The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-09-12
The New South.

A1r. NOrdhoft's paper, read TO the SOCIAL
Science Congress, treats OF the negro In the
South. In 1865 the negro actually owned
only the clothes he wore-ragged as they
were. For eleven years these people have
had freedom. In Georgia the authorities
have taken pains to inquire into the condl-
ton and progress OF the freedmen. The
State has been Democratic for five years,
and the negro has had little opportunity to
play the statesman. In Georgia the colored
voters number about $4,000, and according
the census of 1870 numbered $4,000, were
possessed OF 33S, 769 acres of farming real
estate, S1,200,115 worth of city and town
real estate, and paid taxes on a valuation OF
Sc, 157, ,19S. So far as ascertained from dill
gent inquiry the negroes of Georgia own
more real estate per head than those Of any
other of the States. The negroes prefer to
buy uncleared land near cities and villages,
and clear it for themselves. The planters
do not like to sell these small lots, as a ne
gro settlement deteriorates the rest OF the
estate. Thus it is that we hear Of planters
refusing to sell land to the freedmen. The
system of leasing cotton lands is such that
the freedman will have q surplus at the end
OF the season of from $3.50 to $400. This
he sells at his leisure The negro dis
trusts savings banks. Once pinched by the
philanthropists of the General Howard
school he cannot be fooled again. Mr.. Nord-
hoff says that in every southern State you
may find colored families who lost money in
this bank, and that cruel fraud was serious
disbursement to thrift among the whole
colored population of the South Almost
universally the relations between the planter
and the freedmen are kindly and agreeable.
lyI,, f1,a ,Nlnpfor,c ad1inn
in all the relations Of his life, deposits
his spare cash with him, and in fact
deals with him as his friend up to
the point where politics come in, and
then he shoots over to the other
side without moments hesitation.
He will vote for bad man who is Repub-
lican rather than for planter with whom
he has the kindest relations. The negroes
who are fairly dealt with by the planters,
and such is the rule, give satisfaction. Free
labor is centralizing population in towns
and villages. 1t is introducing labor-saving
machines. 1t is inducing the negroes to
migrate, and the fact that they go from
North Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia to
Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas, IN
which States it is said that the negro's life Is
not safe, shows that good dea! of the cry OF
southern outrage is pure invention. Inc
negro does not remove wildly or blindly,' y
says Mr.. Nordhotf, and by this plain state
mcnt disposes of much Of the bloody-shlrt
business, and OF the necessity OF such cir
culars as emanate from Washington. The
only trouble at the South is political; In
dustry proceeds apace, and crops are large.
Mr.. Nordhoff says: "There are fewer per-
sons there unemployed, the average earn
ings of the laboring classes are larger, the
surplus produced in those States over
and above what is necessarily, ex-
pended by the population in living
has been greater for several years than
in in an equally numerous northern popula-
tion.u A new civil service is needed. The
Federal officers band together the negroes
and establish the color line. They are feared
and hated. They exercise power in an ar
bitrary manner. Ii they kept out OF local
nolitics matters would soon settle them
selves. Mr.. Nordhoff's opinions are based
upon long and close observation, ana "a, are
undoubtedly correct Transcript OF the sltu-
alton BrOoklY7l ArguS.