The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-01-04
VIII the Freedmen Work .


THE Southern papers and Southern planters
have been continually telling us that the
freedmen are a lazy, worthless, idle set Of
paupers, who expect that liberty means indo-
lence, and freedom implies exemption from
work as well as from the whip. They state
that the black is only fitted for an interior
place in the social scale, and that unless urged
on by the taskmaster he will bask in the sun
and live by theft and petty crime. All these
arguments are used as an extenuation for the
severity and oppression to which the negro
has been subjected in the past, and are in
tended to pave the way to future system of
compulsory labor under a form of peenage of
which we spoke G. few days since.
We have always maintained that the pic
lures of the Southern black as delineated by
their late owners were, and very naturally
too, unreliable. That indignant at the con-
vulsion which had overturned all their precon-
ceived views OF the African, they would not
allow him any Of those qualifications which
belong to him as q man, and took all the
credit for industry from him, by assigning as
a reason the continual goad kept in him by
the owner We have always thought this
most unjust. To condemn man without Civ
ing him a trial is iniquitOus. "Let him have
start in lite" we have said, then if he fails
abuse him as you please, but not until he has
failed after a full opportunity" From recent
advices we have come to feel confident that
when an opening is made for him. the black
will work, it Justly paid, as well as any white,
and that when free, and laboriug for himself
he will do far more than wnen compelled to
labor for fear ofthe lash. The evidence fur
nished by the late Rebel General g. j. Pill
LOW, in letter to General o. o. HOWARD,
is Of the greatest Importance, as his position
as one of the leaders in the Rebellion
whose whole object was to make slavery as
eternal as the hills, will prevent any accu-
sation OF undue favor towards the freedmen
He says:-
''It affords me pleasure 70 inform you that 7
have been successful beyond che most 5anguine
expectations in engaging labor for all my plan
tations in Arkansas and Tennessee. | have
already engaged about 400 freedmen, and have
full confidence in making a success OF the work.
/ have given in all cases the freedmen part of
the crop Of cotton, and allow them land Tor the
cultivation of vegetables ana corn for their own
use without charge therefor. | could have en-
gagged 1000 labOrers # | had needed that number
My brother, who adopted my plan of work, sue
ceeded in engaging laborers for three places ne
is working"
Here, then, is q case in which fair chance
was given to the freedman, and he was found
to labor well, to be an industrious workman,
and one who justly merits a recognition OF
his fidelity to a just employer. The system
adopted by General PILLOW affords a double
inducement, for by a fair amount of wages
he feels that he is well paid, and by giving
him an interest in the fruits of his exertions
another incentive is added. What is true in
Arkansas will be found equally so in all the
South. II is because in South Carolina and
the Gulf States a miserable, unjust, and in-
adequate rate of compensation has been
adopted that the freedmen are unwilling to
work. Treat them fairly, and we will vouch
for their behaving well in return. There will
be exceptions, but, from close acquaintance
with the blacks disposition, we warrant that
gratitude and fidelity will be the return which
viii be accorded to such of their late owners
who act as justly and fairly as General
GIDEON j. PILLOW.