New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-10-01

o.
the simpler grade of subsistence and s0cia
comfoet, smsy, ef-ceurse furnish competent
NbOr atlese fotee thar tho0e whose habit
are moro expensive.
Tho celored people have no prejudice
against mechanical labor; they are, in fact
proud OF the profit and consideration which
it affords. A white man may relinquish BIZ
-trAds for -ightAe- employnant cd ssees BIZ
children to even deny or, despise the me
ohanical pursuit to Which they may owe thu
accident OF an imaginary elevation. Th'
cclored mechanic, on the contrary, does no
suffer from the same aspirations His labo
gives him competence; his skill secures
respect: he 10 Waived by society because h.
contributes by his labor to it, safety, it,
prosperity. perhaps its repoWn. Of THU
capacity there can not be the least doubt
II has been proved under the former system
of labor, by. the skill of the colored me
chanic, by their service as mariners in thu
coasting trade Of the Chesapeake, or Pont
chartrain and upon the boats and bargel
upon our rivers. The capacity of the col
industry has been demonstrated by theil
general employ ment before the war il
spinning, weaving and sewing. They fur
nished large part of the plantation cloth
ing worn in the Eastern States of the South
We may add that the negro is recogniz I'd
a. q valuable mechanic ia the manufacture
of tobacco in Virginia, where there are
more than 1000 employed, in North Caro-
lima, Detroit, and elsewhere. There is also
large nnmb Der of colored people employed
in Louisiana, Florida and Alabama, in the
manufacture Of cigars, which compare tav
orally with those OF Cuba. Sme of the
largest establishments in New Orleans are
owned and worked by colOred manufac
turers.
In the States of Virginia, Kentucky and
Tennessee, the manufacture of charcoal
iron has been, in many cases, conducted
with oOlored labOrers, and as workers in
metals these people have been found apt
and intelligent.
In the city OF New Orleans there are
many ok illiul tailOrs and sboemakers. In
some instances men of color have been sue
cessful 10 acquiring large estates founded
on the Accommodations OF q mechanical trade.
The colored bricklayer possesses peculiar
fitness for this trade in . 81 IN Ate which rem
ders exposure to the sun 80 exhausting. A
very larRs proportion of the buildings
erected in this city are the work, in part or
in whole, of oOlOred meehanics, who have
acquired their trades, it may be stated. un,
der the Institution of slavery. The capacity
of these people as manufacturers and
mariners hes been beyond doubt estab.
lished. r., -,.,-+ i ..-H t-t...s. he
Upon you, sir, has been devolvsd the
maintenance of the existing tariff which
you think is menaced by the pending and
rot occur to you that the sy sten weuld be-
stronger it you could secure an alliance
with those whose representation was once
opposed to your system, but wno may now
be tau sht that it is their interest to encour-,
age the industry Of all sectioos and OF both
races7 The demonstrations that the sys-
tenn proposed increases the value Of our
staples, supplies some local wants by the
Of local labor otherwise IN
employed, and thus converts q charge upon
capital into an element of production, must
tend to coz csntrAte all who )bve their
country or their land, and teach the South
the advantage of universal employ
ment without regard to age, sex,
cOler, or past condition. You have
said that you advocate such q system
Of protection as would enable our miners
and manufacturers to induce skilled work
men to emigrate to the United States and
enable them to become liberal consumers"
Will you not do a. much TO encourage the
skilled workmen of the United States to
migrate from one part of their own country
20 anotherl assume that with our public
lebt and expenditures, and with the sys-
.em of revenue collections by duties on i'm
ports, the rates Of revenue will be sufficient
20 afford in most cases protection to Ameri.
IAN fabrics. Can not the Southern people,
without even q derelictiOn of opinion, &C.
,ept protection as a part of the inevitable
situation? With the came protection ex-
ending over that part of the Appalachian
Hills that lies in the old cotton States may
lot 1.-The essential ingredients of Bessemer.
md crucible. or cast steel as we'll and as
participate in the protection" of
he existing tariff as the iron bearing
states of the NORTH - 81
1t would not be respectful to those ptil-
lnthrOpists who some years ago interested
themselves SO much in the emancipation of
he negroes, and VIII have always insisted
hat variety of labor would SO much pre-
note the welfare OF the white man, to cup
'oss them indifferent to the future of the
ne or afraid OF the competition Of the
ther. 4.svg -t. .s fs- -a4.rfs p Il
1t is to this providential commerce of scr
ices. to this concurrence of purposes, that
he philanthropists Of the North and the
atriots of the s south should address ther-
elves. They should unite in this practical
olicy to secure to the cOlored race the pc
itical rights and the moral destinies to
which they are entitled to look forward,
nd to protect the whites from .dilapidated
or.unes and the social. psstilence Of vice
nd destitutioD. -
You must look forward to the period
yhen the oppressive surplus of our pro-
isions and manufactures shall compel us to
srminate our depsndence upon European
emand, and declare q com mercial policy
nder which the whole continent will fur
ish a reciprocal and comp lementary com.
lerce of American PRODUCTIONS; whec the
aw material of the tropical and extra
ropical countrt shall be manufac .ured In
ur own workshops, Ter. consumption at
ONE and expectation abr 1ad; when our |
shall traverse every sea, in every
9as0n; when our navy and commercial |
larne will be called to represent the |
alton in the pestilential ports of the South |
m ocean. The employment of an accli- |
lated class of seamen will be found in |
aluable in carrying out that policy which |
on have done 50 much to institute, out |
hich must remain imperfect without a |
'relgn market adequate to answer the |
resent and prospective excess of Ameri-
in productions beyond the domestic de- |
and. Hitherto this political power was
)t rated at it's full numerical value, and
as represented by those who deemed the
'otective system injurious to their interest.
This political force is yet to form and ex-
'ess its own theory upon the subject Sup
'se it shall appear that this industry will
sure here an adequate reward for both
o capital and labor invested. We may
It only anticipate the cordial cooperation
the two races in the common interest,
1t also that success in the manufacture OF
~ popular fabric will become the exam
Q Of other incidental and kindred indus
rs among US. .. a..-.....
Suppose the friends, of home manufac-
res appeal to this political power, neither
significant nor unworthy to be invited
to alliance with the man ufacturing inter
!.
Remember that, at the present rate, the
lOred people are entitled to more than
rty members of Congress, and of the
ectoral College. This is about one-sixth
either body. Remember that they are
t as formerly endowed like women and
lldren with mere right to be rep
'ented, but that they now have the power