The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1874-05-13
NINTH tENsTs or TIE UNITED
l'-a-a STATES.
CONTINUED. J

CONTINUED. ,.. ....
While the children are this being
sent to school, the women are stimuli
tancm$lv ceasing 10 go out into the
fields to work. OF the entire female
population over ten years OF age less
than one in three is engaged i'll any
kind OF occupation in South Carroll
IA. In Alabama the proportion is
considerably under one i'll four; III
Louisiana il is still lower, being but
slightly over one in five; while in
Arkansas it is more than twice as
low still, being only Just one i'll ele
ven. The figures VIC are here deal
ing with, it will be understood, re-
present white as we'll as black wo-
men. ana single girls from the age OF
ten up, as well as wives and mothers.
Moreover, they include all kinds OF
occupations-seliool- teaching, shop
keeping, bu'- tending, needIework, DO
mestic service, and field labonr; ey-
erything, in short, in which women
are employed. except housekeeping
for their own families. 1t will be eT-
ident at a glance that they prove the
negroes to have made q very consid-
cradle stride in The path Of material
progress. 1t is true. indeed, that in
these sunny climes life is sustained
on very slight niodictun OF food,
W Ii &c Ii an extremely moderate
amount of labour suffices to raise
1t is also true that the scale ofliying
to which the negroes have been ac-
customed is such as to make them
content with the coarsest and poor
est kind Of subsistence, and that as
regards dwellings they Put up with
accommodation scared y lit for cat
tie Still, making al due allowance
for these considerations, the fact re-
mains that after "a few brief years Of
freedom the negroes are able and are
wiling to maintain the great major
ity ofti!eir wives daughters. moth
ers, andIsisters without any nacessi-
sity on the lart Of 5teseto earn Wa
ges. The fict eXcttcs frequent and
bitter complaint amongst the whites
for it very seriously diniinishes the
available supply CT labour. For
many processes connected with the
cultivation Of cotton women and chill,
lren are III greater demand than men.
Hence, the withdrawal OF both wo-
men and children from the cotton
fields. which we have now shown to
be taking place, really does hamper
agriculture, and press very heavily
on the encountered planters. But as
regards the negro race itself there
can be no doubt by all Of the invaiu-
bic Importance to its future welfare
of this withdrawal From the re-
port of the Royal Commission on the
employment Of women and children
we know what the consequences are
even among our own people Of the
prolonged daily absence from home
Of mothers at work. We can, then,
understand what those consequences
must be among race just emerging
from sayagery through the disei-
pline of slavery. And, in fact, as we
have already explained, the fright
fully high infant mortality shown by
the Health Reports of the Southern
cities tor prevail everywhere among
the negroes, is mainly due to this
cause. But when the women devote
themselves to thee OF their homes,
the feelings and the duties OF moth
erhoad will naturally add inevitably
begin to assert their proper sway
over them. Although, then, the he
groes have purchased their freedom
with intense suffering, with wide
spread distress, with many deaths
they have not undergone their long
agony in vain. They are beginning
to avail themselves of the means al
hand for their elevation as thinking
and moral beings. They have foun
ded for themseIyee homes of a kind
and are able to retain in them The
mothers Of their children. And thus
they have made the first difficult
step in the painful upward struggle
towards higher and better civil
cation,
All things considered, then, tht
1
condition of the freedom as revealed
to us, in the Census Reports is a.
favourable as could reasonably have
been expected. But beyond ant
all other advantages, it must neve