National Republican., 1883-09-14
ONE OF THE "CAL1IoUNs."
A Descendant OF the Famous south Caro-
Iinian Before the Labor Committee.

A Descendant OF tho Famous south Caro-
Iinian Before the Labor Committee.
New YORK, Sept. 13.-John G. Calhoun, of
South Carolina, a grandson of the famous
statesman of tho same name, and who is now
resident of Arkansas, was q witness before
the senate committee on labor and education
this morning. He was called to testify in
regard to the condition and prospects of the
labor in the SOUTH Ho stated that since 1869
he had been engaged in cotton raising in
Arkansas, and had abundant opportunities of
observing the condition of labor at the south.
The laborers in the Mississippi valley, said
the witness, were entirely agricultural. Few
white men were employed, as they soon
became either land owners, or tenants.
The conditions ofs4tho negroes wns good
rs compared with that OF a. fow years
ago. There rswere throe methods of
employing laborers, for wages, working on
shares and as tenants, There was no country
in the world where greater liberality was
shown to the laborer. Tho large farmers,
besides furnishing the laborers with shelter,
fuel, and other advantages, divides the gross
proceeds of the crops among his employees.
Under this system the thrifty and industrious
laborers ought to become soon land owners,
but the negroes are so indolent that they fail
to take advantage of the opportunities offered
them. They will only devote so much of their
time to work as will enable them to procure
tho necessities of life Under the renting
system the best land in the country can be
obtained for SO to $40 an acre, and with the
rental go many privileges.
On his own farm the witness employed all
these methods of employing labor but pre-
ferred the tenant system. 1t was his object
to raise the standard of the colorcd laborer
| to that of the small white farmer This
could only be done gradually on account of
thN rNEt t1ta 1o.rs
portion of the cotton crop was now raised by
the small farmers, and the number of these
was increasing every year. The relations be-
tween planters and their employees were
friendly and harmonious, and there was little
danger of strikes. The laborers felt that they
had au interest in the soil, and that u strike
would be as injurious to them as to the en-
ployers.
There was much greater tendency to con-
hict between races than between labor and
capital. The witness thought tho interests of
southern laborers would be furthered by os-
tablshing state industrial schools and by the
elimination from federal politics of the So
called negro question, leaving its solution to
time, and by reduction of taxation. For
many years the negroes regarded themselves
as the wards of tho government, and it were
well for them to know that thoy should ex-
pect no more from the government than
whites and that their future depends upon
LllOlT butTHy anu luuuslTy. pTOUu-
bly, would contribute so Immediately to their
prosperity as the reduction of the tariff.
Witness gave description of the agricul-
tural industry of Arkansas. He thought the
south offered the greatest inducements to inn
migration. The race feeling was dying out
and if the south were left to itself there was
no more danger from it, Capital could then
find safo Investment OF the future of the
negro race he mad great hope. In politics
the negro vote was not SO solidly republican
as many north supposed. Many voted with
their employers, not from coercion, but by
preference. The witness favored government
control of the Improvement of the Mississippi
He suggested that the former cotton tax o.
$70,000,000 should be appropriated to the
education of the negroes in the south. AS tc
the rest, the states could take care of their
colored citizens, and he recommended tina
the settlement of all difficulties be left Il
time.
Henry Palmeiri, q patent solicitor, thei
read an article on invehtion2" 2"'"i''7N ."