The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-08-08
LAz1NEss AT THE SOUTH

S s'''.-' A..SJ oAc oinSlcu OUT nom among
the whites as the lazy ones, par e1cellence.E
The cry has been raised and shouted over the
land, "The negroes wont work nnless thew arc
subjected to the lashw This cry comes first
from the threats of shareholders. and II has
peen reiterated by quasi traitors of the North
till some have been made to believe If We
ought to take such testimony with MANY
grains OF allowance. The source from which
ltcomes must legitimately throw some sus-
plclon on its truth. The testimony of men on
tins question who never did days work in
their lives ought to be subjected to some criti-
cism, to say the least of it.
True, the negroes have done all the work of
the South and made many of their masters
rlch IN this worlds goods, but they have done
it under the lash, and hence these slayedriyers
come to the very wise conclusion that the ne
groes wont work unless they are driven by the
wnip OF the overseer. We object to such log
&c. Let these laborers have the opportunity
to work for fair wages, and then we shall see
whether such stimulant is not more power
flu than the lash in the hands of the overseer.
We have no doubt of the fact. The most lazy
people OF the South, save the aristocratic slave
holders, are the "poor whites" The negroes
are far ahead of them, not only in native
shrewdness and tact, but also in economy and
industry and moral qualities This fact stands
out clear as sunbeam, and we believe that
no reasonable, unprejudiced man will deny it.
The Southern whites are under as strong OBJ
legations to labor as the colored men, and yet
but little is said about their laboring in the
field or in the workshop o mol The colored
population are now the only lazy beings on
earth, and they never can be made to work so
long as they can call their souls and their
bodies their own. They must be whipped,
scourged and driven into the field; for neither
hunger nor starvation can induce them to labor.
Suchis the cry which shareholders, pro-slavery
But what are the facts?
Let statistics touching this matter speak for
themselves. The Richmond Republic pub
fishes report made by Col Brown, Assistant
Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau for
Virginia in which he estimates the population
of Richmond at fifty thousand, half white and
half colored, and says: az
"Out of twenty-five thousand colored per-
sons only nine hundred and forty-two received
rations for the week ending July LIST, while,
for the same time, eight thousand four hun
bred and ninety-four of the white population
were fed by the Government"
These facts prove that only one-tenth. of the
paupers were colored, and they prove also that
all the lazy ones in Richmond have not color
ed skins. We do not now allude to skins col
ored by whiskey, but to the African dye. Now
it seems that one-third of the whites are fed
by the Government. They are not to be reck-
oned among the lazy ones. O., no. Their
skins are white or only redeemed by whiskey,
and of course they can't be lazy or idle Out
upon such logicl They are the lazy drones in
Southern society, and yet proud and aristocrat-
&c as many of them are, they are not too much
so to ask for charity and feed at the public
crib, p te
I'VE have other statistics than those collect
I'd at Richmond. During the past two years
the blacks of Alexandria have erected over
one thousand dwelling houses at cost of from
three hundred to one thousand dollars each
and three churches and twenty schools have
been established. In this city there are about
eight thousand colored people and at the last
accounts, says Washington writer, only
twenty-three were drawing rations from the
Government These are the lazy ones, are
they? Facts are said to be very stubborn
things Who have done all the labor of the
South? Who have raised the cotton, the rice,
the sugar and the corn? Who have support
ed the aristocrats, and fed and clothed their
children? There is but one answer to all
these questions, and the whole civilized world
knows what that is. And yet there are men,
both North and South, who would make us
believe that the negroes will not work save 4
under the lash OF a naughty and heartless
overseerl Away with such teachings! They
are as false as the hearts that conceived
them. y 80 A8tf JA8ssRA
Again, Col. Brown says:.sThe only barracks I
occupied by negroes in the vicinity of Rich
mond are those known as the Chimborazo
Hospital The whole number of freedmen
served at these barracks is twentv-four hum
bred and seventy-one, and all these except
eight hundred and eighteen have found work
and homes elsewhere, and all the others left
are supporting themselves, while there have
been ninety-eight whites similarly Accommodated
with quarters in the barracks, sixty Of whom
are supported by the Governments Thus it
is: every where and under all circumstances,
the negroes are ahead of the whites in indus
try and economy.
An official report of the disbursement of
Government rations at Mobile, exhibits the
following facts. Last May there were issued
5S,97S rations to poor whites and only l., $50
to destitute blacks. And the next month the
disproportion was even greater, the whites re-
ceiving S,416 and the blacks 5000. So it seems
that the whites were receiving daily $500 ra-
tons, while the colored persons were getting
less than one-tenth of that amount.
Again-we find another item in the official
report that speaks volumes in praise of the
colored people. Itas follows:
I Gin the year, 1864-5, according to an official
report, there were in Beaufort about three
thousand whites and nearly the same number
OF blacks. OF the blacks, between three and
four hundred were applicants for Government
aid; Of the whites, from twelve to fourteen
hundred. What was true of Beaufort was al
so true of Newbern; in fact, of every other
place in North Carolina where comparison |
could be instituted" 4 I aafgaa
But we forbear to quote any more facts
Enough has already been exhibited to show
that the cry "The negroes will not work ex-
cept under the LASH" is false. We shall make
no further comments in this article on the
comparative industry and thrift of the poor
whites and blacks of the South, but let our
readers hear what the Toronto Globe says in
the summing up of an article ON the same
subject The advice is good, and surely it |
comes to us from standpoint not to be sneer-
ed at. Let be pondered well, and have its
proper weight 1t is as foows:o ~ s7'