Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-01-26
Slavery in Rr. I'll.

Although slavery was to cease in Bra
iii after 1870, and measures were taken
to suppress that already existing, it will
take more than thirty years to accomplish
it. OF population of II, 900, 600 more
than 800, 600 are slaves, and the rela-
tiOns of some travellers represent their
condition as by no means enviable. The
system of large holdings prevails, the
estates sometimes measuring not by
miles, but by leagues, and on these vast
properties the labor of the slaves is Sc.
we're and continuous, often running far
into the night. Severe punishments fol-
low any misbehaviOr, and it is almost
impossible for a slave to escape, his re-
capture or death by starvation following
in short period. In some cases it is
said iron masks are strapped over the
faces of the slaves to prevent them
from killing themselves by eating clay
On the other hand, M. Couty,
of the Museum at Rio Janeiro,
says that the slaves are very well
treated, kindly cared for when sick and
supported when old and decrepit; that
there is no prejudice against the blacks,
and all colOrs mingle freely at the table
the theatre, in the saloons and public
places, and even in the legislative assem-
blies. He adds that any sudden emanci-
patton of slaves such as was practiced in
France, England and the United States,
is out of the question in Brazil, on ac-
cOun: of her economic position. In that
country all wealth depends upon slave
labor, and every kind of enterprise, agri-
culture and manufacturing is performed
by slaves. Brazil exports about two
thirds of the coffee consumed by the
world, and this is all prepared by slaves,
as are the cotton, cocoa and sugar. In
some instances free labor has been tried,
and has succeeded where the production
is in part spontaneous. as in caout-
chOuc and tobacco; and some cOmpari-
sons between the results obtained by
free and slave labor have always
shown the superiority of the former.
Slave labor is especially adapted to the
cultivation of coffee, but the small coffee
plantations worked by free labor are
relatively far more productive than the
vast coffee fields tended by slaves, and
this result will apply to all industrial
operations undertaken by slaves. A free
laborer performs the work of two or
even three slaves. 1t is doubtless in
part due to the wide employment of
slave labor that the resources of Brazil
are not more rapidly opened and
worked, though in recent years there has
been a large immigration of free labor,
which may increase as slavery dies out.
The produce of slavery is of an inferior
quality, and this fact may account for
the marked fall in the value of Brazilian
coffees in the markets of the world, aud
also for the fact that the cotton of Brazil,
though grown under more favorable cir
cumstances, is regarded as inferior to
that produced in the United States.
These conclusions have been reached
not from general theory but from actual
experience, for in many parts of Brazil
a comparison is rendered possible by the
existence side by side of plantations, the
one worked by slave and the other by
free labor. But while thus clearly recog-
nizing that slavery is a great drag on
the progress of Brazil, for the present
the gradual substitution of free for slave
labor will produce less arrangement to
the social conditions of the country than
sudden and complete emancipation.
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