Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1872-10-23

ease until they have spent it. Very few
OF them save anything those who work
by the month are almost invariably In
debt at the end of the year to the full
amount of the sum due them. Some OF
the more thrifty of the colored men Guilt
vate the crops for a share of the produce.
If farmer furnishes the land, the seed,
fertilizers. tools, and team, and negro
furnishes the labor, the latter receives one
third of the crop. If the negro furnishes
his own team and implements, and one
half the seed, and the planter feeds the
mules, the negro receives one half OF the
crop. If the negro dose the labor and
also furnishes his own team and feeds it,
ne receives two thirds Of the crop. This
system has been found to be most salts
factory in many parts Of the state, and
yet 1t Is seldom that a crop will be prop
erly tended even when the freedmen are
interested in it, without the constant SUI
pervision Of the planter. saw in Samp-
son county sight thas could not have
been seen IN the entire South before the
war-a white planter 10 his cotton-feld at
the head of his gang of men. On inquiry,
L learned that several young planters liv-
ing In the vicinity of Clinton, had con
quered their prejudices and their indispo-
sition to work, and had, this year, led
their hands in the cotton and corn fields.
In hiring their help in the winter, it had
been one Of the conditions that the men
should do as much work as the planter
himself, and that any one who did not
-" keep his row up " should be discharged.
The result has been that these men have
secured from % to 80 per cent more la
Dor from each negro employed than their
neighbors who depend upon black foremen,
without corresponding increase in its
cost, and their cotton and corn fields were
the most promising | saw in the country.
l think 1t has been demonstrated, however,
that on an average, the negroes Of this
state, when they are kept constantly at
work, will not do more than two thirds as
much work as white laborers do. Con
tractors to build railroads have told me
that in estimating the cost Of work they
always count two white men as equal to
three negroes.
The freedmen Of North Carolina may
be divided into three classes. The first
GUN pl iSGS buC luOlt iilAA All
who are saving some money and purchas-
ing building lots, with little patches Of
land, which they cultivate in cotton, tObac-
co and corn Some Of them purchase
teams, and thus increase their income.
This class is very small, though few such
cOlored men as these may be found IN al
most every county. Some Of them will,
in time, inevitably become wealthy plant
ers and make the best Of citizens, when
ever the power of the carpet-baggers over
them is broken and they act politically
according to their own judgment, aud not
at the dlctatlon OF unprInclp ed men who
care only for their votes. Some Of them
now clear from $500 to $500 a year
above all expenses, living included, by
tending crops on shares. Tho next class
"a very large one-cOHsi>ts of those who.
though they are moderately industrious,
spend every cent Of money as soon as they
get 1t, and are as poor at the end OF the
year as its beginning They are very
little better off than they were in the days
Of slavery, living in much the same style
and with as little foretuought as then.
The third class, also very large, includes
the lazy ones. who will not work, and who
live principally by begging and stealing.
20 into any city or town ia the state and
you will see, at all hours of the day, from
10 to 100 dirty, ragged negroes lounsiuc
about the market place or wharves. Some
OF them will be stretched out on the bar
rels. sound asleep. nut the most 1T them
stand about in the most H-ti,s- way. IT.
u Yer.ou wants nm gfi i1. dane .,B# 10