New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-01-30
Communicated.
THE LABOR QUESTION.
Views of n Louisiana P1antefs

of YOUR own choice, yet In my numDle
opinion untenable. because Of your incOm-
petence to Judge, from the isolation OF your
sanctum from the rural regions where the
questions you raise are being daily enacted.
Although not of your political cast. !
indorse your opinion that ''these questions
should not be treated as political issues
and, at the same time, / would reprOve
your inconsistency in manifesting in almost
the same breath in which you uttered the
above. a strong partisan bias.
As do not intend to enter the political
arena against you, I will confne iny re
marks as exclusively as possible to She
question financially and agricnturally.
Your first idea seems to be that something
should be done, legislatively or otherwise.
to secure to the. laborer better showing
Gin the partition of the price Of sugar be-
tween the planter and laborer.' do not
pretend to say that the payOf last year, SIS
per month with ratiOns, is pey's Sc too much
for the sugar laborer. 1t is. liz the abstract,
little enough for man to earn. But the
thousands of bankrupt plantations which
now cucumber our State speak in voices of
thunder, that it is proportionally too much:
that, as little as it is, the laborer does not
earn it. His labor, applied to the capital of
the planter, does not produce that much
And | can see no parallel between the
Terrebonne strike and that of the white
ldDOreFS up anu "tSis Ill tno ldttCA
instance the hire of the laborer is all in
money, and is insufficient, perhaps, to sus
tain life; whereas in TerrebOnne, as in the
balance of the sugar region Of our State, the
laborer gets first Of all, full ratiOns OF
articles of subsistence. quarters for self and
family, fuel at discretion, pasturage for
COW, hog and pony, land for poultry yard.
garden spot, and field patch with graz
tnitous use of team and implements for
1arS IN Il Snp n
tivatius the same. Over and above all OF
this, he gets wages, one half cash monthly.
the balance secured by leGa! iein on the
crop.
Ia fhe meantime hi. wife and children
can be employed on this patch of land, or
may be called upon by tue planter as extra
or day hands III cases OF emergency. tor
which they are paid, cash in full, monthly,
weekly or daily as they may choose. And
wet he is not happy" he wants more,
more wages than he produces. The egg
from the goose is not enough he must needs
eat the bird.
Now with all these facts in existence
before YOU, you call upon the Legislature
for a committee to examine into them. A
committee perhaps of one educated office
holder, and two ignorant dittoes, the sum,
total of whose worldly possessions, does
not pay tax equal to their daily pay as
legislators, would doubtless do much to-
ward developing the facts of the case.
The next point which l would wish to at
tack is one which, naturally plain enough
to a city editor in the comfortable seclusion
of q coy office, presents quite different
aspect to the ruralist in his struggles for
existence against the incursions of the
'much abused laborer'
You regard the cultivation of sugar as
differing from other agricultural staples in
one great point-that is, its value. There
fore the profits are $50 great as to Justify
the abolition of all minor industries, and
you discern nuisance in cereals, stock.
poultry, fruit and vegetables. You believe
that 1t i, cheaper for the planter to pur-
chase all he may need. in spite of heavy
cost. merchants charges. etc. Iou seem TO
think also that the labOrer fs necessarily
liable to be kicked out Of employment: at
any time, and that hs despairs Of surround.
ing himself with such necessaries, comforts
and luxuries. which may be produced by
himself in spare time and by his family.
The head Of each family, you hold. ia TINS
per force compelled to maintain these de-
pendents III onerous ialeDess. etc. \ sad
picture you have drawn. bu: lie: rs 'aow
look upon the diverse.
Firstly-Whv Is it THAI minor farm indus.
tries are paralyzed! Why is it that the
barnyard is quiet, the fount ct the dairy
run dry, tie garden desolate, ! would
answer because of the depycdatlons Of the
freedmen. These industries would pay
WE'LL if it was possible 20 engage in them
with any security whatever. For a limited
amount, their cost of production is little or
nothing, almost, may say, natural concoml-
tants OF plantation, incidental to its func
tons, supported mostly by its waste, and
contributing in measure to its economy
and better success
And 1.-The lsborer makes no effort to plant
vegetables or to surround himself with
those comforts because they can be Oh
tanned without labor and without price in
a land where there is no law for tue yagrant
or the criminal.
That the competition of slave-grown
sugars reduces the price of the free labor
product of Louisiana is in measure &C
cOuntable for the prOstration of our chief
industry is too patent to be entertained for
discussion. The depreciation and abandon
ment of sugar lands, the closing up of
sug irhouses, the contraction of the wages
OF free labor, are directly chargeable upon
the dominant party. Complete the work
you have begun, or give US a remedy.
You have stripped the master of his slave,
the slave of his master. You have sepa-
rated the two, who together were powerful
and wealthy. You have made them weak
and INDECENT. Why not protect them now
from the evil consequences OF your own ac-
lions, and relieve them from competition
against outside slave labor. You have pro-
nounced slavery crime. Why now fos.
ter its fruit to the detriment of your
own freedmen. Tax slave-grown sugars or
liberate slavery in foreign sugar regions,
and our country will recuperate, our DESC
late fields Will smile again, and the former
slave will rejoice in an advance of IS or $40
per month in wages. But this would not
be palatable to the Northern retineries. so
planter and laborer will have TO subside.
Therefore. the prostratOn of the sugar
interest can be attributed to no one, nor
even to all of the lesser causes which you
There are two causes; one of them
You have advanced, viz: The competition of
sugars; the other. the want of
a proper yield by the laborer. Apropos to
the proper yield Of the laborer, l have
made careful estimate from facts collected
from reliable sources, that the sugar planter
has never yet reached the proper figure for
ing in the dark, and year by year sinking
under the weight OF experiments. until
now inevitable ruin stares him in the face.
But you may ask, what wages can plan.
ters give that both themselves and laborers
may thrive. l can reply that there are too
many eFentualities upon which he is de.
pendent to fix an invariable rule.
III tne laoofer possessed 1nteiiigene5
enough TO understand and appreciate the !
law of Iisks, there could be arranged va.
rlable schedule. which would not only pro.
tect the planter but secure to the laborer. !
first of all comfortable subsistence: sec. |
Dndly. the full benefit of his own indus. !
Try; and thirdly. all of the advantages Of |
the season and of the market. In other |
words, his pay would be contingent upon.
md proportionate to his own production and !
be state of the market.
For instance, if the planter secure. a sieid |!
~ ,a,, bnocbaoI, RI tha hand which 10 n |