New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-08-15
COLORED SEAMEN.

4 OF themselves.
RI COLORED SEAMEN.
!, The REPUBLICAN prefers q Souther
D party based on the recognition and utlizs
e ton of the industry and good order {
r the Southern people rather than to rel
upon the guardianship OF the "Yanke
, Democracy" It really can not see in
, sectional aspect why people embittere'
{ | against the North should surrender to an,
{ serve in the ranks of Blair. the Adolf
zionist, and Greeley, the protectionist
Nor can we understand why communitie
which live, move and have their CONNER
cial being upon the domestic services
and field labor of their own fellow-citizen.
should. as soon as they are convalescen
from fever or have secured their crop, e
cunning after the nurse in the one case
and the plowman in the other. Surel,
| nothing except marked and depraved
love Of Office could make intelligent men
SO obsequious to those who have betrayed
them and SO sayagely hostile to their OWL
home people.
The REPUBLICAN would make the value
OF the colored race even more apparent to
these unconscious fellow-citizens. It
would show that under this climate the
views of sagacious Southern men have
long since looked to the intelligent and
economical endurance Of the colored peo-
pie to conduct the mechanic arts.
There now approaches period when
theirservices will be imperatively required,
not merely by the Southern people but by
the nation. We refer first to the manufac-
ture Of cotton goods by machinery. The
policy Of the United States will compel the
| government to protect our commerce and
| carry the flag in the tropical seas aud
| ports. There is one great obstacle to this
! duty. There is class OF diseases in those
ATTITUDES which exposes the seamen of Nor
thern countries to great risk. and often
impairs the movement Of our ships of war
and Of commerce. A fleet is ordered to rem.
| devious at Rio or at Aspinwall, TO watch
the harbor Of Havana. or protect the road
stead Of Vera Cruz. It becomes the duty
of the government even to patrol the Rio
Grande, or lay off Corpus Christi: ships
must be stationed at Key West, or sent to
the Navy Yard at Pensacola. So much
for the national needs.
The whole Western trade must be de.
veloped upon the coasts of the Atlantic
and Pacific oceans: Chicago. St. Louis
and Cincinnati must trade with Brazil
and Cuba by their own rail and river
boats over Galveston, New Orleans, Mo-
bile and Pensacola. The same climatic
impeachment threatens the shipping en-
ployed in this tropical trade as in the
naval service of the water.
At this moment we remember the eight
hundred thousand colored male citizens
mentioned by Mr.. Pinchback. and We
find here the element which can so Or
ganize this tropical service on the basis of
acclimated seamen. as to establish per-
manently the great commerce upon which
the Cult ports of the South can alone
prosper. But it will be asked. have the
co!ored people sufficient experience and
intelligence to take this contract? We
answer without hesitation, yes. and upon
the following proofs: The British gov
eminent has always employed colored |
seamen by admixture in all its crews en-
ployed on the coast of Africa and |
the West Indies. The planters on |
the coasts of the Chesapeake. and |
further South, have always employed
colored men as sailors. The schooners
in the lumber and other trades of Pont-
chartrain and other estuaries of the Gulf |
are now and have been navigated by coll
ored shippers as we'll as worked by col
ored seamen. There are many thousand
deckhands and fremen on our river
boats. 1t may be added that the govern
ment has several regiments of colored
soldiers. who may be used for service in
stations at home or abroad where there is
danger of febrile diseases
We therefore suggest to those who
really wish to organize Southern indus
try on basis Of home service, to take up
his subject and interest themselves in the
of acclimated seamen, white
md colored. The government must have
such crews to conduct its policy in the
south seas. The West must have trade,
summer as well as winter, in tropical
goods and over its own ways and its own
waters. We have the best natural posi-
ion for this service and it would be the
height of party madness to ignore it.
We would suggest to the colored peo-
Die to turn their attention to this carry
ng trade and national service. They
nay find employment on merchant ships
n the tropical trade, and, upon applica-
ion to the Navy Department, either be-
ore or certainly after the meeting of Con-
,ress, they can have a school ship de-
allied, with officers and instructors, who
Who will take a class of colored seamen
md soon prepare them for protecting
heir fellow-citizens from the dangers of
he deep, as they have from sunstroke
md ma larial fever. To this practical