The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-04-03
CHI ARIES TON.
WEDNESDAY MORNING, APRIL 8, 1867.
FREE NEGRO LABOR.

FREE NEGRO LABOR.
t.The Ordeal Of Free Labor in the British
West Indies is the title Of highly instruc-
tive volume, recently published by Mr.. VIII
LIAM G. SEwELL,-one Of particular interest at
this time to us of the unreconstructed South
ern States That the history of the British
West Indies is, in many cases, analogous to
ours is so obvious, that for thirty years, ever
since the abolition Of slavery in those Islands,
Jamaica has been standing repertory, from
which editors, orators and pamphleteers drew
their illustrations. Of course, as is always the
case in such controversies each party found
confirmation Of its own preconceived theory, in
contemplating the history Of those colonies,
since the emancipation Of their slaves. This
may seem strange. Can tho same tree bear
both sweet and bitter fruit? Yet it is not
whit more strange than those angry and never
ending controversies the world ha- Witnessed
for upwards Of eighteen centuries, where we
see opposite sects and parties, each strenuous
" contending that its own, and no other, is
the true rendering Of the sacred text.
The West Indies were like these Southern
States in many respects, and unlike them in
others. In order, therefore, to draw any useful
lessons from their history, it is first necessary
that we should be well acquainted with that
history, ,and not rely upon loose impressions on
the one hand, nor allow ourselves to be misled
BY books written for partisan purposes. Mr.
sEwELk appears to have been as nearly nnbi-
assed us csn be expected from m intelligent
cnfo of ar
have uprooted our social and political system.
He says he went to tie West Indies with no
cherished theory Of his own on the subject of
slave or free labor, and that he regarded the
question Of the comparative value and success
Of free over slave labor as one purely CONNER
cial. He was, Mt the outset of his investiga-
tlons, of opinion that emancipation had ruined
those islands; but the result of his labors seems
to be altogether different from that of other
travellers and writer's who have preceded him.
Be it remembered he distinctly disayows
'sphilanthropicaP' and fanatical prejudices. He
says that with the exception Of Jamaica all the
islands are wealthier and more prosperous
than they were thirty years ago,-that if they
produce less sugar, this deficit is more than
sounterbalanced by other articles Of export,
that even sugar can be cultivated with more
economy by free than by slave labor, and
that the Jamaica sugar estates had reached
their acme long before the Emancipation Act
and had commenced steadily to decline n
'sThe embarrassmentso of the planters in those
day" he says, tswere owing to heavy incura-
brances, to want of capital, to extravaganza
and absenteeism. In 1892; before the abolition
oi jug slnve t1nue, KEEP
resentatives reported that within twenty years
l27 estates had been sold for debt Again in
1907 the same body reported that in the ave
years preceding the abolition Of the slave trade
% estates had been abandoned In 1881 it
was the policy Of the planters to prove the ex-
pense of slave labor, and to show that without
the slave trace they could not produce sugar as
Fit was produced in those islands where the
traffic was not prohibited. In the parliamen-
tary blue books Of the day. we find the most
elaborate statistics Of the cost of slave labor.
and among other items Of their expensive
system, one which fixed the average number of
non effective slaves on an estate. at 80 and 40
per cent, was strenuously urged
Mr. sEwELL says that the planters have now
become thoroughly reconciled to free labor,
and consider the present system more profitable
than the old method Of cultivatine with slaves.
True, very many OF the West India estates
were abandoned, but he. thinks il the indo-
lence Of the negro were one cause a second
may be found, as history proves, in the mort
cages with which they were burdened and y.
third, as practical observation win demon
strate, in the uncertain and impolitic relations
that have existed since emancipation between
landlords and tenants s5' IA. Rs ::s2=sss s=2,
He then goes on. 70 show how the present
system works in Barbados; where 100 OOO
acres out Of m area Of lO6, 600 are under cul
tivatlon, and the population per square mile
is greater, even than in China, where: the aver
age price Of land is $500 an acre and where.
therefore, the laborer must make his choice
between steady, uninterrupted work, at low
wages, or starvation These facts, we:beaicve;
are knownto our readers, but can 81 no way
be considered as al example either. Of the less
populous West India Islands, or serve as a type
81 what we may expect. to see in our States;
but Mr:asEwELL. gives many statistics to show
that free labor in the main is now working
vel in il, the West Indies, and that It is. mora
economical than slave labor.-.:H asserts lit te
be anerroneous idea, that, unless compelled / te
workthe negro will lie an day in fhe sun s,i
and + i've s' on piece Of sugar cane !; that he
Witnessed nothing, in. sthe British. West Indies
giving any couutenanoe: to it, He says: ..Tha
uneducated, uncivilized negro has ulndoub ubtedl;vI I
many fau1ts Of character and detects sof intel,
lect, and will be lazy and thriftless, TOO be-
fore he has. acquired the habit, OF felt the
responsibility Of working FOR his dali, bread.
But gtl' when he that responsibiiity,
as ne does comprehend it now in the British
West Indies, he will work readily enough
With'the exception If Jamaica, Mr ssssI,s5 sssWIns4
thinks free labor has all Tic, British t West
India islands proved decided success The
3seline Of Jamaica he attributes to other. sauses
than emancipation. ct Jama;ca Z tuiI1doulbtediv
approaches the eircunstances in .our On Southern
states more nearly than: any OF the; 9th er isl
lands, with this exception, however; very much
in our favor, that we have much larger white
population ii every part Of the South, than
Jamaica a & ever had within. the same ;area. A !sY
We. stated in eur. introductory remarks that
the viewsset forth Mr.. sEwELI' BOOK are J., at