New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-10-09
The Labor Question In the Sonth

D
The attempt to keep up large and grand
estates In the South is working ruin to the
owners and to the people ofthat section gen.
orally. In the State of Louisiana this at
tempt has led to the importation Of Chinese
labor as cheaper and more servile than col
ored labor since emancipation. As to the
cheapness, we learn that the planters have
found that they have been mislcd rs 10 that
servility which the master class 50 much de-
sired, we hear nothing. The aim Ofthc Lou
isiana planters is to starve out the negro !;
their plan is not to recognize his manhood,
subject him TO all the rigor that prejudice and
hatred can suggest within or without the
bounds of law, aud thus either make him q
miserable dependent or force him from sheer
selfrcspcct and love Of liberty to seek a
home elsewhere. III doing this they drive
from their soil the laborer who can be most
profitable to them; and this for the mere
qualification ola rcasUnless hatred and pre- jul
dice. The correct thing for the Louisiana
land owners to do, is TO divide up their great
y
aud as the editor Of the Times Gays in an
article in that Journal: The attempt to keep
up great estates should first of all be aban-
doned. y population is thrifty aud produc-
| tive in proportion as it is rooted il the soil
by proprietorship. Until this fact is under
stood, there can be no improvement in Lou
isiaua."
The fact tina, the negro is DESTROYS Of own
ing the soil which be tills, las aroused
Southeruers to foolish wrath, aud accounts
for the lalschood charging that the negro will
not work, aud FOR many Of the false charges
brought against the colored people Of the
South He aims too high to suit the ideas Of
the cxsla> e-l,olding class, and i'll order TO
wrcak vengeance on him, this class in their
madness are doing themselves as great an
injury as they would inflct upon the heads OF
their late slaves. We are and have been Of
the opinion that emigration to the public
lands of the general Government, or ofthoso
States where peaceful enjoyment Of their
| possessions can be best secured, is the policy
tic negro should pursue in those States
where the madness and folly of the land
owners towards them make il next to impos-
sible for them to have and enjoy the bles-
sings of liberty. Arkansas is State whose
climate and soil are uncqualled in fertility
and adaptability to the colored people, not
only of the Southern States, but of the
North, East and West as we'll.
Thousands ofacres of fertile soil can be had
in that State at sl.25 per acre; pasture land,
timber land, and mining land await the in
dustry and perseverance Of the laborer.
Why do colored men remain in those sections
| where the intense hatred of them is potent
to retard their progress when such opportuni-
| ties as Arkansas presents are before them,
borders on the mysterious. The colOred man
can and will succeed by emigrating to our pub
| lie lands. To those friends who sometimes
seem to be discouraged at the prospect before
the negro, we say that they must remember
that ten years Of partial freedom, as against
two hundred and fifty years OF bondage and
degradation, cannot work complete change
| of Il race into the advancement made by poo
| pie whose freedom has known no check. The
New York Times speaks thus encouragngly
of the negro which we commend II both enc
ues and weak friends:
Encourage the negro in every way to
| become independent, and he will not neglect
| the opportunities presented to him. He is
very much like other men. He has certainly
shown more eagerness for advancement than
the Chinese, and e knows better than the
Orientals that the foundation OF advancement
is labor. He has had to struggle against the
prejudices he met when he emerged from
! slavery. He bad to overcome the habits OF
slOth aud responsibility which generations
OF bondage had cngraitcd into the nature OF
his race. All things considered, he has done
wonderfully we'll, and the fact is conclusive
proof that he is capable Of doug, and will
do, much better"