The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-01-21
CHAR L ES=TON

J IL II L l. IL ~ =.
MONDAY MORNING, JANUARY 81, 1867.
THE QUESTION OF LABOR.
Population is wealth, and healthy muscle the
main prc3 OF society. While the secono' the niss
and the fourth estate are oil essential to the Well
being of the body polite, they are mere rones 40
4 compared with the thrdestate, the bone ana sheM
oY the land, the laboring class. The producer Is
tho +rna Atlas vino supports the world. Wo claim
no originality fol- these views, well aware 'tla1 tnes
arc as old as society, and cooVa With reason' Duo
trnths because Of their worry familiarity are ol1e
nnderYalucd. or allowed to pass by unneeaeo' anu
II il salutary on occasions to seize tne nle 'no
scrape off the rust age and realize Tor ourselves
that ideas arc not worthless, simply because Sney
aro old.
For centuries tile negro has been tho agr1cultu-
rol 1,borer OF these States. True there have poem
all along white operatives also both on tnelr own
account and in the employment OF others, put In
tho sum total of the working population OF the
Southern States, the latter merely represented an
nneppreciable fraction While the white race nlieo
all the varied positions in ife the negro, nearly
oou llinc it in number-in some States the prepon-
deratng element-was almost exclusively engaged
IN t;Il;re the soil. This was considered his specla.
vo :ation he was admirably adapted tor IT, anu oo
his work well. BY his labor these States attained
proud pre-eminence among the NATIONS OF INC
earth as the producers Of several valuable staples
which, from long use, have become Indispensable
tn the civilized world The cotton, sugar. rice anu
tobacco the very props Of the worlds commerce.
were the products almost exclusively OF negro Ii
bor. The system had been brought to great per-
fecton, and the autocrats OF trade at distant
centres could count with oil but certainty on tne
extent of Southern crop Of cotton or tobacco;
! tho prcuitiousness of the season being the on1y
contingency.
This system, however, that was found to work SO
we'll, has been destroyed. Slavery, the conoitlon
Of our laborers, was found Incompatible W1tn tue
snrit of the age,"-not, We honestly and sincerely
! believe because it was not adapted to the negro,
or because proven 60 have been unjust to him not
beca7sc it has been shcwn that the negro was not
ma comfortable or as contented under it a. the pea
santry Of any o.her age or country. No, these
reasons oil weighed as nothing. The abolition OF
slavery was demanded because our enemies could
not endure the CALLING idea OF the Southern plan
ter being better off than themselves. Whether or
not his condition Was thus enviablc is not to the
present purpose. Slavery fell under tho ban of
modern philanthropy, tho greatest Of ty1ants and
blindest of bigets. With true Mahomnedan zeal,
sbe called on fire and sword as her minister's and
saw her efforts rewarded with tho same gratifying
success as the early apostles OF the Islam.
Slavery is dead, Req,tiescat in poce but the ne
proes are left so the land they were wout to cuti
yate, and so arc the planters, under whose direc-
ton they used to work. Thus we find all the factors
still present, their mutual relation only changed.
In order to live, people must eat, and in order to
eat they must work-Ee they black or be they
white; and how to work to advantage, Under the
new order of things, is now tho great problom of
these States This question is Of vital importance
! to the farmer, the mechanic. the merchant, the
banker, and the poGtician,-for upon its proper
solution depends our very existense. Whether or
not our Representatives shall be permitted to tako
their seats an Congress; whether the President
shall be mpeached, and the Supreme Court reor-
ganized; whether our present State government
shall DO subverted and give place to territorial
rule all these are questions of the greatest sguf-
cance to us, but they YIELD in the univorsalty Of
their application, rs well as in the degree of ln-
trinsic Importance to the great question of meat
and bread. How can the white man and the negro
best work together, cultivate the land, and pro-
duce food for the peoples
The problem is complicate and difficult, but not
new. Slavery has been abolished in other coun-
tries (though perhaps nowhere with the same
suddennoss and rccklessness to consequences as
was tho case here), and chaos, as far rs regards
social economy, has been the result in every
instance. It is of those events in the narration
OF which history cannot be said to be philosophy
teaching by example. A repetition of instances
affords US no useful experience. The evil in every
case has had to work its own unaided cure. We
believe that, considering all the circumstances, no
have nothing to complain OF. Our citizens have
become reconcilcd to the "new ORDER" at least us
much SO as could be reasonably expected. When
the war was at Oh end We lost but little time in
idle regrets and vain repinings, but took survey
of what little was left, determined to make that
little more
The freedmen also, on the whole, did very we'll
last year AS yet no sinister influences had been
brought to bear upon them With very few ex-
ceptons, they felt an aft ction, a strong heredi-
tary attachment to their late masters; to their
cabin on the old plantation, and to all the thou
sand objects that throw IN endearing charm around
home. Very naturally they had moro confidence
in their masters, whom they had known all their
lives, than in the strange, volunteer philanthrope
who forced his benevolence upon them. There
was accordingly little difficulty in making "con-
tracts" for 1866.
But during the past yoar things changed very
much. There were in the first instance twelve
months Of hard work and the African loves not
work more than the individuals of other races,-ho
had been told that he free why should he still
have to work so hard and so steadily? His wages
was to consist in share Of the crop, and he
naturally considered himself joint proprietor to
the extent Of his share and therefore at liberty to
do that which he listed with his OWL, to work or
not as he felt inclined. The season was bad, and
seeing but tttle prospect Of making good crop
he became discouraged, careless Of his own as of
his employers interest. Disputes, chickering's,
luarrels and law suits were the consequence. The
FFeedmens Bureau, having it's ramifcations in
every part Of the country necessarily exercised an
injurious influence upon the labor OF tho State
No matter how just its agents, and how much dis
posed to do all in their power to preserve harmony
and good order between the two races, their mere
presence was a standing incentive to the ignorant
or indolent negro to carry his grievances, or
imaginary,-to the Bureau
We will not say that the freedmen only have
been to blame in all such disputes. Far from it.
We have reason to believe that there arc bad men
among us as elsewhere, and that isolated instances
there have been where planters have not disdaincd
to take advantage Of the ignorance of the opera
tive, and have attempted to ovcrreach him. We
are ashamed to be compelled to confess to tho