The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-04-21
T N LABOR.

l VI. w. DUDl.Ef-
~
COTTOE. AND LABOR.
No Additional Laboring Population
Needed for our Cotton Fields.
The following sensible communication ap-
pears in the New Orleans Times:
AS the question of labor seems to occupy so
| much attention, ] propose to state q few plain
facts that appear not to have been noticed oy
| a single one OF the many writers who have
lately discussed this subject. Numerous prop
ositiona are made to increase the LABOR IN tne
field, and for this purpose many propose 10
draw on Europe for a foreign supply. l ask
| what do we want with more laborers than are
| now here ? Have we not already thousands of
idlers, backed up by more than four million
bales of cotton, as the result OF last years
work Does not this show enough for the
| cotton planter?
The figures at which the staple IS selling
| tells US that the ~consumptive demand IS sup
piled and that any increase OF crop would re-
duce the price still lower. Surely every plan
| ter will say this must not be-. No planter is
| willing to bargain Tor a less price than he got
! for his crop last season, yet tie proposition so
| often made to import laborers from another
| country would, If carried out. Increase the
crop and decrease the price. This is no theo-
retical conclusion, but a plain, practical tact,
| which has been illustrated a thousand times
| ever to the knowledge of every one. Any one
| will readily perceive, II he will look fairly and
| s~auarely at the cotton question, in connec-
tion with the amount Of labor needed, that
there Is nothing more to 90 IN mat
line. The crop OF 1870 tells hat the
produced to supply the spinners of the whole
world, besides giving q surplus TO specu-
lators to hold over. This settles the cotton
question, and it also settles the labor or niger
question. Four million bales puts a stop to
the everlasting cry OF "Niggers won't work"
We must dry up on that: subject, The proof is
worked down The price Of the great staple,
and this is very bad for the planter. 1t has
been done, too, with no increase Of effort, for
it is well known that the amount OF labor 10
the field last year was considerable less t9an
was required heretofore to produce such are
suit as the last season gives. This apparent
mystery is explained by an Increase OF skill IN
cultivating, and by the use OF Improved impIe-
ments for planting, transplanting and cultiva-
ting. Machines bave not only lessoned the
work of planting, but have facilitated the cul-
ture by the plough in a way That the SLOW pro-
cess Of destroying weeds With the a Is,
Then the Implements for transplanting
lessons considerably the labor OF the
cotton growers, for with 1t plants can be
moved without disturbing the roots from
which they are too thick, and set TO growing
Immediately In places made vacant by cut
worms and other causes. A perfect stand, so
essential to a full crop. Is obtained IN Ibis way.
and in cases where the ground is very ioul,
aud the hoe would necessarily have to DE
used a great deal, only one-half the usual rows
are planted, and, when the plants are three or
four inches high, they are removed TO newly
prepared beds on: each side Of the old row
where everything is fresh and clean, and the
plants in o condition that will enable the crops
TO be cultivated entirely with the plough. The
ploughs, now being brought into use enables
the Vorkmen to tend the crop much more
skilfufly and emily than heretofore. These
things show why it Is that, with lever hands
In the field than were used In times past, a
crop has been made considerably greater than
the average crops of other years.
Now, when the various improved machines
for working in the cotton field are brought
into general use as they unnecessarily will be,
what are we. 70 expect but q full crop made
with no more than half the usual amountNf
labor under the old system OF working
Is it not clear then that the cotton fields
will soon be able to get along with far less
ton as the spt1dles can work, or as there Is
any need of 10 supply the demand for cloth !
1t will not do to produce any surplus above
the ~consumptive demand, ior cotton IS not
like wheat in Wisconsin, where, when the
price gets very low, the farmers turn 1t into
pork or into whiskey.
Our staple is worn out on the backs Of the
human family, aud there Is no other way
worth naming 10 get clear ofit. r.,
Now, with The facts named above looking US
in the face, does it not seem plain that There
are enough laborers in the South to grow a
sufaciency of cotton and not half be employ
ed? The ''niggers" are the best Torkmen Tue
South can ever get, and instead OF botherlnS
our brains about importing foreign laborers,
will give employment to The great number
that can be spared from the cotton field with
advantage ~ the planter. They are citi-
zens of our country, and IN rlnes past ,hey
done us a vast deal OF labor. This they can 90
again, and I think they will when the conEu.
sion they have been thrown into by the proc
lamation OF freedom subsidies. The bad ad-
vice and counsel they have had would have
spoiled and ruined The whilest mai that ever
lived. And even now l think there are no
niggers in the State as bad and worthless as
many loalng white vaQabonds Iliut car M
seen on the streets oil New Orleans every Gay.
/ speak OF things as they are. and | think
the darkies have done well under The clrcum-
stances, and will do a great deal better II
Southern men could c0ndeSceno 10 talh W
i them and advise them against The teachings OF
the carpet-bag s%tragg!ers; Ine s VIII T maze Int, Inc
proven prov min in the hemp factories Of kentucky du-
ring the days Of slavery, aud 1t would be
proven hereif we had some cotton factories
scattered through the country where they
could get work. This is what the cotton dis-
| tricts ought TO do. Country cotton factories
in the South, l think, would be a success. They
could get the raw material by the wagon Ioad
fresh iron the fields, before it was glnned,,
and clean it and spin 1t all In the same oulia,
ing, saving the expense to small planters o.
building gin:hopses and buying oallng ana tss;
that could compete with an establishment ina
got the cotton fresh from the field. i think We
have a surplus Of labor that would pay wen, Il
used in this way. Ii ANY one thinks dlnerenty
let him answer. 4.
THE BEATHER THIS DAY.