Brenham weekly banner. [volume] (Brenham, Tex.) 1877-1907, 1879-05-30
THE LABOR PROBLEM

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convention to meet at Hous-
ton, IN the first of July, to con-
slider the condition ofthe colored
race and the many grievances
inflicted upon them-especially
the grievance of being compell-
ed to work or steal-and to sug-
gest a remedy, which will prob
ably take the shape Of an exc
dus, it seems to be about time
the matter was receiving a IT.
tie atteptiop at the hands of the
employers of negro labor. The
fact is already patent that labor
is very scarce in Washington
county; a large quantity of i'm
proved land is laying idle this
year for want of labor to cult
vate it; at the present time
hands are scarce and in great
demand, as is evidenced by the
fact that, in portions of the
county as high as seventy-fve
cents a day and board is paid
for ordinary field hands. The
system of labor is unreliable.
The BANNER is informed by par
ties from Chappell Hill that
the negroes in that neighbor-
hood are not working well this
season and as consequence
crops are far from being in the
condition they should be. In
the Chappell Hill and Washing
ton neighborhood large pre-
ponderance of the labor is ccl-
ored. The trouble with the
colored laborer is that he will
not work at the proper time;
the negro is impulsive and is
monomaniac;; he is always crazy
on two subjects, politics and re-
ligion, when he is crazy on
politics he has no religion and
when he is crazy on religion he
has no politics. Politically this
is an off-year; consequently the
monomania is religion; they
have meetings from three to
seven nights in the week and a
religious meeting at night with
the colored people does not
close at ten or half past ten, but
lasts until along about "a cou-
pie of clock" in the morning
and frequently later than that.
Their religious exercises are of
such a nature as to require
great muscular exertion and
the natural effect is, that after
a nights meeting they are ply
sically unable to do days
work and neglect their business.
When politics are in season
"owl meetings" are ripe and
they attend them nightly leav-
ing their crops to take care of
themselves. A large planter in
the neighborhood of Washing
ton informs us that this year he
has but one or two colored FAM
lilies .,on his plantation and
would not have any if he could
help himself; he is a southern
gentleman and is perfectly ia
miliar with the negro; years of
experience has convinced him
that their labor is wholly unre-
liable.
1t is daily becoming more
evident that the Kansas fever is
about to break out in its most
virulent form and it will not be
confined to localities, but will
in all probability be general
throughout the Senegambian
district. Planters and landown-
ers will be compelled to seek
other labor in place of the ne
gro; he may not go to Kansas,
but he will go away from here,
where, is matter of supreme
indifference after he is gone.
There is certainly no induce
ment to keep them here, con-
sidering the unsatisfactory con-
dition of labor. We speak only
of this immediate vicinity, but
have every reason to believe
that it is much the same in the
other counties where the chief
labor is colored. There are of
of course a great many good,
honest, industrious and thrifty
celored men in every neighbor-
hood, who are good citizens
and who will remain among
their friends, but unfortunately
a majority of them are of the
opposite class.
Ithas been clearly demonstra-
ted that white labor can sue
cessfully raise cotton, as large
proportion of the entire crop is
the product of the white labor
on small farms and of white
tenants on large ones. The
problem to be solved.is the get
ting Of white labor sufficient to |
cultivate the lands. We think |
this can be accomplished by
united effort on the part of the
planters; Individual effort in this