Baton Rouge tri-weekly gazette & comet. [volume] (Baton Rouge, La.) 1865-18??, 1868-02-06

clearly oui own FleWs ieidtife W TIC
late order designating the manner in
which freedmen employed by plant
ers are to be furnished with supplies
by the Government
WHO SHALL AID THE DESTITUTE
FREEDMEN =?
We have maintained that the
chief cause of loss to our cotton
planters has arisen from the making
Of annual contracts for labor, whereby
they bound themselves TO pay and
feed the laborer at the rates fixed by
the price Of the last crop, payable
out OF the proceeds of the mex. CROP
thus guaranteeing to the laborer the
price and weight of the crop to be
grown against food, drouth, frost and
Congressional Legislation As the
price of cotton has declined for the
last two crops annually at the rate
of at least twenty-five per cent. the
planters have fallen short of their
contracts in at least the same proper
ton. That this view of the subject
has instinctively impressed itself ON
the planters has been shown by their
universal unwillingness to embark in
cotton culture this year. 1t has been
made still more obvious by the in
disposition. if not the positive ina
bility Of the factor to aid them. AT
this crisis the Federal Government
comes forward with its order "to re-
lieve the extreme want occasioned
by freedmen being without employ,
ment" through inability of planters
to furnish supplies. AS the friend
of the planting interest, and rs hav-
ing Immediate access to his adviser,
the factor We have deemed it a duty
to make an impartia! examination OF
this order We do this because it
proposes to continue the same an.
nual contract system which we be-
lieve to be the chief cause of the
planters losses. We may premise
that the "Bureau Of Refugees, Freed
men and Abandoned Lands" has
been almost entirely relieved of two
functions. There are no longer any
refugees. There is, we believe, a
very small extent of abandoned
lands The cares of the Bureau are,
then, limited chiefly to the freedmen.
We believe these cares are dimin-
ished by turning the education OF the
freedmen over to the public authori-
ties of learning.
There are other indications Of re-
trenchment in the order assigning
military officers to duty in the Blu
reau and the propositions TO curtail
the appropriations. Ia the mean
time the Bureau develops a new
agency. 1t becomes, to some ex-
tent, the director of cotton produc-
ton The Government has assumed
the care of the freedmen, and has
undertaken to provide for their des-
titutlon by public aims. These aims
are either to be taken from the pub
lie treasury or to be assessed upon
the Southern States or people. The
order to which this article refers pro-
poses to comply with the national
undertaking on behalf of destitute
freedmen by employing the planter
to take the risk of the transaction.
The Bureau offers to furnish pro-
vision supplies to the planter, who is,
therefore, required to guarantee the
support and wages of the destitute
freedman for the whole year. But
what conditions does the Bureau pro-
pose? The planter must give what
is called, under the common law,
penal bond, with security thereon in
the sum OF $500 for every twenty
freedmen employed, conditioned "to
reimburse to the Bureau, before the
expiration Of said year, the full cost
Of such supplies, from the proceeds
OF the crops, Or other products Of in
dustry, raised by hun, or from the
movables on the plantation, used in
the cultivation Of the crop" X
"and that, Immediately upon the sale
of said crops, a sufficient amount of
the proceeds accruing therefrom. to
the full amount, if necessary, shall
be turned over to the proper officer
of the Bureau, in liquidation of his
just indebtedness for the subsistence
advanced"
BUREAU LIEN.
Its moreover stipulated that, in
addition to the proceeds of the crop, !
the Bureau shall have tacit mort
gage on the whole personality of the
planter on the plantation. "He fur
ther stipulates and agrees that.
should there still be balance due