The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1868-05-16
THE LABOR QUESTION.

OIIN Gill W VI r.. ~ tiiiN AL "S''S '>'
will another yea 4" better.
THE Labor QUESTION.
We haze endeavored in several numbers
Of our journal to present to oTr readers an
outline of the agricultural products Of our
Parish, and such other information respect
ing the Land We Love-" both natural and
artificial, as we deemed Of interest. In this
number we desire, aS far as we are able in
so short a space, to answcr some general
enquiries on the labor question p%ropounded
in q private letter By a correspondent resi-
dent in the Northwest.
It is a fact known to all men at the South,
who have practically testel the question,
that the negro, even in a state of scrVitude
and under the control of an intelligent white
master, was a bad worker. Uaceasing Wig
lance was necessary to obtain from him a
fair amount of work, and his efficiency as a
laborer depended altogether upon the ener-
gy and personal supervision of his employ
er. lie retains in America many Of the
chief characteristics which he brought with
him f ON his native Africa. In that coun-
try and in his native state the negro is but
a few degrees removed from the brute crca-
ton, He provides his supply of food pref
tv much as do the wild animals that snr-
round him. H. takes no thought of the
morrow" and only seeks food as the era
wings of hunger press him to it. In f ct,
the ant tribe and many of the smaller ami
mails are his superiors III this respect; he
lays by no ~"store," and the intelligent thrift
ty example of many of the dumb creatures
around him teaches no lesson to his sloth,
full understanding. In America he retains,
we say, much Of his natural character.
Centuries have not produced any visible
change in his status at his native home
retrogression rather than progress, moral or
intellectual, is his normal condition. In
this country the measure of civilization of
which he is possessed, has been acquired
by contact with The white race. He holds
on to that civilization by virtue of his con
tact with the whites. Isolate him from the
superior race and Immediately he begins to
lapse into his native barbarism. This is
strikingly demonstrated in the religion of
the negro. During the reign Of slavery he
was taught scriptural tenets and intelligent
worship by competent white clergymen
Since the wal they have entirely severed
themselves from all christian worship with
the whites; they studiously avoid white
peoples churches and ask from them no
counsel in religious matters. The conse-
ouence is observed to be the same through
out the South: th:ir worship resembles
more than anything else that we know of,
the performances of Arabian dervises their
g~roanings, howlings, contortions of the
body, and meaningless rawlings are often
dreadful to witness and convince all intelli-
gent observers that his religion is even now
but q few degrees removed from VoudQu-
ism.
Now, intelligent. systematic and indee
pendent labor can nc more be expected from
the negro in his present state than a pure
and orthodox christianity. If he could
work faithfully and persA ently in any in
dependent capacity. his d ity to educate,
to hold on to and to improN is civilization
would be at once demonstrated But with
out the white mans aid he cahV&o nothing.
Set him up and give him nothing to hold
on to, and he inevitably falls. This is the
eternal character of the negro, let pdlitici-
ans of the Sumner and Greedy stripe write or
preach what they may.
From the above reasonirg-we should
rather say, statement of facts-as well as
from the experience of all Southern people
who have undertaken the vexatious and al
most futile effort to cultivate the great sta
ples of the South with the labor of freed
men, we state our conviction that the latter
are inefficient and unreliable as laborers,
unless they can be placed in a position d.
reetly under the control. and personal su-
peryision of their white employer; and this
can only be accomplished by the employer
taking the plow and assuming himself, not
the direction simply, but the actual leader
ship in all f,rming operations. The negro
in obedience to his natural instincts will
Eotgoua where some one goes before. To
attempt to drive or to persuade him to 60,
is perfectly useless. But the plan pointed
out by nature and by right reason has been
successful. Freedmen have proven valua,
bic and efficient laborers on farms wherever
their white meployer set them a personal
example of honest persistent labor. Hand
some returns have rewarded both black and
white lasborers where this plan has been
faithfully tried, We earnestly recommend
a trial of it to all those who up to this sea-
son have so signally failed TO make freed
mems labor productive. Let them adopt
our suggestion, and we doubt not they will
soon experience the value of it. We are
firmly convinced that only upon the adop-
ton blythe Southern people of some such
plan can they expect to be restored to any
degree OF that prosperity and financial inde-
pendence they formerly erjoved.