The weekly standard. (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1865-1867, 1866-02-17

Iilsss -le party falllng to aatpmeo |
cotton, by confinement in the Of y
entiary, not exceeding five wears, bf
-.---- - : 'f--NN Foil
for double the amount due on
dvance IL seems, tnereIore, uhat Lies Of
legislature of Mississippi in this Not
-. hoe .euarsad the policy of The hd
price OF cotton in the great commercial
centres4of the price of such things as
we are obliged to buy in Port Gibson
and the Gulf-cotton goods, groceries,
sploughs, axes and farming tools gener-
ally. If the .Sub-C Commissioner goes
his rounds according to directions in
Circular No. 1, he might give informa-
ton Of the progress of the labor sys-
tenn we are experimenting with Here
abouts, it does tolerable5 great def
cheney of hands, and those at work are
rather slowa4 On some farms there are
not one tenth of the old force others
a less ratio-on none the requisite
number to cultivate the open lands.
On the Big Bayou Pierre. above Grind
stone. ford, are half a dozen or more
farms in the hands of lessees vmen of
enterprise and means, who have sup
piled themselves with laborers and ma
terial, and the places are beginning to-
Il + s i : =
assume an old time appearance build
ings and fences repaired-smoke from.
trash and log heaps ploughs speed
/ ing. Whether it will last long enough
to realize ON old time cropIis to beseen.
Occasionally laborer breaks contract
and ranks. No one has yet thought
worth while to bring them back. Many
of the older planters are sitting cross
kneed,. looking, on, fearing to throw
good money after bad They discuss
the question of Introducing white Ia
Dor american or Foreign and trying
the tenant system. e If the current year
should want success, Messrs. Freed
men will have to give place to the ubi-
guitous Yankee, Irish and German, with
the labor saving implements; their in
dustry, frugality and keen scent of
dollar, and before this generation shall
have passed away they will be propfie-
tors of the soil and nurses Of KING
IGOIYON. .o4f sojsias ss5a1ia ~ als
There never was s such time for poor q q,
men to ,startMa returned soldier, for
example, who has been lucky enough
to get home with all his limbs andfac-
ulties, and is no more afraid OF hard
work than of 'hardships of war, and
Yankee bullets, # he has. o hell, meet
and Q boy or two big enough to plow,
assnsd o, girl to help mother, all the bet
ter. He can make his bread and po+
tatoes, fatten his pork and feed his
work stoclk,4-and FIVE, ten, 81, twenty
bales of cotton-good wife, meantime,
making homespun, and q little at mar
ketting from the dairy, poultry yard
and garden. Atthe end of the year
he may have$50O $1000sorA $4,000 which
he cannot lay out for a nigger:: He
viii put it in land, town, lots, stock,
manufactoGriingg or srrai railway " in q saw
ings bank or at interest. In Gye, ten
ortwenty years. 7heican take theshade.
He viii be rich. l.'s y
White men can make cotton. in Mis-
sissippi. This writer lived half acen-
tury. near the banks of the river, en-
{ gagged in calling which afforded am
pie opportunity for observation. He
has seen them do it, and make more
and better cotton on an acre of ground
] than negro slaves ever did. Why have
J they not all done it? Because the In
dustrious and frugal soon get above
the necessity, and will again. In place
! of giving from $1,000 to $4,000 for I
negro, they will hire laborer for les
! than the interest on that sum 5tone whc
! will work without the incentive Of th'
! overseer and lash, take care Of his tool
! and teams, and pick his cotton clean
1t is not the making Of cotton in tn
! summer heats, that is SO destructive o
! life to field laborers--itis the gather
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