New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1877-01-14

noon delivered to & large number Of mem
bers of the "Workingman's Party ct Ar
bitter Hall, the following address on Labor
in the EOuth:"
In considering the subject of labor in the
Southern States of the American Union, the
most interesting point of view will be that
from which We can mark the changes caused
by emancipation. Before this measure was
contaminated the productions of the South
were almost entirely the fruits of forced
labor. Land was held in wide areas, and
cultivated by slaves. Cotton, sugar and rice
were produced in large quantities ct good
profits, and the gains were added to the es-
tates of the masters or expended in high
living. The motives to toll were rather
those which drive than those which draw.
and it was natural that the toiler should
seek to avoid or tighten the task. The
pride of the tree man caused him to ehun
employmentB in which slaves were seen,
and to consider all manual labor degrading.
Hence there were little voluntary, very
little really free labor performed in the
South.
Emancipation lifted labor from the plane
of forced to that of voluntary exertion,
and left all, so far as circumstances and
capacity permit, to choose the time, manner
and measure of activity, to aspire TO and
endeavor to attain that ideal state of lib
erty where every member Of society shall
have healthful and agreeable exercise OF
the physical and mental faculties sufficient
for 1ul employment and development, and
none shall be constrained by force or by
want to injurious or distastetul service or
to work for inadequate compensation. The
ban has been removed from labor and it's
shadow is fading away. The rank of the
slaveholder disappears, and with it the
monopoly of rich land. The poor man can
lease or farm on shares the best land, with
prospect Of becoming holder. 0c-
cupants of small tracts are yeoman,
equal among citizens, not ashamed to cul-
tivate the soil, and even large landholders
and their sons are at work in mill and
field. 1t is q subject of honorable mention
in Southern newspapers tina such men are
80 engaged. The white people Of the South
have learned that they can labor in that
climate without injury to their health.
They ind that exercise lie beneficial there
as elsewhere, and the more intelligent re-
joice that slavery Is gone, and congratulate
themselves and their children chat they
have an open field where ali may enter
without hindranee or advantage from accI-
dent Of birth or fortune. II is even main
tanned by some of the best informed among
Southern men that the white people of the
South would not now re-establiah slavery if
they could. A planter who lost $3.50, 900
by emancipation says; l am better off than
before; have the same labor, with less cost
and care. 1t is maintained by leading
Southern men that the white people would
not now sever the Union if they could. 1t
may seem sanguine to credit their views,
but they are expressed 30 earnestly, and
are such happy omens of national pros
perity, that am fain to accept them as
true, or if not true to-day, as truthful
prOphesies of the morrow. He who, weary
Of the darkness, longs for the morning,
gladly sees the first herald of the dawn.
Running with these liberal sentiments are
material changes even more potent; mana
facturers are going South, towns growing
mp, mines opened and developed, railroads
extended, common schools established and
becoming popular, intelligence valued and
diffused, science and useful art cultivated
and applied. Skilled labor is at q premi-
um; good managers and foremen are no
longer slave drivers, but valued and trusted
associates.
Social ambition, the desire of the heads
of each member of every family to better
their condition in life, is fermenting South
ern society, and the whole fabric msves as
from within and below, the more surely be-
cause 80 slowly. This movement 10 like
other natural change, gradual but irresti-
BILE. Emancipation was to the white man
| the liberation from obstacles and burdens
| which prevented the course of nature. He
10 now free to work out his own destiny,
and must move in the direction of the free
AS to the slaves emancipation, it pre-
sented problems which troubled philan-
| thropists and statesmen. Among the
| gravest Of these was the questiOn whether
freedmen would work without cOmpulsion.
This question has been settled in the
| affirmative. The freedmen have been for
years and are now laboring voluntarily in
the same productive emplOyments in which
they we're driven as slaves. There are still
white men who doubt whether the freed
men work as well or in equal numbers, but
| the sOunder opinion seems to be that they
| work better, more intelligently, more eff
ciently, and that greater proportion OF
them are productivity employed than II
slavery. Many escape hard labor, and fol.
| low such lighter callings IS please them,
/ but others who we're engaged unprodlc-
| lively about their masters, are now prOduc-
| tive. Thus the number of real workers ID
maintained, while their Effectiveness is in
creased by the stimulating motive of self
| interest.
1t may be that the freedman will not
| work a. well for others as he did as q slave
| If this be 30, it is we'll But he works bet.
ter TOR himself and his wife and children
than he ever did for master. With liberty
comes the desire for independence, and
large numbers Of freedmen are now labor
ing for themselves without control or direc
LONESOME as landholders, others as renters
for cash, but generally as tenants on shares
To show how industriously he labOrs, We
need but recall the annual report of the
value Of Southern staples, the greater part
of which is the fruit of his toll. A share o.
the gains remains with him. The taxable
property of freedmen in Georgia is esti
mated at IS 600, 900. In Louisiana the prop
erty held by people of color is estimated a.
| $l0,000,000. The cultivation of the South
ern States has passed from an aristOcracy
4 m ha chi 70 hriA
pillow or handle hoe may have an interes
in the crop. The man ig no longer an incl
dent of the land. The laborer virtually
owns the soil
Cotton is most conveniently grown OF
shares.
Rice is the poor mans crop, because i
may be sOwn on waste or Overfowed lands
rented or purchased cheaply. 1t is the bes
reclaimer.
Sugar culture, which in slavery required
heavy capital, is yet mainly conducted bJ
hired labor; but even here the tenant sys
ten has been successfully applied, and with
common mills for grinding or purchasing
| cane there is no reason why sugar land
may not be brought under the dominion o
free, self-directed labor and become IL
best property.
In illustration Of the success of free Ia
Dor let MS look at Louisiana, the most i'm
portant of the Gulf States, covering tn
mouth of the Mississippi river and the lowe
valley, with soil of unknown depth AM
exhanstless fertility. Notwithstanding
chronic condition Of disorder, OocasiOnall-
breaking into revolution, with life inse
cure, liberty in possible peril, law uniu
forced, the rights of freedmen but PARTIAL
recognized, the bonntifnl earth respondin
to the hand of labor produced result
which should rebuke complaint aud tur
discomfort into rejoicing.
In 1865, ab the close Of the war, the est