The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-01-18
yyha. We HIVE TO Contend with.

What We ii,s,,c TO Contend with.
We had hoped that the time had
arrived when capital and labor would
be left free to take care of themselves,
and that after disastrous business
year, resulting in great part from the
interference OF Government in the
business affairs of the citizen, VIC
should be untrammelled hereafter by
any such restraints. We perceive.
howeyor that one Major Mosebach,
who does the offices OF the Freed
mems Bureau, at Columbus, has is
sued an order that assumes to take
complete control Of the relations be-
tween the white man and the negro
laborer, and in the arbitrary iudg-
ment Of one man to regulate the
whole question of wages for com
mnnity. The order requires all con-
tracts between white men and freed
men, for labor, to be submitted to
and approved by the Bureau, else the
employer will be required to pay the
freedmen the highest wages paid in
that section; and the freedmen are
informed that they are cat liberty to
leave their employers service at any
tine"
Now, if this sort of dcspotism is to
be kept up in the. South, and ali bus-
ness transactions with the negro
laborers to be subject to the espion-
age and interference Of Government
officials, our people might as we'll at
ouce give up all hopes of prosperity
in the future The civil law is pro-
claimed to be in force, the negro is
declared free man and entitled to
all the civil rights Of the white man,
the Constitution holds sacred the OBJ
legation Of contracts upon every citi-
zen, sound political economy de-
mands that labor and capital shall be
left perfectly free to make their own
adjustments, and yet we have still
power amongst us that claims the
right to set aside all these considera-
tions and dictate the business rela-
tions of society.
Can anything be more dishearten-
ing to the planters of the South than
this? The freedmen have enjoyed
nearly the entile proceeds of their
labor the past year, leaving capital
almost without reward, and yet the
iniqnitous system is still to be kept
up, and the planters of the South
annoyed and dogged at every turn by
prying Government overseers. The
authorities have only to persist in
this hateful and odious policy, in
order to throw the negro entirely out
of the labor market and compel
Southern planters to substitute white
immigrant labor, with which they can
deal in peace.
This; Interference Oh the part OF the
Government in the private affairs of
the citizen, is not only opposed to
every consideration Of sound policy,
but it finds no excuse in the present
relations Of the Southern people to-
wards the freedmen. Our people have
shown disposition, almost univer-
sally, to do fair part by the negro;
and were it otherwise. the latter has
n plenary remedy in his own hands.
If one man will not pay him enough
ioT MS labor. he is perfectly free to
decline the contract and engage with
another. The open competition in
the labor market is sufficient guard
against all imposition. And again,
when contracts are made, aud the en-
PA'JS AtiIo w pei lol III HIS ptIb vi vic
agreement, We have a chenpnud sum
mary process i'll our State Courts 10y
winch the freedman can compel him
To he Just, even to the extentof being
n witness fnr himself Whence, then,
the necessity for Federal interposi
ton? There is none, and the Fede-
ral Government has only to persist
III Its present unjust and rninous
course to utterly break down all in
dnStry at the South This will be its
Certain effect. The suspicion, dis.
trust. ilIwiIl and interruption created
b. >':"!i :: ps.!icy, must inevit... .iy
lead or people either to dispense
vi the negro altogether, or else to
id"'l The broad and fertile fields of the
5 'utii !nto IL barren waste IF the
Frerlnihh'. Bnreau bill is to be exc
cntrl In spirit AMI letter in the face
of such results, then we must make
up onr minds, right or wrong. wise
or foolish, to be sacrificed to the Mo
loch of Fanaticism Macun Jou,uR.
1t will reqnire $50, 900, 600 to run
Afl,.1. ID