New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-07-25
ANOTHER RADICAL SCHEME,

Apotfer one of the radical schemes To '!etrl-
,oniye the Southern States, has been adopted
Inv Congress. The supplementary homestead
Nil which has been pushed through both
Houses is intended to transfer all OF the pubic
lands Of the southto thenegroes. BY the pro
visions Of the bill, the Unissd States lands in
the States of Alabama Mlssasslppl Louisiana
Arkansas and Florida are thrown open IN eighty |
acre tracts, to actual settlers. The object Of
A. radicals is to pass these lands into the
hands of the negroes; for, although the bill
does not discriminate against white people, it
excludes for a year, all who favored the re-
bellion." The House bill excluded rebels
forever; but the Senate insisted on the term
IelA--.olusion above referred to. To this the
were assured 7pJ theeause the radical members.
the time specified would, III rfq,s bureau that
respondent of the Boston Advertiser, be 2ag--
fcient TO accomplish the object of the bill
that is, to enable the loyal people the neerees)
of the Ave States to enter land under it.
The same correspondent informs us that
General Howard will Immediately "send out
special instructions to the agents Of the bureau
to take every pains to inform the colored peo-
pie Of the nature of the act, and Is induce
them to exercise the right of selecting home
steads on the public lands conferred upon
them by it. The freedmen's bureau has had
no better opportunity for inestimable useful
ness since its establishment"
The following is the amount of public
land to be donated to the negroes !: In Arkan-
sas, ,29S, o12.70 acres in Alabama, 6,732.
$500 acres in Florida, IS, s79, 685. 81 acres
in Louisiana, 6,22s, 1o2.45 acres in Slissis-
sippi, a, 200, 736. O3 acres.
IN round numbers there are, say 5orty-six
million four hundred thousand acres of land
covered BY the bill This can be divided into
five hundred and eighty thousand Parcels Of
eighty acres each, sufficient for that number
Of families, averaging, say seven persons, or
more than million in the aggregate Of
course nothing like any such number of ne
groes viii avail themselves Of the benefits Of
the ,biil perhaps indeed none. or next to
none, wall doso. But should the plan be con
summated, the effect would be to withdraw
from production all the Negro labor Of the
South. Negroes, when they are landed pro-
prietors, never have, and never Will produce
more than enough for their own sustenanee
They consequently, in this condition, eontri-
butte nothing to the productive industry of a
community Ifthey support themselves they do
well; but as to producing asurplus, such a phe-
nomenon is entirely out of the qaestion. ButinI
the meantime the cotton fields Of the -Soutb
deprived Of labor would go to waste and ruin.
and The whole country would be reduced III
poverty and desolation for an indefinite period
The radicals know an this, just as well as W.
know it and hence their anxiety to- consun1-
mate their scheme If they fail in earryinp,it
out, as they undoubtedly will fail If they relyl
on voluntary negro cooperation alone, we
shall hear next that they have appropriated
money enough to purchase the land for the
freedmen, and to supply them with agrieul- .
tural implements. However no sensible
negro win be deiuded by any such humbugeerv
The freedmen knew very well that they are il.
their happiest and best state when they are at.
work for good and honest employer, and if l l
they have any sense left they will snap their !
fingers at General Howard and his turpentine !
lands, on which horned toad would ind anlv !
! precarious subsistence.