Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1873-10-25

Labor by the Year.
What me q the Be-. Psy,.,cp.SS 2, lion. Conn
From the n. o. Picsyune.l
Wages paid agricu tural labor in this
state latterly, have been from $40 to
1912 per annum, or at the rate of from
500 to s26 a month, for frst-class men
able to plow or ditch, chop wood or hoe,
and do all kinds of plantation work:
Most of the crops of this state, as we'll
a. those of other southern states, are
such as require the whole year OF cen
tinuous work to make their crops. The
preparation of the soil in winter, the
setting of the crops in spring, the long
struggle against grass and weeds, and
the harvesting and preparation of the
products for market, consume the
steady labor of the four seasons.
There is less improved agricultural
machinery in the southern states than
in almost any agricultural region in the
North Temperate zone. With colored
labor it has always been difficult to in
trodue. In other countries and other
sections of tho United States, the
amount of labor required to make their
crops of grain and hay is infinitely less
than is necessary to cultivate cotton and
sugar cane. Hence, far more 'laborers
are required to cultivate given area OF
land.
Our English cousins, who made such
hullaballoo about negro slavery IN the
United States, after they had freed the
slaves they had brought to the West In
dies and ruined their colonies, have one
still left where the freed negroes labor
steadily, and have not relapsed into idle
ness. vice and barbarism-the island OF
Barbados. The land there is rich, and
is still owned by white proprietOrs and
cultivated in plantations with profit. A
sea captain informed us in 1865 that the
English proprietors of Barbados pay
their colored laborers at the rate OF
eighteen cents per day.
From information received from for
eigners, immigration societies, foreign
land owners, and foreign laborers, wages
paid to the agricultural labores of the
south seem to be higher than wages
paid in any other country in the world,
although other countries can afford to
nav far more, as they use fewer men and
more machinery to cultivate the same
ara o. land as is cultivated here with
horse-plows and hoes.
German laborers and immigration
agents state to us that the wages paid
in the fields of Germany for those who
work by annual contract are. for the
best hands, one hundred Prussian dol
lars per year. They state that this IS
eonal to about eighty dollars in our
national currency. Or lsborers by the
dsv are paid from three to four Prus-
sian dollars per week. The time OF
work required is from ten to twelve
hours per d y, and hard work expected.
These wages are paid on the vegetable
farms. wheat fields and beet planta-
tions. being higher on tho last than on
the two first. Millions in Germany, il
seems, manage TO live comfortably and
we'll on this compensation.
From the French immigration agents,
who have been managing and owning
places. we learn that the wages paid in
France for the best agricultural laborers
are, In the different civilizations, from
50 to 60 cents per dav to those hired by
annual contract, and the laborers are
found. Those who get these wages are
expected to work from dawn till dark
and work we'll. These are from sl3 tc
sl5 per month of 26 working days
which are considerably less than those
paid in the southern states for g hours
daily work for a month.
In England wages of all kinds seen
to have been undergoing considerable
flnctuation during the past year. pre-
bablv more than they have been chang
ing in any other country: bu. We ",
informed by men who lave visited th'
agricultural districts of ;hs country
and by English laborers, that the hes
laborprs get fourteen shillings per wee|
when thew are hired by annual contract
which amounts TO nearly sixty cents pc
day, or about $40 per month, and found
These wages, it must be remembered
are for first-class workmen. We are In
formed that they we're the wages pai
on the queens farms.
Here are three countries wherein , =,
, riculture has been brought M r.
science and the aid Of nr"' = '+'sr'e
, less needed to till the'f anywher
} else ON the face Of "a '.r,".
y Although c"m'rara' y''v very few me
E are nen@"r N 'hc cultivation Of larg
. arenr. tsesc 'ew, operating the most in
provel Implements, are paid far belo'
tie wages that the southern planter
give, when these planters have to en-
: plov over double the number of men
|. work crudely and imperfectly the san
: area.
In the three European countries agr
culture has had the practical time
many centuries TO test.
!. Employers have found ont by lor
~ ~ experience what they are able to Civ
% that agriculture may be paying.
Whether wages in the south will ev
l. l. be brought down to these foreign f
v ures, is q question for time to dete
70 mine and whether our agricultural
;, terests will survive many years md
u these wages, is a question vet to
y solved but it is to'be hoped that I
50 wages now obtained in agricultural
~; ir gions of the south may attract wor
y men enough over here at least to cres
:. q competition.
% Mr.. Joseph Arch states that he /
10 come to this country because either |