The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1870-01-15
A Question for n Coming Season.

1t is not very encouraging to witness
the waste of the staple productions of
the past season, for want of timely and
reliable labor. Unpicked cotton has
whitened the ground, and the yield of
cane has not always been adequate to
the amount planted in consequence Of
want of proper culture and scarcity of
labor in the rolling season.
There is certainly an improvement on
last year, but still waste that we can
i'll afford in our present impoverished
condition. One hand cannot 90 the
work of five, and in too many instances
we have seen more than half crop of
cotton lost for want of piUaers Every
where, in the last season, we saw fertile
nature holding out over-runEing hands,
as if in mookery of our impotence to
avail ourselves of her profuse lavishness.
Of course the labor problem must in
time adjust itself. Countries overcharg
ed with population will find natural
outlet for their swarming millions in a
vast country demanding labor for its de-
velopment.
Whether China is to send the coming
man or not, John bids fair to gain
firm hold in our agricultural districts.
and who ever knew him to relinquish it.
We do not share in the terror which
the advent Of Chinese laborers seems to
inspire in the country. What work
they have done for us has been done
throughly and neatly. As cooks ane
house servants. in the laundry, garden
and field, nothing can surpass their ex-
actness; but it precisely in consequece
of this initiative exactness that, thoug b
fair share of the industries of the coun-
try will fall to their share, they never
usurp the inventions Or the countrol of
any great work. They are "genre'
workmen, and like all genre talent do
not aspire beyond faithful rendering Of
minor details.
-Au reste, why need we fear the demo-
ralizing influence of these Orientals !!
DO we really believe that they are going
to impress their individuality upon our
morals, customs and government That
the rushing century turning traitor to
progress, is going backward to land us
amidst the Buddhism, pig-tails and
''Din" of petritied superstition Have
we lost faith in the governing powers OF
race which has impressed its peculiar
civilization upon the most remote coun'
tries and inaccessible people?
We do not believe it. As a nation
we are fond OF croaking, and forever on
the verge Of crisis. To-day it is the
Chinese who are to be the Blunder bores
to swallow US, bones and all. But We
are of those who believe that Blunder
bores, under certain restrictions, are the
best hewers OF wood and drawers DIVA
ter that nation can have. There is ;
tamiug process in the government
schools, and liberal views Of nation
like ours, which Can deal with the will
dest or hardest of materials, and assimi
late them to itself.
! As for the freedmen's labor, of cours
their patrons are the loudest in denun
citation Of the foreign movement. w
grant that it it was procurable it Nigh
be best; but ask the planters of the las
season how many lost crops they ca
bear before they give up the pet theor,
of the "child of the SOIL"
Their work is not as thorough as tha
OF the Chinese, though twice as dea
Their habits are more thrlftless, an
their Voudou superstitions more deadly
But even We're it different, as a race the
, are indisposed to work for more than th
! wants of the passing hour They a,
, proverbially indolent, and careless of th
future.
If we were allowed choice, it is ce
tain we would prefer a tide Of Norther
, emigration; men like ourselves, WI
would strengthen our hands morally. s.
. cially and politically. If that is impo
) sible, We must at least have hands
develope the material prosperity of tt
+ country. The reckless waste Of the la
I season must be avoided. The outrag 6
: GUS expenses by which labor was S
cured, when secured at all, must be +
medied also. Before the Chinese vic
and superstitions could degrade us to
lower level, they would have assisted
to build so solid fabric of materi
prosperity that their own slough wou
have been utterly bridged over. L
e labor come in from any part of Il
il world and it will be welcome N.
Times.