New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-03-08
nv oRIlA4Y wEpaIsDA3, MAR6H 8 1876

San s1csa6eW 6plh1 - md Sml Dyers
ises; ~ 'sAaJ'e nlanily 90 JlGpply
money, supervision and proprietary re-
spDadbilify u libitam, but 4 sadly in
need Of manual labor. In n. their n.
qaisiss into nsttsu Of politicsi economy
they conans thsmselves to the single quss-
tea howmaeh wssk can the negro b d.
pended upon toperform? viii tho negro
work? And how long and how eAacisntly2
A writer in the Picayuns advances the
strange doctrine that within nineteen
years the efficient negro labor will disap-
pear from the cotton, cane, rico and TO-
bacee Aelds Of ths South. This position
he attempts to Strengthen BY . general
reference to statistics (Which, BY tho way,
We have never sesn) going to prove that
those negroes only who were about thirty
years old at the time Of emancipation
have since made good field hands. We
quote > sample Of his reasoning. If in
deed it may be digniAed by such title:
Il y well known fast that the only &C.
tuslly good eolorsd laborsrs are those Who,
ct tho time Of the emancipation cot, were
about thirty years old. We learn by Sta
tiSdcs, that the expectation of life at that
ago il about thirty-dve years, therefore.
about the year 1895, Or only nineteen years
hence, good Col0eed labor will be extinct In
tho South. In fast, for al practical pur-
poses. It will b NO longer available in ten
years, - wages will increase materially in
proportion to the growing scarcity Of labor.
We can not forget that long before and
and after emancipation, theorists, who
professed to reason from statistics, At
tempted to prove that free negro would
not work 1t all, and that emancipation
would provo the extinction Of the labor
system Of the South. Time has demon
strated the utter fallacy Of any such CAL
culations, and the production Of greater
average crops for ten years than ever BE-
fore has completely overwhelmed the
authoss. Il will be seen, moreover,
that employment for the native and
resident white population is not taken
into account How are tho hum
dreds Of thousands Of poor whites
to b suhsisted? Are they all to be
proprieto5 and the dependents and
pensioners Of proprietors, with no duty to
perform - laborersa Is there any WY
by which the white men of the South can
escape the primal curse to earn bread by
the sweat Of the brow? Surely We have .
fair proportion Of unemployed poor Of
both races hero already, suitable for SER
wants and farm laborers, without putting
any immigration convention or society to
the trouble of sending for more. An
eden on paper" has no attraction for
and farm lAborers. They look
only to the prevailing rates Of wages.
But to heads Of families, with means
enough to manage q small farm, and ind
occupation and support for them
selves and dependents, such an Eden pre-
SCENTS tempting attractions, for therein
they may, BY course Of thrift. economy
and attention to their farm duties. build
up for themselves and children comfort
able and happy homes
We hope that those who are concerned
in the welfare Of this State will take into
the fact that there exists
certain condition Of things which can not
be overlooked:
l. There are as many laborers in the
South as there is capital to employ and
pay them.
2. That al the old fogy notions about
The decay and final disappearance Of COL
pred laborers are sheer nonsense.
8. That our resident white population
Is no less in need Of profitable employ
ment than the coloredpeople and the poor
European immigrant.
4. That while an Eden on paper or in
my other shape may not be attractive to
mental laborers, it has great weight in de-
the migration and settlement of
hose who wish to become proprietors and
ouild up the fortunes Of their families.
The immigration Society and the Miss
ssippi Valley and London Company may
20 of some assistance in bringing out
ew grubbers and ditchers, but neither
AN guarantee profitable employment to
hem when they come. It is quite likely,
,owever, that T. sse organizations will not
oon overstock he market with laborers
~ their advel isements, and that it is
more than dou. full whether they will &C.
;omplish more N the next five years than
hey have in tbs past lustrum.
WEARING ARMS HABITUALLY.