The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1874-10-22
HOYT & CO., Proprietors

HOYT & CO., PROPRIETOR
Present and Prospective Condition OF the
Negro-Uncle Tom without Cabin.
A correspondent of the New York Herald
makes the annexed observations upon the con-
yiition and prospects Of the negro race In the
South:
Whether the negro will succeed in so shaping
the new condition of life imposed upon him as
to secure the full advantages of freedom and
advance the general welfare of his race IS
question that can only be answered by another
9eneration. The experiment for nine years has
certainly not been encouraging, for except
among the school children there ere nowhere
visible signs of mental or moral Improvements.
At his feet were laid all the paraphernalla OF
che Freedman's Bureau, books and teachers and
soldiers to protect him whenever he was threat
aned in his material interests. Northern men
stood by to see that he was not imposed upon
In making contracts. Churches were given to
him in which to worship, and the government
spent millions of dollars to supply him with "a
lions while preparing for the start upon ms
new career. Never did people begin life with
fairer opportunities for success or greater IN
ducements to achieve it. Thus far, however,
the country may look In vain tor SUBSTANTIAL
results from all this effort in behalf OF the ma
tion's wards, except in one respect. Politically
his vote has been conscientiously given to the
republican party since the hour when he was
entitled to the ballot. That is all: Other
phases of his present condition it may be inter-
esting to analyze here. First,
UNCLE TOM rs WITHOUT HIS CABIN
TITS significant fact that, while there has
been a constant demand for negro labor and at
GOOD prices. not one in five hundred owns the
cabin in which he lives. Land may be had tor
song and be paid for out of the crop; yet
somehow the black man fails either to buy or
produce, though the end of season will lind
In the pocket Of almost every worker, it ne has
not "wasted his substance in riotous living"
from $3.50 to 5000, and more than double this
sum if the family have assisted. is, howev-
er. one of the curious results of emancipation
that field labor has been almost entirely aban-
doned by the females and children. The form
er. in imitation of the whites, look after home
affairs, and perhaps the latter 60 to school.
Around the cities, where negroes 90 more or
less of sob work" you will now and then md
shanty which is the property of the occupant.
IF he takes boarders, which is not untrequently
the case, it will be crowded worse than tene-
ment house in Baxter street, and the surround
incs are ANYTHING but savory. But he does not
like to pay taxes on ever SO little, and eventual
", unless he has become quite we'll to do, ne
pulls up stakes, emigrates and relapses into his
former condition The ordinary hut of the
lower class of negroes is simply pile OF logs
laid at right angles, with door and one or two
wooden window shutters, and chimney outside.
Within, you will find few planks knocked to-
pether for a bedstead, sorry looking blankets
and bedclothes, and in all sorts of odd utensils
the provisions with which they live from hand
to mouth. In short, the negro is taking care
of himself, and knows none of the best how to
do it. Is it a wonder that the race OF mortality
among them, and especially among the chill
dren, is SO great?
UNCLE TOMS LABOR.
The Southern people view with no little con-
Germ the gradual depreciation of colored labor
Those who grow up in state of slavery and
ACQUIRED industrious habits will still work,
though with less result by fifty per cent than
formerly. The rising generation have no such
habits, and are not likely ever to become pro-
ductive members of society. 1t is even more
difficult to obtain and retain faithful negro
servant here than an Irish servant at the North
earn a. few dollars to spend, then leave and find
another place when their funds are exhausted.
Unfortunately, desirable as is an education,
their improvement in books is temporarily hav-
ing the effect of teaching the poor creatures to
aim above the level which somebody must al
ways occupy in the social scale. Should these
influences continue the blacks will gradually
work themselves out of employment, and their
places vii! be supplied by industrious and vii
ling laborers of another race. 1t must not be
understood from the foregoing remarks that the
people of the South are averse to the race. On
Che contrary, they are using every effort
for the moral amelioration of the negro, and
desire his advancement he was frequently
taught to read and write before the war, in or
der that his usefulness might be augmented,
and Georgia is annually expending $685., 600
as a school fund, the benefit of which is
equally divided between the whites and blacks.
The colored people are also establishing lodges
of the Order of Good Templars for the promo
tion of temperance and private benevolence
among them. There are already some fourteen
or fifteen lodges in this State in successful oper
alton, under the direction Of the white Grand
Lodge, and one in Atlanta now numbers be-
tween 800 and 400 members. All these things
show how the people of Georgia are striving to
solve problem of the negros welfare, and how
they view any present decentralization as one of
the natural and possibly to be expected stages
in his progress, believing that time and expe-
rience will eventually cause the scales to drop
from hiseyes, and enable him tosee clearer than
now how he may become useful member of
society and co-worker with themselves. In Sa-
zannah the Commissioners of Public Schools
have made provisions for ], 400 colored pupils,
and recently secured premises in which 600
more may be educated. Eleven teachers are
colored and three are white. In Macon the
colored public school is one of the handsomest
edifces in the city. In Atlanta they have a
colored college which annually receives from
a. Get, TIA }onation that is piyan RI tho