New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-06-08
IN THE SOUTH.
THE CONDITION OF THE WHITES.
LEDIToRIAL coRREsfoYprN,cE OF ND 1RprNR

am entirely confident that considera, le number
OF tho Southern people either expect or PURPOSE "a
reehslaVe their former chattes. They no NOR. ey
pec' that than the faded dandy Of fifty fun vo,,,
expects 10 awake tomorrow morning radiant in tbo.
pink-and-white bloom Of one and twenty-five rooto
THAN the topper who has broken his Jug and seen III
thirsty sand swallow the last drop of It's precion.
contents, expects to get drunk tomorrow on tb,,
squandered liquor. None know better than the o,o,.
body of the Southern Whites that the re;nslavenen,
of the Freedmen is a moral impossibility
But, IF you mean 10 ask, Would the ex-slavo.
holders choose TO have their former slaves restored
to them chattes, il they could answer that am
very thankful that the temptation is msrcifnuy
withheld. Wise and thoughtful men there are among
them who sincerely, profoundly rejoice that Amer.
can Slavery is dead beyond the hope Of resurrection
but these are not the majority. am confident tha,
two-thirds of the men. with ninetenths of the wo.
men, who formerly composed the slayeholdng caste
would this day give half their houses and lands TO
nave their slaves back again just they Possessed
them In 1900 They sigh for the good old times when
every Niger" obeyed orders without dreaming Of
resistance OF demur. and without expecting any
pay. They consider themselves robbed by Enamel.
patton; and would like their property back again
or its value in some equivalent 1t goes against the
chattels for service and be sued if they do not full
fill their contract. Their instincts their training
their habits, are shocked by this just as yours would
be ifyour horse cited you before court 5ld com.
PEELED you to show cause for not paying him ten dol
lars per month for last years service.
Then the very general complaint that eve can't
control our labor" has a very real foundation Under
the old regime the slaves had their holidays and
their easy times; but when the Cotton-felds had
been filled with grass during three or four rainy
weeks in May, wherein little could be done all hands
were called out at daylight 80 soon as the soil was III
for blowing, and kept hard at work all tie bright
hours till the crop was "laid by.D Again when tina
picking season commenced all hands-men, women
and children - were called into the fields
and kept at work from daylight till dark
till the crop was secured If any Jagged or
shirked, the whip speedily brought them to their
bearings. All this is changed by Emancipation.
Men talk of 80 many hours TO the days work women
and children are apt to shun feld-wOrk 80 a given
force Say twenty families-will not pick 40
much Cotton in the month as they did ten years
ago. And nearly every negro aspres to be the mas
ter of his own time, and either rent land or work
on shares in preference TO hiring out by the month
OF season. Perhaps this is best for all concerned
but it sadly dwarfs the planters consequence, and
in most cases his profits also. He doesn't like it;
can you wonders
And the change bears much harder on his wife.
She had her duties and her cares under the oldsys
TEN she was no ider no trfer; her duty and her
interest combined TO render her physician-in-Ord.
nary and head-nurse to her Black dependents, and
she often gave anxious days and nights to struggle
with disease at slaves bedside But cooking
washing and other homework, she was never bred
to- and the fail of Slavery threw them all upon her al
moments notice, requiring her az once TO do them
and to learn how. Even when ex-slayes remained
with her as hired servants, they were no longer
docile and Obedient as OF old, when 1t was an
enyed privilege TO serve IN the Dlg mouse
rather than pillow pick in the fields, and the |il9
was always in reserve in case OF need. mus Emah-
cipation has borne heavily on the wives OF the Old
aristocracy and mot being politicians they do not
even affect to welcome the change. Many OF the
wisest and most resolute among them have learned
to do their own work. with their daughters help;
some have obtained White help, mainly of foreign
BIRTH others get on with hired Black servants, but
most Of these get on badly. Thus the female airs
toc1acy of the South are still averse to the great
change they have witnessed, and years must pass
before they can be reconciled 10 it..
learn with great satisfaction that there ia a de-
ClucU improvement HdDlltcJ diloIB Tue poOl
Whites" These formed, under Slavery, the most
hopeless class in the South COurted by the aristOc
racy for their votes, fiattered with their rank az
members of the dominant caste, allowed to build
their shanties on the outskirts of the great panta-
TONS and to breed and train dogs to hunt runaway
slaves in the swamps and denser forests, they grew
up unlettered and irregious, hunted and fshod half
their time grew patch of corn sutierance, bad
pig running in the woods, and lived thrift
less, aimless, worthless life They were far
more fanatical in their devotion to Slavery
than the Shareholders, who seldom deilod their
hands with the mobbing of an AbolitlOnist since the
"poor Whites" were too ready to take the job OF
their hands, For some time after the collapse of the
Rebellion these spent most of their time iding at
the CROSSROADS store or convenient grog-shop
cursing the Yankees and wondering "Vhy The d
nggers didn't go to work. but of late a change IS
apparent Certainly there are idle, trilllng poor
Whites still as there equally worthless BLACKS;
but they are fewer than they have been and growing
fewer day by day. They do not work 50 resoutely'
SO persisenty do their counterparts at the North
but work is no longer disreputable, and many wlo
did not average q fair days work per week under
Slavery do three OF four days work per week under
Freedom. The cOrn-crackers, " "sand-hillcrs,"
"clay-eatersp &c, of the last generation, will DO
unknown as a class a'ter this century.
That those who struggled and fought for Secession
generally believe they right in so doing, can
not doubt. Jefferson Daviss late speeches fairly eA
press their average convictions and feelings but
while they still affirm the right Of Secession am
satisfied that majority of them believe is pracuc
assertion was unwise and inexpedient. They holu
that they should have made their late struggle "
the Union, not against thunder the nag Oh oIi
fathers not that of the Stars and Bars-ln osle''o
defense of the Federal Constitution noth
to its authority. They purpose to rene" INC ns"''
but not with gun and saber. They expect 70 So 81.
~ norocrots through elections the power they lost
a. PebeIs through war. They herein eyince mat
-, ,rbicb nro6ts by the lessons of experience.