The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1866-08-24

I agency and influence ofthe Freedmen's
Bureau. The hands on the MisSissip-
pi steamboats, are not required TO make
contracts, and they are getting $40 q
month and their board for labor less
exacting than that of a plantation ne
gro. The freedmen on the Ogeechec
and Savannah Rivers are receiving, on
the rice plantations, from $40 to $l5 per
month under contract for the year,
while the laborers employed on the
Georgia Central Railroad, which runs
between these two streams, are get ing
81 80 a day. Some complaints were
made to US by the planters on the Sa-
vannah river that their laborers were
disc0ntented and did not work rs re-
quired by their contracts. One Of the
planters, practical, liberal-minded
man, explained the cause Of the dis
content to be the low WAGES at which
the negroes We're hired. He said: 81
tteI Ett lStii'4o tiIbuSits anu sVO't " VI N
done, too, by paying adollar day and
rations; and am paying that, and eX-
pect to pay even more. can give 50
a day and make money. The negro j.
going to make all he can out Of his free
dom, and hehas right todo So" The
enlightened policy advocated by this
gentleman-a policy strictly in accord
ance with justice and sound political
economy-is defeated by the contract
system, inaugurated and forced into
practical operation by the officers Of the
Frcedmen's Bureau. We met with in
stances Of freedmen working for so a
month and rations, under yearly con-
tracts sanctioned by the Bureau, while
in the same field, doing the same work,
other freedmen, not under contracts,
were getting 81 day and rations. In
all the large towns in the Mississippi
valley. during the months Of May and
June. planters were OferingS1 per day
and rations for freedmen, while under
the sanction Of Government, given by
the officers and agents of the Bu-
reau. thousands Of freedmen We're work
ing under contract for so per month.
If the 1reedmanareleftf free to contract,
the demand f0rtheir labor and thccom-
petition among employers viii secure
them good wages and kind treatment.
They will not contract with men who
treat them haFshIy or fail to pay them,
as is abundantly proven by the fact that
many planters who treated their for
mer slaves cruelly are now unable to
hire freedmen to work for them, and
have been obliged to sell or lease their
plantations.
We are unable to discover why the
simple rule, which regulate and con-
troll the relations of labor and capital
in the Northern States should not OBJ
tain as we'll in the South-why the ma
tiOnaI Government should permit the
laboring man to sell his labor to the
highest bidder in one section Of the
country, and appoint an agent to sell
it for him in another section. 1t is un-
dOubtedly rue that if the freed people
Of the South were not bound by con
tracts their WAGES vould he ~ least fir-
~ ner cent. hiober at This time than
they are, and there would be less dis
content amopo the freedmen than now
avis+s and tor loss duty for tho oro,ts
Of thp Ruroan to nerform Almost the
only dissatisfaction ovis+inn - -I,is
time a,nonn freedmen rasnIts rro,, tba
low rate Of wares at which they have
henn hired undar tho infiuanrn and
with tbe onnrovaI of tho aoants of the
Bureau, This discomfort makes the
freedmen unwiIIino 70 ,yorI, and tbcir
indoIonro nrovo1,a- tho nI,ntar who
not rrrraonnntI,- ra.ovts to ,.foro,na to
o,f,r.o hi, oor+ro.+ and f5;. ,,oI.o,
b,,-;no.- for tho ,,f4f c,or who .,,,,t;o,,od
+ba o,p+,..,.t T,,-a.tf,r,+io,, r,Iro,,.,
.,I4;,,o. ,,~o.,Ir,- :, f,I;,o +b, e.,.,d
,,,a,'... f,,,,4 r,n ,,,r,,.;.a - I,,.,,a
,ardfn-, - tho;, c,,tr,a+.57 .,n,1 4,,n,.,ra
..,,,i,<1l - ,.ot,,.., -, tIa ,,,,,.'t;o,,
,,.lI:i .1, ,,.,,t,,;.I,.,,;t .,
,,f.+o,,,,,an =, -.,,,, ,,,.a., - =,
t,,ro tr,a ,,n+,,,n+ : ,1anforoI enrs,f,a,7
~. t,,a ,I,,at,e ~, ,,,.,,,.,,, ,,.,,l,,
,,,.l :. f.on, t,a -, f,,Iia,, ,' +,,,.
Iat;,, ,, I,,,(,, ,,,, 49, s.9.,,, ,,,', :,