Smyrna times., 1865-11-22
The Two Races in the South and the La.
bOr Question.

Dor question:
There is too much of disposition to treat
the labor question of the South and the negro
question as identical. We might as well talk
of the labor question ofthe North as an Irish
question or German question. Nowhere in
this free land has the question of labor any
thing to do with the fact that different races
exist within its limits. Industry is a universal
dutv, resting as much upon one race as anOth-
er. 1t is the basis of all civil and social pros
perity; and every inhabitant Of the country
whatever his color, whatever his extraction, is
under the same obligation tn be something
more than mere cOnSumer-sOmething else
than mere drone in the hive. He is bound
to contribute personally in some way to the
general wellbeing
There were in 1860 abolt twelve millions of
people in the slave holding States, of whom
four millions were of African descent. The
war has reduced the numbers of both races in
about the same proportion; so that still the
colored people in these States constitute but
about one-third of the entire population. No
toriOusly before the war the great bulk of the
white population of the South had no habit of
regular labor. Generally those who had prop
erty had little enterprise, and were little bet
ter than idlers. Those who had not property
the "poOr white trash, as they were called
instead OF working to acquire it, spent their
time mostly in hunting or other amuSementS,
in lounging and in sleeping. The eight mil
lions of whites in the South, all combined, did
not do as much actual work, from one year $
end to another as any million and half OF
whites in the North. The great cause of this
was that labor in the South was the peculiar
badge of a servie class, and was deemed dis
paraging to freeman. SOutherners generally
made it a matter of pride to do as little of it as
possible. They are not to be specially reproach-
) ed for this. 1t came from one ofthe most pow
erful laws of human nature-the law of assOcia-
ton Slaves being despised, manual labor,
which was the business Of slaves, must needs
6 be despised also.
:; Slavery is now at an end, The great South
ern question now is, how to end the hatred o.
work which slavery engendered 1t is a ques
ton which has to do with both races alike
8 The blacks are averse to work because it ha
been exacted of them by the overseer's lash
their natural impulse is to make their freedom
consist in being free from both. The pool
a whites, though slavery with all its preventing
n influences has disappeared, still find their ok
Al habits second nature. Judging by the &C
W counts that are now reaching US, it would seen
that there is good prospect OF getting tn
&c blacks of the South to work as the whites
i that, though there is a vast amount of idlenes
- and vagrancy and pauperlsm in both races, tn
- blacks are, on the whole, making aSmuch pre-
gress in adapting themselves to the new condi
. ton of things as the whites. In many region
v of the South even now, little difficulty is fOun
Ia in inducing the freedmen to work steadily o
a plantations, when made certain of good trea
as ment and fair wages. We hear nowhere {
in any of the many millions of poor whites in til
es. South letting themselves out as plantatio
H. hands either for the year. month or day. VIII
zee IS thisf How does it still happen that whit
las held-hands are not found in the South, whe
they are so multitudinous in the North? II
dv old pretence that white men are unable to el
A dure the Summer heats has been proved to /
a 'or false by the German cotton-planters of Texa
.od White men can do plantation work almost an
II; where in the great cotton belt if they have ii
~ ~ will The Southern planters themselves pa
~ tally eoncede it in the efforts they are eve
,S 80, now making to encourage white immigratiC
my ny from the North. The plain fact is, that Il
i,ts iLs white millions in the South don't put the
n hands to the plow because the old hatred
nf work is still in their bones.
.U U The most unfavorable feature of SOuthe
,Syn society is this inbred, ingrained contempt
e ont manual labor among the Southern whites.
IL is not only prodigious injury to the whit
not themselves, but it's indirect influence upon
"o' blacks is very pernciOus. If the common sc
o;v timent of the white people of the South is tf
do labor is a curse, the black people must nee
~ sarily imbibe the feeling and it will cOnsta
o ofi ly incline them to honor their freedom by
n
the North, our colored people are industrious,
i in only because their personal necessities requ
pht it, but because work is the general order of
lied day, and nobody regards it as any special ha
ship. If the same manly sentiment sho
the take possession of the Southern whites, and
Gu come the dominant Southern feeling the fire.
ans. men would probably acquire their full share
that it, and perform their full part Of the labor wi
,self out trouble.
,rso- There ought to be sense enough in the So
cate TO comprehend that the destruction 0f the
col. TEN of forced servils labor involves necesl
for. of making free labor respectable and indole
,h;io disgrace. There never was greater chil
'a.h. ra than to imagine that the African race
h;n continue to raise the great staples of the So
ninA by their free toll, while the other two-third
isinS the population are doing either fancy work
ANU Anu no work at all. IF laziness is to remain
Ml. Ml. general habit of the South, it is certain t
y On the freedman will have his full share of il
clcty The obligation to be industrious applied
ome' both races alike. In the attempt to rege
sue sue ate the South, it is Of prime consequence
laUeu this simple truth shall be brought home t
iIvHs Mu its white population.-N Y. Times.
awk- ing
and PRxcocrTY OF PREFERENoE.-A little
Ekk - 60