The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1866-03-16
slack Peters's Negroes.''


community in more ways than one. ]
is now generally acknowledged ths
the freedmen work well; last Chrisi
mas exploded the foolish notion thai
having been made free, they would, 8
the first opportunity, run a muel
against the rest of the community; anI
now it begins to be discovered tina
their liberation is a source Of grea
prosperity TO the local merchants anC
traders. An Alabamisn writes to Mr.
Blow, of Missouri:
81 am happy TO state to you that oul
free negroes are doing finely We have
no trouble with them. They have al
gone TO work manfully. They give an
impetus to trade that we never before
had l have sold Jack Peters negroes
more goods this year and last year than
| ever sold Peters, aud he owned four
hundred and fifty negroes. So you see
the tree-negroe system is working well
with US.
OF course they give an impetus to
trade; they have money to spend; they
have desire to live comfortably, to
dress decently, to fit up their houses
/ are
earning wages, they will spend all they
make in the neighborhood Shops and
stores, for some time to come, for ar
ucles which before, while they were
slaves, they never could have.
A planter like Peters, whom this Ala
bamian speaks OF, bought all his sup
plies at wholesale in one of the great
business centres, Mobile, Memphis,
New Orleans, Atlanta, Charleston or
Savannah, whichever was nearest to
him He bought only the coarsest
stutfs and the cheapest food for his
slaves as he paid for the whole, and
had large bill to settle, he naturally
got as little for them as they could live
upon; and as for himself and his fami-
lyi they spent their money in New Or
leans or in the North Thus the small
trader, the country storekeeper, who is
an important and prosperous individual
IN a free community, had hard strug-
gle for it in the South.
But it is not alone by the money spent
by Jack Peters's negroes" that this
Alabama merchant, from whose letter
we quoted above, will benefit. The
whole community on whose custom he
depends will become more able to sup
port him, will increase their trade with
him, under the free labor system. The
rich planter living upon his estate, own
ed his slave mechanics, went North or
to Europe when he wanted to amuse
himself, and had no interest in the So
cial advancement of the country in
which he happened to be settled. Why
should he care for schools his chill
dren had tutors at home OF went to
Northern colleges. Why should he seek
TO form or elevate society around him
When he wanted company he went
to Charleston, or Savannah, or Mobile,
or New Orleans, or New York. Why
should he buy the small farmers
truck q His own slaves raised all he
wanted Why should he employ freeI
mechanics? He preferred to buy
carpenter, and sell him again when the
work was done. He would not help
to support the village stoTe-if there
was one-for, as we have said, he
bought his supplies at wholesale in the
great city. He did not need the vii
lage tailor, for his clothes were made
in New York. His wife did not en-
ploy the village milliner, for she got
her dresses from New Orleans, or New
York, or Paris In short, the planter,
under, the slave system, had no inter-
est in the county where he happened |
to own soil, except to raise as much
cotton off the land &s possible he spent
the proceeds away from home
Ur-k I, 1ol nlI l., ., = L i
The freedmen, as their condition be-
comes more settled and themselves
more prosperous, will have more com
Portable houses they viii buy more
comfortable ald more abundant cloth
ing, they will live better in every way,
and this will make work for mechanics !
Of ali kinds, carpenters, blacksmiths,
tailOrs, nssons, &c, 6c. These, be- |
coming in turn prosperous, viii still |
further increase the stoGeEeeper's bust !
ness, for they sre all small purchasers,
who deal at the local shop. They will |
also create a demand for the butter |
eggs, chickens and other small track, |
which forms one of the most important |
items Of New England farmers |
profits, but for which, under the slave |
system, there was no call And thus |
will be built up a free society, which |
naturally falls into villages, with schools,
churches, shops, and artisans in various |
branches, all drawing their support |
from the surrounding country, and |
making mp = prosperous and happy |
community.
Nor must we forget another point,
where the free labor system will bene- |
tit all classes; it will make working cap |
ital greatly more abundant in the |
South than il could be under the slave |
system. Formerly, a planter with If
teen thousand dollars capital paid say |
three thousand dollars for his land, and |
had then to spend all the rest twelve |
thousand, in the purchase of slaves,
leaving him Cramped in lhis means-in |
fact, a poor man from the start But |
the same man can now afford to pay |
twice as much for his land, and yet have |
nine thousand dollars left with which |
to improve it, to buy the best tools, and |
TO help on various local enterprises cal |
culated to benefit more or less directly |
his own undertaking.-N J. Post