The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1880-04-15

from hiring to the waite man as larm
laborer, and also from the inferiority OF
his work when employed. In my
limited knowledge, I could mention a
number of farmers that did not get the
first hand at the beginning Of this year,
Notwithstanding high wages were offered,
and it was not because there were none
to be had, but because they bad rather
20 on their ''own hook;" that is to say,
rent little land and give mortgage
on a mule, or an OK, and lieu to soma
merchant on their crop, when they
know full we'll that it will take all they
can make, and more, too, to satisfy their
lien and mortgage than to hire to some
white man for wages and part Of the
crop and realize something in the fall.
All that have been in the habit of
hiring negroes will attest to the truth
that hardly one in ten can be relied on
as faithful and trustworthy laborer. l
heard well-to-do farmer say chat the
hands hired upon the plantations (some
four or fve) caused him the loss Of more
than ten bales Of cotton in less time than
week by cutting up and bruising the
plant-he being prevented by other en-
gagements from giving them his atten.
tion just at that time. Another said
that he lost, at the least calculation, one
bale in the same manner in le5s than
six hours, by only two hands hired to
hoe his cotton. In fact, the complaint
seems to be general Of the lnferiority Of
negro labor. do not believe that many
of our farmers begin to realize how
much is lost to them, from year 10 year
by careless work, 10 comparison with
what the results Of real good farming,
like scientific labor would be. Another
reason Why they are fast "playing out,
and not among the least either, is, ap>
parently, they are still welded to their
former idols-Radical demagogues-who
will continue to teach and instill into
them, secretly and maliciously, hatred
and variance to the white people, which
they are determined to carry out. Of
course there are exceptions, but to those
am not referring. Another reason is,
they have shown but little inclination to
purchase land. 1t cannot be said that
they could not buy land, for great deal
of it, from the very best to the poorest,
has been on the market since they have
had their freedom and could be bought
on almost any terms, and even when
solicited to buy, but few evinced any
disposition to purchase aud pay for land.
10 say nothing of the lands in the
swamps, on the coast and barren sand
hills, leaving those lands entirely out Of
the question, in many and almost
every instance, the lands which the me-
groes are now renting. in less than
twenty years will be occupied by the
sons and daughters of the white men
who now own these lands, and that at
an equal pro rata, there will not be
more than thirty acres of good tenable
land. I say they will occupy and cul-
tivate these lands because, with but few
exceptions, the white farmers are train
ing their children to labor more usefully
and scientifically than heretofore; in
other words, are training them to work,
and how to work to the best advantage,
and learning them to love to work. If
this be true, there will be no need Of
showing of the negro-be will actually
be crowded out. In my Judgment, that
is, regarding the whole as a race scat
tered among US as they now are. will
not continue another quarter of a CEN
tury, and not necessarily will it b. the
point of the bayonet, nor will It take
special legislation, but the force Of va
.rious and separate circumstances which
sre now beginning to press, and Others
hurriedly looming up, will separate
them and us.
Ihaye written this article not through
any spite or hatred have for the ne
gro race, but to the contrary. When
nv mind reverts back to my boyhood
days during the war, and to the kind.
ness shown me by the "pOlored aunties"
on the plantation where l was raised,
and OH which I still reside, a heartfelt
pity springs up within me for the poor
negro. It may be possible that my
sympathies for them are stronger than
they otherwise would be from the cir
cumstaaces by which ! was surrounded.
1 was Of family of boys, my mother
having died when I was quite young,
and left US without even sister, and l
shall never forget the constant cara and
special interest taken in me by the me-
grocs who we're slaues of ny father.
And when I remember the little black
boys with whom I used to roam the
fields, woods, bpnt, fish and play, and
my attachment to them, I am sorry, ip-
deed, as look ahead to what occurs to
me will be most likely the fate of the
negro race on this continent. Their