New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1874-09-10

money have been spent by friends at the
North in planting churches and schools. All
this missionary work has failed to do for the
coiored people what must be done to save
them from the evils thatawait them? They
comprise the labOrers of the South; they
have been brought up on farm and understand
the cultivation of the soil better than any
other class of people. Before the war, they
were the most temperate people in the coun-
try, but since the war these people have
crowded the towns and cities, without money,
and unaccustomcd to city life, hundreds Ct
men, women and children get only enough to
Keep soul and body together, there being no
regulated price for wages. You will find
them crowded togctherin the worst shanties,
which are in the most uncleanly parts of the
city. Many Of them arc in old buildings,
where immortality and vice must be engcn-
dered. One of the greatest evils among
them is intemperance. This seems to be
carried on almost to as great degree in the
church as out of it, and you, as we'll as 1,
know that intemperance leads to many ave-
nues of crime. 1 have thought much about
this matter, and still want to know what
is the remedy: They have no capital, and
may say, they just merely live. have
asked many why they did not remain in the
country and till the land Some say, "We
come to the city in order that our children
may enjoy the advantages Of the schools ;"
others, "because we have no church," and
still another large number remarked, "that
they cannot receive pay for their labor
Several said to me recently, that eve
worked all of last year, and at its close
were in debt to The planters" They work
on shares but find thati will not pay. Many
of these men have large families. Still they
wander about, from town to town, city to
city, year after year, looking for work, lcav-
ing their wives and children at home in dis
tress, and unaccustomed to city life, fall into
all kinds of vice. l think that there is not a
single parallel in history where whole race,
comprising so large a number as this does,
has always been turned out upon the charity
of the world, without homes, money or
friends. All the land is in the hands Of
those who held them in bondage two hundred
and forty years and more. There is no State
in the South suffering 50 much as Virginia
is for the want of some regular system of
labor. Thousands of. acres of land all over
the State are growing up in bushes and weeds,
and in many parts of the State you can pur-
chase land from one dollar to five per acre,
and thereon timber of all kinds can be OH
tanned and readily shipre,. away, as the
lower part of the State is in 'irect commune
cation with the cities of tie North by means
of water. The only hope l have for the
South is Northern emigration. What the
colored people and poor whites of this State
want, is some means of getting land. If the
of the rich men of the North could
be turned in this direction, great change
would surely be visible in the condition of
the labOring classes of the South. l hope
that your plan may net wihL for sympathy
among good people, and that it may be
accompanied with success, as 1 believe
it is the only true method of elevating
those who have been kept down by slavery
and the poor generally. Not single day
should be lost in the prosecution of this
work. Humanity is groaning under a great
burden, which should be lightcncd by willing
hearts and hands.
Yours very truly,
T. w DTNIEC