The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-05-30
THE NORTHERN NEGRO.
The Com paratIye Condition Of the
Negro in the South and
in Washington.
Hsw tho Negroes of the Capital Live
Without Work, in the Greateft
Poverty and Squalor.


tRpacial Correspondence of the DemOcratl
WASHINGTON, May26, 1870.
Itlis not often that so great a truth Is told
N ~ few words as was the case the'cther day
when
coid there we're mere able-hodied negroes
bacVing their bread between the White
Ho1se and the Capitol than between the Ar
kansas line and the Gulf of Mexico, King de-
serves rank as standard authority on the
snbiect Of the negro and his traits. There is
mn man In either house of Congress who has
dealt 30 directly with such a large number of
the black race as he has; no man 10 20 intl-
mately familiar with the negro Gs an element
In politics, as q factor In industry or as
member OF the business community as King
is His career fer the last eight years in
North Louisiana, employing all the
Nay from 500 to 1900 able-bodied ne
rroes on seven or eight different plan
tatlons, thereby furnishing means OF
livelihood to never less than 5000 OF the race,
taking women and children into account,
renders his judgment practical and his knowl-
edee exhaustive on all subjects involving the
condition and the needs of the negro. More
over, he comes here fresh from his planta-
lions with their practica! teachings and ex-
persences uppermost In his mind, and utterly
free from sentimental preiudices or fanciful
notions.
THE IA d longer depression than ! intended
nj the outset but In order to accomplish my
.,natf ~ tncti a
THE CONDITION OF THE NEGRO
as Al employed laborer under the auspices Of
scapable and intelligent Louisiana planter
and his condition as an idle vagrant In Wash
hgtOn under the auspices OF Radical phi
lanthrOpy,' 1t seems necessary 70 pc some
what prolix. 1t may not be quite lalr TO take
Kings negroes as a sample OF the first named
condition because they are undoubtedly bet
teref than the average, but IT becomes rela-
lively fair when we select
THE WASHINGTON NEGRO
az O sample OF the condition produced by
Radical philanthropy. IL 1t be said that Kings
plantations are managed with greater skill,
more tact and better judgment than the ordl-
nary run, SO 1t may be urged conversely that
II Radical philanthropy could have made
negro paradise anywhere 1t must have been
here where every concern VT society ~ direc-
ted under the control OF Congress, where Tor
f0urteen or fifteen years every branch OF the
government has been under the control OF the
phNanthropists themselves and where the re-
sources OF the Treasury could have been at
any time applied to the accomplishment OF
any scheme that might have been devised.
On this ground the basis Of contrast must
hare the disadvantages at the start with hlnR
The negro as u plantation employees In the
Youth s Industrious, contented, and, In his
mmbfe way, prosperous; realizing IN the
best sense the practical ideas OF freedom from
srvitude, coupled with the dependence and
Protection necessary to the mental and moral
state of the race. Let US examine the status
M tho Washington negro rs the antlthesls
Of development under the treatment Of Radl-
al philanthropy:
The negro population of Washington is now
generally estimated by the most competent
Judges at 60.b00, or a little less than One-thlrd
q the whole. Or this number at least 1000
gre able-bodied male laborers, and 5000 OF
the females and half-grown children would
@ rated self-sustainlDg under tne system
glaeticed on the best managed plantations.
There Is but one continuous or reliable source |
o. employment for that class OF labor In
Washington, and that is entirely in the va
nous branches Of
DOMESTIC OR HOUSEHOLD WORK.
There Is now and then n run of work on pub
he improvements, but here the usefulness of
negro labor is restricted to the crudeSt and
least lucrative operations, all the better paid
branches, requiring more or less skill, being |
MoNoPoLIzEp BY THE WHITE LABOR,
OF which there is always surfeit. Even these |
opportunities are unfreguent and transitory |
% that on an average IL may be said with |
entire truth that no abe-bodied negro labGrer |
net In domestic employment as coachman,
Eroom, house-seryant, hotel waiter and the |
IKE, can depend on sixty days work In the
yea. get these estimates from the best In
lofmed contractors and employers OF labor In
nasees; they are no guess work OF bline. II
LWere to give All opinion VI my own, based /
upon my daily observation Of the number OF
IDLE NEGROES |
,oaiing everywhere, the squaior in which they |
we anL the dismal IaonOtony of their beg |
xafy at every street corner, should say that |,
we estimate Of sixty days work a year on |
~ average was altogether too high.
There is indeed some counterpoise to this
aeR M of outdoor employment 10 the TACT that
.neashiDgtoE, owing To the peculiar quality OF
is Resident society, affords considerably more
Domestic employment, In proportion to its
gopuaton, team any other American city;
w This cpunt.rpoisn IL by no means ane-
yaate Marts s,.r, the excess of domestic efn-
payment here is almost entirely confined TO
sruaaales SO hat the result is that the negro
popllaton OF Washington is mainly
auPpoRTED BY TEE LABOR or ITS WOMEN,
State of things which it requires no elabo-
dsss. ss argument to establish as relapse In the
~ csaeelion of primitive barbaIism. These are
ssssleralizations ss and, while they convey some
h...ol st ol an idea of the aggregate misery. and
es.l. t.inty of the Washington negro, they don't
stss VA. any adequate picture OF him as an lnd-
rah,sll rpaaal nuisance. On this theme bulky
II Kauine w might be written without exhaustlng
X II. ~ this Respect | cannot do better than