Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-04-10

~ nauohl less. ans he quantity of
got rom him much greater
considering the negroes g an aggregate
nd the planters or employers of labour
as unit, emancipation has not annihi-
1.tea the Q property Of the South
THAT property was the labour which the
4. ves furnished. So far As the negroes
have not dsed, that labOur remains.
Onlv Il costs the employer somewhat
more. of course, the mere sale Of q
negro did not in any degree add to the
wealth Of the county. When a. sold
one n ri. the fabour Of the country was
not increased, nor vas Its wealth.
Neither was A.. any richer. He had an
equaI value to that which he had before.
When an Englishman buys $4,000,
ConsoIs, be does not buy the capital, IN
reality, but he invests SO many pounds,
IN order to receive an annuity OF eS5O or
e4Oo Der annum. What is the land,
Lord COKE asked, but the profits
thereof"
The raising Of cotton viii not be un-
profitable. therefore, nor are the planters
IMPOVERISHED in reality, by the emanci-
nation Of the negroes. The labouri is yet
here; onIy 1t will cost them
somewhat more per annum. Even
that is net so certain. II is
not 80 sure that 1t is not quite as
ebeap, considering everything, to hire
negroes, as to oWH them. Before the
war. II AS negro died, he lost his value.
Now, it is the country only that loses, SO
much labour.
That the planter paid enough Tor the
isbour of the slave is proven by the FAC
that mere manual lsboUr has never been
worth more to the mass OF labourers,
than their food and clothing. In Eng
land and Ireland, to-day, it is not worth
that. We well remember when, about
lls4s, white lsbourers could be hired IL
Arkansas at nine dollars a month, and
found. The wages the negro now gets
high as they are, do not more than sup
mort him, and that in a very humble
vav. If we consider the number o
| children the negroes had, the care takeT
Of them. the abundant food supplied
them. their comfort and exemption from
/ Iabour while small, and the security
AGAINST de~stitution in old age anc
sickness. Of every man and woman, n'
Iabourers were ever sc well paid q
The slaves, and no employers as badly
Maid as their owners. The negroes have
suffered more in the last year, than they
did in the twenty that preceded thu
war; and their sufEerings have only be
gun for their Iabour will prove unproht
able. and their wages be so reduced IL
time, as not to keep them from
want. Although the labour is not ami
biIated, it is no longer so owned as to b
\ basis for credit to the planter anC
there have been few cotton-plahters wh'
have not owed what wealth they accu
mulated to their credit. That is th'
greatest loss by emancipation that tn
negro is no longer a basis for credit. ID
belongs to himself; and so has, as h
will find, the worst Of masters, the mos
improvident. the least capable Of takin!
care of him.
He may as well dismiss the notion
that his owner always robbed him, b!
taking his labour for an nsuticientremu
n~eration, and becoming enriched by 1t
And the planter should be satisfies
that he has not lost the whole value o
his slaves, and that accompanying
unavoidable, not on account Of the eman
cipation Of the negro, but for other rea
sons that have always existed. Whenth'
time comes, as it soon will, that the black
will hire for a term Of years, then FIRE.
labour will be more protitably employees
than slave labour was. There are mode
in which it can be made profitable now
and if planters will in q great measur0
cease the production Of cotton, and dis
pense with one-half of the labour the!
now employ, employment instead o
Iabour will be in demand, wages will b,
lowered, and capital will dictate its owl
| terms. If the experiment Of making tn.
negroes ~freeholders is tried, it will no
last five years. Labor must serve l
is the infexible law but cotton-plantinl
makes capital dependent on it, ant
therefore must be a failure.