The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1872-02-15
LABOR CONTRACTS.

ssoennilal that has troubled us, for the
',rom6rtion oflabor to capital has beer
ppndF is very large. Our capital is al
most nominal our Investments have
hnI @ Int little market value our labor
tIouph abundant, has practically
Taen scarce because inefficient, and
like our capital, of no real marketable
value. But the difficulty is that
neither capital nor any other power
hos been able to control labor in the
south. Usually where these two
sources Of income have. come in CON
Gict. aliberal expenditure of money
Ilse of capitaD wins the contest, for
though the demand Of labor be acccd-
ed to, improved labor is the conse-
muence. \ strike" is quieted by an
increase Of wages, and the quality of
the labor improved by the enhanced
price.
Not 50 at the South. Money cam
not always buy labor, and when
bought ii is not always Of better quail
jty because aof higher price. Many
reasons may be assigned for this, not
the least Of which is the want of in
elligence in the race from which we
get our labor. They, however, fur
Hish the labor with which we are
best acquainted, and which we can
most economically utilizc, if we as
planters would only exercise the saga
city acccded to that inferior race.
They have demonstrated To us the
mower of concert and the effect of
Union. Are we too blunt to learn
If not, we should at once set about
protiting by their example. This can
most eiiectually be done by adopting
throughout the cotton States the same
general system of labor contracts.
Impractical Perhaps so, but not
impossible. AT present, therefore,
no community in the South, has
proven the efficacy of such Il policy.
One planter pays wages, another
gives Il portion Of the crop, Il third
depends upon migratory laborers, and
so ON through regular catalogue of
devices by which crops may be culti-
waited, and in the aggregate neither
employer or employee has grown
richer, nor the South made more
prosperous and happy. An expert
ence of six years has increased our
wisdom but little, though many of us
may think. I'VE have cut our eye
tecth.n thipk l have learned some
valuable practical lessons, and give
them for what they are worth.
All contracts are or should be rici-
prOcal interests, and the one most
advantageous to the employer should
be most rcmunerative to the en-
ployee and Vjcc UcrS0. This idea,
howeYer, is very often practically
Utopian, for the innate laziness of
the negro, as a general rule, induces
him to eXpend just as much of his
muscle as in his judgement repays
his employer. Ifpaid five or twenty
dollars per month he is satisfied if
his work returns just that much for
the Investment, never dreaming that
increased wages should improve the
quality AS well as the quantity of his
labor. Hence the energetic planter
who anticipates Il competency from
his planting interests, where money
ed wages ;tre paid, must be daily and
hourly on his plantation and amongst
his laborers.
The share system was one so OBJ
nOXiOuS to me, | tried it but Il single
year, and would have sacrificed my
plantation rather than continue it.
could not appreciate the equity Of u
copartnership between capital and
intelligence on the one hand, and
labor and brute force on the other.
For the past two years have adopt
ed the policy of leasing my fields to
those freedmen proving themselves
most worthy, and my favor of this
system increases. l allow so many
acres to the mule, and dictate what
crops shall be planted, taking care to
plant cotton enough to secure my
rent, even though n half crop be har-
vested. No broken-down horse or
blind mule is allowed on the planta-
ton, and where the laborer is un-
able to furnish his own mule, he is
supplied, and the rent accordingly
Increased. For the first year | APP
portioned Off twenty acres of good
land to the mule, and required Il rent
OF sixteen hundred pounds lint cot
ton if the laborer owned the mule. If
furnished it, another bale was added
Of four hundred pounds, Of lint; the
laborer received the mule first day OF
February, and returned him to Inc
llrst day of August; meantime he was
led aud stood in my stable every
night. The remaining months OF the
year this mule assisted me in break
ing up land, sowing small grain and
hauling. Each employee was requir-
cd to tear down, rebuild, and put i'll
at least one new rail to teach pannel
Of one-third of the fencing that en-
closed the field lie cultivated. Extra
wages were paid for all work done
outside of each of their respective
crops, such as mauling rails, chop
ping, hauling, sowing, plowing, or i'll
reaping small grain.
The rents were taken from the first
cotton ginned. A general super
vision OF the various crops was given
by myself, and though | reserved
The right to direct the mode ofculture,
and hire extra help at their expense
"sii NiopS were uOt NVIi "'i NV,
mad no occasion during the year to
interfere with the crop of single
employee. They have all worked
well and made money and paid me q
handsome rental.
One industrious old man, his wife
and daughter, upon an isolated tract
OF eighty acres, Thirty in forests
thirty in old fields, and twenty under
eSultivation,) paid me 1000 pounds ol
INT cotton, II furnished the mule
and made for himself eighty bushels
ofcorn, and 1900 pounds of lint cot,
ION. The extra work the family dlo
Tor me, fed and clothed them the
current year. This was less than al
average crop made on my own anc
an adjoining plantation this year.
What better investment could
capitalist desire than lands in Souti
Carolina and thus cultivated? Ant
yet when l asked $500 for this eighty
acre tract from a would-be-purchaser
ne laughed at me.
Freedmen believe rs their numbe
ol stock increases, so do their richeS
even though they have not shucl
70 the head to subsist upon. l at