing faithfully such
labor as the planter may have during
said tine, it will be considered fair re-
muneration under existing circum-
stances, and when the freed men and the
former owner have made contract OF
this kind it will be considered binding on
both parties.
v. Where persons hiring able bodied
men refuse to provide for their families,
houses, fuel, fosd, clothing and gardens;
the lowest wages that will be considered
for remuneration will be a sum that will
enable them to procure the aforemen-
toned necessaries in addition to the live
dollars per month, as fixed by the various
MEETINGS of the citizens of this district
for first class labor.
nj a pI
me-, whose wives and families are living
on other plantations, who refuse to give
them certificate of character i'll accord
ance with their just merit, when they
NAV desire TO work on the plantation ON
which their families reside, or to go else
where in order that they may live with
their families and support them by their
labor, and all persons who refuse To en-
ploy either negro or white laborers who
may leave one plantation to go to anoth-
or in order to live with and support their
families, for the reason that they are not
provided with certificate of good char
acter from their former employer, Will
be considered as conspiring against the
laborer for he purpose ofdefraudingh him
of his lust wages, and will be brought be-
lore military COlllihiSSioh anu p"hA"
according to the nature OF his offence :.
VII. This order is not to be construed
by the freedmen as giving them any en-
couragement to leave off work without
cause. They are to make every effort in
their power to obtain certificate OF good
character, and should be able to show
that the persons on whose plantations
their wives and families are living
are willing to employ them, or that they
can obtain employment elsewhere at such
wages as will enable them to maintain
their families and provide a shelter for
them; they should also know where they
are going to find the shelter. This is of
primary importance, and in many in
stances the laboring man works for less
wages than he otherwise would, simply
because he must have home for his
family
BY command of
Brevet Maj. Gen. GREGG, Com'dg.
j. B. MAITLAND, Bv't Maj. and A. A. g.,