The mass of the freedmen can and will support themselves by labor. They need nothing but justice before the courts of the land, impartial judges and juries, to encourage them in well-doing, or punish them for the violation of just laws, a chance to own the land and property they can honestly obtain, the free exercise of their right to worship God and educate themselves, and—let them alone.
The delegates to Washington think that it is their duty, peculiarly, to see the President and arrange the affairs of the negro. Why don't they attend to their own business, or make arrangements for the working of the disbanded rebel army in the cotton fields and workshops of the south? There are to-day as many houseless, homeless, poor, wandering, idle white men here as there are negroes in the same condition, yet no arrangements are made for their working. All the trickery, chicanery and political power possible are being brought to bear on the poor negro, to make him do the hard labor for the whites, as in days of old.
To this end the mass of the people are instinctively working. They steadily refuse to sell or lease lands to black men. Colored mechanics of this city, who have made several thousand dollars during the last two years, find it impossible to buy even land enough to put up a house on, yet white men can purchase any amount of land. The whites know that if negroes are not allowed to acquire property or become landholders, they must ultimately return to plantation labor, and work for wages that will barely support themselves and families, and they feel that this kind of slavery will be better than none at all.
People who will do these things, after such a war, and so much misery, while federal bayonets are yet around them, are not to be intrusted with the education and development of a, race of slaves just liberated.
I have made this letter longer than it should have been, and may have taxed your patience, yet I do not see how I could have said less, and expressed my views on the subject.
I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
SAMUEL THOMAS, Colonel, Assistant Commissioner B.R.F. and A.L. for Mississippi and N.E. Louisiana.
General CARL SCHURZ.
No. 28.
Mobile, Alabama,September9, 1865.
Colonel George D. Robinson, 97th United States colored troops, states as follows:
I was sent out to Connecuh, Covington, Coffee, Dale, and Henry counties, to administer the amnesty oath. I was at Covington myself, having officers under my orders stationed in the other four counties. I travelled through Connecuh and Covington; about the other counties I have reports from my officers. A general disposition was found among the planters to set the colored people who had cultivated their crops during the summer adrift as soon as the crops would be secured, and not to permit the negro to remain upon any footing of equality with the white man in that country.
In none of the above-named counties I heard of a justice of the peace or other magistrate discharging the duties of an agent of the Freedmen's Bureau, nor did I hear of any of them willing to do so. I deem it necessary that some officers be sent out there to attend to the interests of the freedmen, in order to avoid the trouble and confusion which is almost certain to ensue unless the matter is attended to and regulated.
I returned from Covington yesterday, September 8.
GEO. D. ROBINSON,Colonel 97th United States Infantry.
No. 29.
Savannah, July 31, 1865.
Question by Mr. Schurz. What are the ideas of the people in this State as to the future organization of your labor system?
Answer. It is generally conceded that slavery is dead, but it is believed that the negro will not work unless compelled to. Money is no inducement that will incite him to work. He works for comfort, that is, he wants to gain something and then enjoy it immediately afterwards. He has no idea of the binding force of a contract, and it is questionable whether he ever will have.
Question. So you consider the contract system, as it is now introduced here and there, a failure.
Answer. In a number of cases that I know of it is a failure. The negroes are not doing the work they have contracted for. I know other cases in which they have remained with their former masters, work well, and produce fair crops.
Question. In what manner, then, can, in your opinion, the free-labor system be made to work here?
Answer. The negro must be kept in a state of tutelage, like a minor. For instance, he may be permitted to freely choose the master for whom he wants to work; he may bind himself for a year, and, for all practical purposes, the master must act as his guardian.
Question. You think, then, something more is necessary than a mere contract system by which the negro is only held to fulfil his contract?
Answer. Yes. The negro ought to be held in the position of a ward.
Question. Do you not think the negro ought to be educated, and do you believe the people of this State would tax themselves for the purpose of establishing a general system of education?
Answer. I think it would be well to have the negro educated, but I do not think the people of this State would tax themselves for such a purpose. The people are too poor and have too many other things to take care of. We have to look for that to the people of the North. The North having freed the negroes, ought to see to it that they be elevated. Besides, the poor whites are not in favor of general education at all. They are themselves very ignorant, and look upon education as something dangerous. For them we must have a system of compulsory education, or we cannot get them to send their children to school. A good many of the Hardshell Baptists among them look upon school-teachers as the emissaries of the devil.
Question. How far do you think the people of this State would be prepared to grant the negro equality before the law? Would they, for instance, give him the right to testify in courts of justice against white men?
Answer. I think not. It is generally believed that the negro has no idea of the sanctity of an oath.
Question. Do you not think such disabilities would place the negro under such disadvantage in the race of life as to deprive him of a fair chance?
Answer. This is the dilemma, in my opinion: either we admit the negro's testimony in courts of justice, and then our highest interests are placed at the mercy of a class of people who cannot be relied on when testifying under oath; or we deny the negro that right, and then he will not be in a position to properly defend his own interests, and will be a downtrodden, miserable creature.
Question. Do you not think vagrancy laws and police regulations might be enacted, equally applicable to whites and blacks, which might obviate most of the difficulties you suggest as arising from the unwillingness of the negro to work?
Answer. Perhaps they might; but the whites would not agree to that. The poor whites hate and are jealous of the negro, and the politicians will try and please the whites so as to get their votes.
Question. Do you think it would be advisable to withdraw our military forces from the State if the civil government be restored at an early date?
Answer. It would not be safe. There are a great many bad characters in the country who would make it for some time unsafe for known Union people, and for northerners who may settle down here, to live in this country without the protection of the military. The mere presence of garrisons will prevent much mischief. The presence of the military is also necessary to maintain the peace between the whites and blacks, and it will be necessary until their relations are settled upon a permanent and satisfactory basis.
This memorandum was read by me to Mr. King and approved by him as a correct reproduction of the views he had expressed.
No. 30.
What the planter wants before he embarks his capital and time in the attempt to cultivate another crop.—Suggestions submitted by a committee at a meeting of planters, November 24, 1864.
First.—Above all, he wants an undoubted guarantee that the labor and teams, corn and hay, with which he begins the cultivation of another crop shall be secured to him for at least twelve months. From past experience, we know that, to be reliable, this guarantee must come from the government at Washington.
Second.—Some mode of compelling laborers to perform ten (10) hours of faithful labor in each twenty-four hours, (Sundays excepted,) and strict obedience of all orders. This may be partially attained by a graduated system of fines, deduction of time or wages, deduction of rations of all kinds in proportion to time lost, rigidly enforced. But in obstinate cases it can only be done by corporal punishments, such as are inflicted in the army and navy of the United States. In light cases of disobedience of orders and non-performance of duty the employer should impose fines, &c. The corporal punishment should be inflicted by officers appointed by the superintendent of "colored labor," who might, from time to time, visit each plantation in a parish, and ascertain whether the laborer was satisfied with his treatment, and whether he performed his part of the contract, and thus the officer would qualify himself by his own information to correct any abuse that might exist, and award equal justice to each party. The plan of sending off refractory laborers to work on government plantations is worse than useless. A planter always plants as much land as he believes he has labor to cultivate efficiently, neither more nor less. If less, a portion of his laborers are idle a part of their time; if more, his crops must suffer from the want of proper cultivation. If the laborers do not work faithfully, and their work is not judiciously directed, either from want of skill on the part of him who directs the labor, or from the refusal or failure of the laborers from any cause to do the work as it ought to be done, the crops must suffer. If, then, a portion of labor necessary to cultivate a certain amount of land is abstracted by sending it to work anywhere else, the crop must fail in proportion to the amount of labor abstracted. It must therefore be apparent to all that the amount of prompt, faithful, and well-directed labor, necessary to cultivate a given quantity of land efficiently, must be available at all times, when the cultivator deems it necessary, or the crops must necessarily, to a greater or less extent, prove a failure.
Third.—The rate of wages should be fixed—above which no one should be allowed to go. There should be at least four classes of hands, both male and female. If the laborer should be furnished, as this year, 1864, with clothing, shoes, rations, houses, wood, medicine, &c., the planter cannot afford to pay any more wages than this year, and to some hands not so much. Wages should not be paid oftener than once a quarter. As long as a negro has a dime in his pocket he will go every Saturday to some store or town. Besides, if the men have money once a month they are constantly corrupting the women, who will not work because they expect to get money of the men. If the laborers are to pay for all their supplies, some think higher wages could be paid; but it would be necessary to require the negro to supply himself with at least two suits of clothes, one pair of shoes, a hat, and four pounds of pork or bacon, one peck of corn meal a week, vegetables at least twice a week, for a first-class hand. The laborer should pay for his medicine, medical attendance, nursing, &c.; also, house rent, $5 a month, water included; wood at $2 a cord in the tree, or $4 a cord cut and delivered. Instead of money, each employer should be required to pay once a week in tickets issued and signed by himself or agent, not transferable to any one off the premises of him who issues them, redeemable by the issuer quarterly in current funds, and to be received by him in the purchase of goods, provisions, &c., which he sold at current prices.
Fourth.—A law to punish most severely any one who endeavors, by offering higher wages, gifts, perquisites, &c., &c., to induce a negro to leave his employer before the expiration of the term for which he has engaged to labor without the consent of said employer.
Fifth.—Wages to be quarterly. One-half to be retained to the end of the year, unless it is found that more than half is required to maintain a man and his family.
Sixth.—Lost time to be deducted from wages daily; fines to be charged daily; rations, of all kinds, to be docked in proportion to the time lost during the week, if rations are to be supplied.
Seventh.—Fines to be imposed for disobedience of any orders.
Eighth.—During sugar-making the laborer should be required to work at night as well as during the day. For night-work he might be allowed double wages for the time he works.
Ninth.—The negroes should not be allowed to go from one plantation to another without the written permit of their employer, nor should they be allowed to go to any town or store without written permission.
Tenth.—That the laborers should be required to have their meals cooked in a common kitchen by the plantation cooks, as heretofore. At present each family cook for themselves. If there be twenty-five houses on a plantation worked by one hundred hands, there are lighted, three times every day, winter and summer, for the purpose of cooking, twenty-five (25) fires, instead of one or two, which are quite as many as are necessary. To attend these twenty-five fires there must be twenty-five cooks. The extravagance in wood and the loss of time by this mode must be apparent to all. Making the negroes pay for the wood they burn, and for fencing lumber of any kind, would have a tendency to stop this extravagant mode of doing business. They should also be fined heavily or suffer some kind of corporal punishment for burning staves, hoop-poles, shingles, plank, spokes, &c., which they now constantly do.
Eleventh.—None but regularly ordained ministers should be allowed to preach. At present on every plantation there are a number of preachers. Frequent meetings are held at night, continuing from 7 or 8 p.m. until 1 or 2 o'clock a.m. The day after one of these long meetings many of the laborers are unfit to labor; neither are the morals of the negroes improved by these late meetings, nor the health. The night meetings should break up at 10 p.m., and there should be but one a week on a plantation. Some of the preachers privately promulgate the most immoral doctrines.
Twelfth.—A police guard or patrol should be established under the control of the superintendent of free labor, whose duty it shall be, under their officers, to enforce the rules and regulations that the superintendent of free labor may think best to adopt for the government of the laborers and their families on plantations and in private families.
Thirteenth.—The laborers are at present extremely careless of the teams, carts, wagons, gear, tools, and material of all kinds put in their possession, and should therefore be held accountable for the same. Parents should be held liable for things stolen or destroyed by their children not over twelve years of age.
Fourteenth.—Foremen should be fined whenever they fail to report any of the laborers under them who disobey orders of any kind. The foreman at the stable should be required especially to report neglect or ill treatment of teams by their drivers, and he should be held liable for all tools and halters, &c., put in the stable.
Fifteenth.—The unauthorized purchase of clothing or other property by laborers, or others domesticated on plantations, should be severely punished, and so should the sale by laborers or others domesticated on plantations of plantation products without a written permission be punished by fine, imprisonment, and obstinate cases by corporal punishment. The sale or furnishing of intoxicating liquor of any kind to laborers or others domesticated on plantations should be severely punished.
Sixteenth.—The possession of arms or other dangerous weapons without authority should be punished by fine or imprisonment and the arms forfeited.
Seventeenth.—No one, white or colored, with or without passes, should have authority to go into a quarter without permission of the proprietor of said quarter. Should any insist upon going in, or be found in a quarter without permission of the proprietor, he should be arrested at once by the proprietor.
Eighteenth.—Fighting and quarrelling should be prohibited under severe penalties, especially husbands whipping their wives.
Nineteenth.—Laborers and all other persons domesticated on plantations or elsewhere should be required to be respectful in tone, manner, and language to their employers, and proprietors of the plantations or places on which they reside, or be fined and imprisoned.
Twentieth.—The whole study, aim, and object of the negro laborer now is how to avoid work and yet have a claim for wages, rations, clothes, &c.
No. 31.
N.O. and O. Railroad, December1, 1864.
Dear Sir: The earnest desire you have manifested to make the negro laborer under the new order of things successful, makes me the more disposed to offer every assistance in my power to that end. I have no prejudices to overcome; I would do the blacks all the good in my power consistently with their welfare and the welfare of the country; I owe them no ill will, but I am well satisfied that it will demand the highest skill and the largest experience combined to make the new system work successfully, when hitherto all others, including our own two years' experience, have signally failed. No namby-pamby measures will do. We may have more psalm singing, more night preaching, greater excesses in the outward manifestation of religion, but depend upon it there will be less true morality, less order, less truthfulness, less honest industry. It is not the experiment of a few only, or of a day, but of aninstitution, if anything, for millions; the mixing in industrial association of separate races hitherto distinct; of systems fundamentally changed and not of mere individuals, and the man who does not rise to the height of the great argument fails before he starts. It is not to listen to babblers, toprofessionalphilanthropists, to quacks and demagogues: it demands a manly, masculine, vigorous exercise of executive power, adapted to the circumstances of the case. Nobody is absolutely free, white or black. I have been a slave all my life; you have been the same. We were subject to discipline from childhood, and the negro as well, and must continue to be subject to wholesome restraints all of us.
It is well to consider that the measures of the government have rendered labor scarce. It would be safe to say there is nothalf a supply; that every sort of inducement will be held out to get labor away from present situations; that the inclination of all who are unincumbered is, to get to the city and its neighborhood. Every planter has some already there, living most unprofitably. I have half a dozen, some under the agreement of the present year. Concentration is the order of the day, and none but those who can command the largest sum of money will be able to carry on plantations with any hope of success. I take leave to add some suggestions, believing you will receive them with the same friendly spirit in which they are offered. I am still surrounded by my own servants, and would like to see the system so ordered that they would still find it to their advantage to remain in their present comfortable homes.
Wages, rules, and regulations should be fixed and uniform: nothing left to discretion.
A penalty should be inflicted on every employer who deviates from the established rates,maximumrates.
No field crops should be raised by hired laborers. The evils attending this are numerous and insurmountable.
Wages should be extremely moderate on account of the unsteadiness of labor and exceeding uncertainty of crops of all sorts, but especially of cane and cotton.
Cooking for hands should be confined absolutely to one kitchen, and a charge made for all wood taken to their houses; a certain supply should be allowed, and no additional quantity permitted at any price: otherwise no plantation can long stand the enormous, wasteful consumption of fuel.
All necessary expenditures for the blacks, old as well as young, should be borne by themselves. White laborers are all liable to such charges, and why not wasteful and improvident blacks? They should be early taught the value of what they consume as well as the other costs of living.
About keeping stock the rule should be absolute.
No travelling about, day or night, without a written sanction from the proper person. The violation of this order by a commanding officer has brought the small-pox on my place and already eight grown hands have died with it, and there are not less than twenty invalids besides: this is one of the evils.
Medicine and professional attendance a charge to the patient, as well as all educational arrangements.
Every ploughman or woman, and teamster, to be obliged to feed and curry his or her team once at least every day.
Payments beyond proper and prescribed supplies to be small, the smaller the better, and still better if withheld till the crop is made and saved; but settlements by tickets should be made weekly. (A share in the crop is the best for both parties.) I do not perceive the utility of "home colonies;" they belong to the class oftheoriesmore than anything else. Families should be kept together and at the "homes" to which they have been accustomed, if possible, andmadeto support themselves, all who are able to do so. At present there are many who will not do this because they are made a charge on the master or employer. Vagrants should be punished;work is a necessity. But I only put down a few particulars toimpressupon your mind as they occur to me.
I know the difficult task you have undertaken. You have a giant to manage, and you will have to exercise a giant's strength. You have no less than to revise the teachings of all past history. You have to accomplish what has never been accomplished before. Neither in the east nor in the west has the African been found to work voluntarily; but the experiment is to be tried anew in this country, and I shall lend my assistance, whatever it is, to help on in the road to success, if that be possible. I have tried it two years under the military without success, or the prospect of it. If, however, I can in any way assist you to gain the meed of success, both my own interest and my kind feelings towards you combine to prompt me to renewed efforts in the cause.
I remain, very respectfully and truly, yours,
Hon. B.F. FLANDERS.
P.S.—The great desideratum in obtaining labor from free blacks is itsenforcement. How is this to be done? Formerly the known authority possessed by the master over the slave, prevented in a great degree the exercise of it. The knowledge now, on the part of the blacks, that the military authority has forbidden any authority over them, increases the very necessity of the power which is forbidden. This is palpable to any one who sees with an experienced eye for a day. There can necessarily be no order, day or night, no fidelity, no morality, no industry.It is so, speculate and theorize as we may. I wish it were different; it is a great pity to witness these deplorable effects.
Disease is scattered broadcast; my own stock has been for some time consumed, except a few milch cows. The sugar from the sugar-houses has been sold in quantities in every direction. The cotton of one plantation has been sold to the extent of half the crop to a white man, and only by the merest accident discovered in time to be detected. My neighbor's hogs have been taken from the pen, killed and brought home for consumption; his cattle the same. These things are within my knowledge by the merest accident, but there is absolutely no remedy, because their testimony is as good, if not better than mine, and this they know perfectly well. In a case of sugar-selling, I had the oath of a disinterested white man to the fact, and the black and white man identified by the witness. When this witness was through with his testimony, the negro man, the interested party,the accused himself, was called up by the provost marshal, and of course he swore himself innocent, and so he wascleared. In the case of the cotton not a negro can be brought to confess, notwithstanding the confession of the white man and the surrender of the cotton. How, then, can good order, good morals and honest industry be maintained when immunity from punishment is patent to their understandings?
I know no remedy adequate to the circumstances but an always present power to enforce law and order, and this now requires the constant presence of the bayonet. Which is the best, a regular military government, or the quiet, humane exercise of just so much authority as the case demands, by the master, who has every motive, human and divine, to exercise humanity and protect his slave from injustice and injury?
The past, or rather the present year, we had nothing but blank orders, and these are of no avail whatever without enforcement; and this brings us back to the starting-point again, and the bayonet again, and so it is to the end of the chapter. Moral suasion will not do for whites who have had freedom as an inheritance, and education within their reach. How then can it be expected that he who has been predestined by the Almighty to be a servant of servants all the days of his life, shall be capable of at once rising to motives of human conduct higher than those possessed by the white man?
All that my reason teaches and the experience I have had, and the history I have read, bring me to the same conclusion: you must utterly fail unless you add the stimulus ofcorporal punishmentto the admonitions of the law; but as this would be somewhat inconsistent with the freedom which our solons have decreed, I must only confess my inability to prescribe the orthodox remedies according to the received dogmas from the inspired sources of knowledge at the north above all the lessons I have learned heretofore, and entirely above everything I expect to learn hereafter.
No. 32.
Shreveport, La., August1, 1865.
Sir: At the date of my last monthly report, (July 2d,) the free-labor system in western Louisiana was an experiment. No contracts between the planters and freedmen had then been entered into, and the difficulties to be met with and overcome by the contracting parties were new to each. The herculean task of removing the objections which the freedmen offered to signing a "contract," and of eradicating the prejudice existing among the planters against countenancing the employment upon their plantations as free men of those whom they had so long and firmly held in bondage, devolved upon the agents of the bureau.
The objection presented by the freedmen consisted chiefly in the fact that they hadno confidence whateverin the word of their "old masters." Said they, in substance, "We cannot trust the power that has never accorded us any privileges. Our former oppressors show by their actions that they would sooner retard than advance our prosperity." While in nine cases out of ten the freedmen eagerly and readily acceded to fair terms for their labor when the matter was explained by a government agent, exactly in the same ratio did they refuse to listen to any proposition made by the planter alone.
Their readiness to comprehend their situation and to enter into an agreement to work when enlightened by an agent of the bureau, or, in exceptional cases, when the planters sought in a kind and philanthropic spirit to explain to them their relations to society and the government, is conclusive proof that the disposition to be idle formed no part of the reason for their refusing to contract with their former masters.
With these facts in view, it will be readily perceived that the only feasible mode of success was to send agents into the country to visit every plantation. This was undertaken; but with no funds to procure the services of assistants, and with the difficulty of obtaining the right class of men for these positions from the army, the progress made has not been as rapid or the work as effectual as it would have been under more favorable circumstances. Partial returns have been received, as follows:
From Bienville parish 248 contracts." Bossier parish 14 "" Caddo parish 172 "" DeSoto parish 246 "" Marion county, Texas 206 "—-Total received 886 "===
Returns are yet to be received from the parishes of Claiborne, Natchitoches, Winn and Sabine, and from Harrison county, Texas. These will all be given in by the 15th inst., and I shall then be able to determine the exact number employed upon each plantation and laboring under the new system. Regarding the average number employed upon each plantation in the parish of Caddo as a basis for an estimate, the returned rolls will foot up a list of 7,088 names, and the whole number of freedmen contracted with during the month of July in the district under my supervision will not probably exceed 20,000, or fall short of 15,000.
During the month a sufficient length of time has elapsed to render judgment to a certain extent upon the workings of the new system. That it has not satisfied a majority of the planters is a conclusion which, from their disposition at first, was evident would be arrived at. That the freedmen have accepted the arrangements devised by the government for their protection so readily and have worked so faithfully, is a matter for congratulation.
The planters at first expected that, though the power to "control" the persons of the laborers had been torn from them by the stern requirements of war, the agents of the bureau would, through the military, confine the negro to their plantations and compel him to labor for them. In this way it was thought that the sameregimeas pursued in times of slavery could be kept up, and it was this idea which prompted a planter, noted for his frankness, to remark "that the people of the south desired the government to continue this supervision for a term of years." Finding that their ideas of the policy of the government were erroneous, and that they could not exercise this "controlling power" either directly or indirectly, and that the freedman was to be placed, as nearly as the circumstances surrounding his situation would permit, upon the same grounds as the white laborer, it is but a logical sequence that the planters should be disappointed and dissatisfied with the work performed by the freedmen.
In this place it may be well to notice that the country is yet in a very unsettled condition. After a four years' war which has sapped it of all its resources, and after a life-long servitude for a hard taskmaster, the negro is liberated from bondage, and he finds the people of the country in no condition to offer him the most advantageous terms for his services. This, with the natural desire experienced by all mankind for a period of repose after that of incessant and forced labor, is one of the causes which have contributed to render the freedmen negligent and inconstant at their work.
Reports are constantly brought to this office by the negroes from the interior that freedmen have been kidnapped and summarily disposed of. These obtain circulation and credence among all classes, and, whether true or not, operate disadvantageously to the interests of both the planters and the freedmen.
Again, the threat of shooting the laborers, so frequently made by the planters, is very unwise, and usually has the effect of causing a general stampede from the plantation where the threat was made. The fact that the body of a negro was seen hanging from a tree in Texas, near the Louisiana line; and of the murder in cold blood, in the northern part of the parish of Caddo, of Mary, a colored woman, by John Johnson, the son of the proprietor of the plantation where the woman worked; and that instances have repeatedly occurred similar to a case presented at my office, where an old man had received a blow over his head with a shillalah one inch in diameter, which was so severe as to snap the stick asunder; and also the fracturing of the skull and the breaking of the arm of a helpless, inoffensive colored woman by a vindictive planter in the parish of Natchitoches; and the statement of one of my agents, who says that "upon half the plantations the freedmen are not well clothed and their rations are scanty;" and of another who has visited every plantation in ward No. —, parish of ——, who reports at the close of the month as follows: "The freedmen in my ward are very poorly clothed and fed, although no particular complaints have been made as yet;" should all be taken into consideration in arriving at conclusions in regard to the disposition of the freedmen to work, and before judgment is rendered upon the complaints of the major portion of the planters; and it is also useless to disguise the fact that among the freedmen, as among all classes of people, there are many ill-disposed as well as idle persons, and a few of these upon each plantation create dissatisfaction among the others.
Notwithstanding the complaints of the planters and the above-named facts, the existence of which would cause a disturbance among any class of laborers in the world, the majority of the planters have been eager to contract with their former slaves, for the reason that after their plantations had been visited by an agent of the government, and an agreement had been made upon the prescribed forms, the freedmen worked better than before. This is a matter of significance, and its bearing is readily seen. Having noticed the disapprobation of the larger portion of the planting community, and the causes which led to their complaints, I desire to call your attention in this connexion to the report of one of my most experienced agents. It is as follows:
"In all cases have the employees given satisfaction where their former masters are at all reasonable. I would mention the case of Jacob Hoss as an example: he contracted with his former slaves in the latter part of May for one-fourth of all his crops; they have been steady and industrious, and have decidedly the finest cotton and corn in the district." Mr. Hoss has 200 acres of cotton, 400 of corn, and 8 of potatoes. Your attention is also solicited to the testimony of theliberal fewwho have taken the amnesty oath with the intention to keep it. One says: "The freedmen in my neighborhood are laboring well where they are well paid." Another, a large land proprietor, states that "he could not ask his hands to work better." The same gentleman also states that "he would not have the freedmen upon his plantation made slaves again if he could."
The testimony is concurrent that, where liberal wages are paid and the freedmen are kindly treated, no difficulty is experienced with them, and that they labor honestly and industriously. The complaints which have been presented at the office for consideration are very nearly in a direct ratio of the two classes, but the wrongs of the freedmen are by far the most aggravated, as they suffer in almost every conceivable way. It has been necessary to fine and assess damages upon several planters for beating their laborers, and also to punish several freedmen for violating their contracts and for other misdemeanors. The following is a literal copy of a document brought to this office by a colored man, which is conclusive evidence that therearethose who still claim the negro as their property:
"This boy Calvin has permit to hire to whome he please, but I shall hold him as my propperty untill set Free by Congress.
"July the 7, 1865. E.V. TULLY."
The spirit of the above also made its appearance in another form in the action of the police jury of the parish of Bossier, which was an attempt to revive at once the old slave laws, and to prevent the freedmen from obtaining employment from the plantations of their former masters. The gist of the enactment alluded to is contained in the paragraph directing the officers on patrol duty "to arrest and take up all idle and vagrant persons running at large without employment, and carry them before the proper authority, to be dealt with as the law directs."
As soon as this matter came under the observation of the bureau, the facts in the case were represented to Brevet Major General J.P. Hawkins, commanding western district of Louisiana, and at the same time a request was made that the restrictions imposed upon the freedmen in this section by General Orders No. 24, headquarters northern division of Louisiana, be revoked; and the general issued an order, dated July 31, which removes the said restrictions, and prohibits the parish police juries, established by the civil authorities, from arresting freedmen unless for positive offence against the law. This breaks down the last barrier to the enjoyment of liberty by the freedmen in western Louisiana, and I feel highly gratified that it has been accomplished without referring it to higher authorities, as our mail facilities are so irregular that at least two months would have been consumed by the operation.
Upon the 10th of July the freedmen's hospital was opened for the reception of patients, and enclosed please find a copy of the hospital report for July, marked 1. This is a necessary as well as a charitable institution, as the city authorities have as yet taken no measures to provide for the indigent sick.
Since the establishment of the bureau here, it has been found necessary to issue rations to freedmen, as follows:
To citizen employees 46 To helpless and infirm 236 To sick and hospital attendants 1,169 ——- Total issued 1,451 =====
The number fed by the government to-day is as follows:
Men 7Women 6Children 10—Total number infirm and helpless rationed 23
Number sick at hospital 40 Number hospital attendants 24 Number citizen employees rationed 1 — Total number supplied with rations 88 ==
None but the helpless and infirm and sick have been fed at the expense of the government, and these only in cases of absolute necessity. Many planters who abandoned their homes on the Mississippi and carried away their slaves to Texas have returned to this city, and with a coolness amounting to audacity have demanded transportation for their former slaves to various points from the mouth of the Red river to Lake Providence. Finding that the officers of the government would not oblige them in this particular, they left behind the aged and infirm to provide for themselves as best they could. This and the abuses on plantations have caused the principal suffering among the freedmen, and have brought many to the city who otherwise would have remained upon the plantation, but, all things being considered, comparatively few have congregated about town. There has been such a demand for day labor in the city that I have deemed it a false philanthropy to feed those who temporarily sought refuge from oppression.
The permanent residents are orderly and industrious, and desire very much to have schools established for their children. I cannot here refrain from mentioning the fact that the presence of negroes in town possessing free papers is extremely disagreeable to the citizens.
The tax collected of planters has thus far been sufficient to defray office and printing expenses. The hire of a surgeon and nurses for the hospital, amounting in July to $204.46, is the only bill which it is necessary to refer to you for payment. All the property and money which has come into my hands on account of the bureau has been accounted for to the proper departments, according to regulations.
By Special Orders No. 140, dated at headquarters northern division of Louisiana, June 21, 1865, Chaplain Thomas Callahan, 48th United States colored infantry, was assigned to duty with me as my assistant, and he has had charge of the department of complaints. He is a very capable and efficient officer, and his services are very valuable to the bureau.
Again, I have occasion to return acknowledgments to Brigadier General J.C. Veatch for his cordial assistance in aiding me to carry out the measures of the bureau, and also to Colonel Crandal and Lieutenant Colonel McLaughlin, post commandants, for valuable aid; and to Brevet Major General J.P. Hawkins we are indebted for that which makes the colored man in reality afreeman.
Believing that with proper management and kind treatment the freedmen in western Louisiana will be found to be as industrious as laborers in other sections of the country,
I have the honor to be, with much respect, your obedient servant,
W.B. STICKNEY,Lieutenant and Assistant Superintendent Freedmen.
THOMAS W. CONWAY,Assistant Commissioner Bureau of Freedmen. &c.
No. 33.
Shreveport, Louisiana, August26, 1865.
Sir: I have the honor to report, in accordance with orders, that in the district under my supervision, comprising eight parishes in Louisiana and two counties in Texas, and an area of about 13,764 square miles, 3,105 contracts have been made, and 27,830 laborers enrolled since the first of July. The work of making contracts is now nearly completed, but the returns for the month of August from the officers acting in the different parishes have not as yet been received. From the data already collected it will be safe to estimate the whole number of laborers working under the contract system in the district at not less than 32,000, 25,000 of whom are in Louisiana.
The experience of two months has demonstrated the fact that the negro will work well when he is well paid and kindly treated; and another principle in the nature of the contracting parties has been equally as clearly elucidated,i.e., the planters are disposed to pay the freedmen the least possible sum for their labor, and that for much compensation the freedmen make an offset by making as little as possible. To acknowledge the right of the negro to freedom, and to regard him as a free man entitled to the benefits of his labor and to all the privileges and immunities of citizenship, is to throw aside the dogmas for which the south have been contending for the last thirty years, and seems to be too great a stride for the people to take at once, and too unpalatable a truth for the aristocratic planter to comprehend, without the interposition of the stern logic of the bayonet in the hands of a colored soldier. Duty to my government compels me to report the following well-authenticated facts:
1. Nineteen-twentieths of the planters have no disposition to pay the negro well or treat him well.
2. In the same proportion the planting aristocracy proffers obedience to the government, and at the same time do all in their power to make trouble.
3. The planters evince a disposition to throw all the helpless and infirm freedmen upon the hands of the government possible, in order to embarrass us and compel us to return them to slavery again.
4. A majority of the planters desire to prevent the success of the free-labor system, that they may force Congress to revive slavery, or, what is more, a system of peonage.
5. The belief is general among the planters that without some means of "controlling" the persons of the laborers they cannot succeed; and for this reason they desire to have the military force removed, and the privilege of enacting such laws as will enable them to retain this power.
6. To defraud, oppress, and maltreat the freedmen seems to be the principle governing the action of more than half of those who make contracts with them.
7. The lives of the freedmen are frequently threatened, and murders are not of uncommon occurrence.
8. The life of a northern man who is true to his country and the spirit and genius of its institutions, and frankly enunciates his principles, is not secure where there is not a military force to protect him.
About the 15th of July Corporal J.M. Wallace, of company B, forty-seventh Indiana Veteran volunteer infantry, was on duty with this bureau, and engaged in making contracts upon Red river, in the parish of Caddo. He visited Mr. Daniel's plantation, and, as it is stated, started for Mr. White's place, but never reached it. Being absent unaccountably, a sergeant and a detail of four men were sent to look him up, but could find no trace of him. Without doubt he was murdered. He was a young man of unexceptionable habits and character, and was highly esteemed by the officers of his regiment. The circumstances of the case are such as to lead to the belief that the planters in the vicinity connived at his death. Captain Hoke, another agent of the bureau, was stopped by a highwayman within eight miles of Shreveport. One of my assistants reports as follows: "In the northern part of this parish (Cuddo) there are men armed and banded to resist the law." These facts prove that the presence of a military force is needed in every parish. Instead of the present system of districts, I would recommend that the officer for each parish report direct to headquarters at New Orleans for instructions, and that each officer be furnished with at least twenty men, ten of whom should be mounted. I apprehend that at the commencement of the next year the planters will endeavor to load us down with the aged and infirm, and those with large families. To meet this and other difficulties that may arise, I recommend that at least five thousand acres of land be confiscated in every parish, and an opportunity given the freedmen to rent or purchase the land, and that every facility be afforded planters in the lower part of the State to obtain laborers from western Louisiana. Another remedy has been suggested, and as it meets with my approval I quote the recommendations of the officer in his own words: "Let the white troops on duty in this department be mustered out; they are greatly dissatisfied with remaining in the service after the close of the war; let black troops be mustered in their stead. In urging this matter, I suggest that the government has the first right to the services of the freedmen, and he needs the discipline of the army to develop his manhood and self-reliance. Such a course of recruiting black soldiers will act as a powerful restraint upon the abuses practiced by the planters on the freedmen, and will also compel the payment of better wages. If the planter wishes the services of a shrewd, enterprising freedman, he must out-bid the government. Lastly, the country needs the soldiers. Politicians may say what they may; western Louisiana is no more loyal now than when the State adopted the ordinance of secession."
The statistics given at the commencement prove that we have experienced less difficulty with the freedmen than could have been expected. At times it has been necessary to adopt stringent measures to stem the tide of freedmen that seemed to be setting in toward Shreveport, and many of them have such vague ideas of the moral obligations of a contract that it has been necessary to strengthen them by imprisonment and hard labor; but the great and insuperable difficulty which meets us at every step is,that the planters and the freedmen have no confidence in and respect for each other. The planters inform us that they are the best friends of the negro, but the freedmen fail to see the matter in that light. I am well assured that as a general rule the old planters and overseers can never succeed with the freedmen; that there must be an entire change in either laborers or proprietors before the country will again be prosperous. The plan of renting lands to the freedmen, as proposed by a few planters, I am of the opinion will prove very profitable to both parties. While, as a general rule, there is constant difficulty between the freedmen and their old masters and overseers, my agents and northern men have no trouble with them; and should the planters employ practical farmers from the north as business managers, it seems to be well demonstrated that the free-labor system, as it now is, with but slight modifications, would be a grand success. In this connexion I cannot refrain from noticing the assertion of a southern politician to the effect "that were the freedmen enfranchised, nine out of ten of them would vote for their old masters," which assertion every freedman will pronounce a wilful and malignant falsehood.
The country is full of arms, and their use upon the freedmen is so frequent, and the general disposition of the people such, that I would strongly recommend, as a measure to secure the safety of life and property, that all classes of arms be taken from the citizens, not to be returned until an entirely different disposition is evinced.
The system to be made binding for the next year should be published as early as the 15th of October, and the matter of contracting be commenced as soon thereafter as the parties desire to do so. I would respectfully suggest the propriety for calling of such statistical matter upon the back of the contract as will enable the officer in charge of the educational interests to determine the whole number of freedmen residing in the different parishes, and also the number of children of school age.
The establishment of schools will be met by the most venomous opposition, and a military force will be required to protect the teacher and scholars from insult and injury unless the tone of public sentiment improves very rapidly.
The civil authorities, so far as my knowledge extends, are not willing to grant the freedmen the rights to which their freedom entitles them. In fact it became necessary, as will be seen by a former report, for the military authorities to interfere to prevent their being virulently oppressed. In consequence of this I have kept an officer constantly on duty adjusting the difficulties arising between the whites and negroes, but important cases have been referred to the military authorities.
Chaplain Thomas Callahan, the officer referred to above, in his last report says:
"To many of the planters the idea of a negro's testimony being as good as a white man's is very unpleasant, and occasional attempts are made to bully and browbeat a colored witness upon the stand. The attempt is never made twice. Once I pitted a lawyer against a negro witness, held the parties on the cross-examination, and the lawyer was badly beaten. Some of the freedmen can conduct a case with uncommon shrewdness."
I cannot urge upon your attention too strongly the importance of keeping an officer in every parish and of providing him with a sufficient guard to command respect and enforce obedience to the laws. The presence of a military force, with judicious and discreet officers to command it, is the only means of securing to the freedmen their rights and of giving proper security to life and property.
With many thanks for that encouragement which has supported and cheered me through every difficulty, I have the honor to be, with much respect, your most obedient servant,
W.B. STICKNEY,Lieutenant and Assistant Superintendent of Freedmen.
THOMAS W. CONWAY,Assistant Commissioner, &c.
No. 34.
Ordinance relative to the police of recently emancipated negroes or freedmen within the corporate limits of the town of Opelousas.
Whereas the relations formerly subsisting between master and slave have become changed by the action of the controlling authorities; and whereas it is necessary to provide for the proper police and government of the recently emancipated negroes or freedmen in their new relations to the municipal authorities:
Ordained the 3d day of July, 1865.
E.D. ESTILLETTE,President of the Board of Police.
JOS. D. RICHARDS,Clerk.
Official copy:
J. LOVELL,Captain and Assistant Adjutant General.
No. 35.
An ordinance relative to the police of negroes recently emancipated within the parish of St. Landry.
Whereas it was formerly made the duty of the police jury to make suitable regulations for the police of slaves within the limits of the parish; and whereas slaves have become emancipated by the action of the ruling powers; and whereas it is necessary for public order, as well as for the comfort and correct deportment of said freedmen, that suitable regulations should be established for their government in their changed condition, the following ordinances are adopted, with the approval of the United States military authorities commanding in said parish, viz:
Official copy:
J. LOVELL,Captain and Assistant Adjutant General.
At a meeting of the citizens of the parish of St. Mary, held at the court-house in the town of Franklin, on Saturday, the 15th instant, P.C. Bethel, Esq., was called to the chair, when a committee was appointed to report upon certain matters submitted to the consideration of the meeting, which committee reported by their chairman the following, which was unanimously adopted:
The committee appointed for the purpose of embodying the views and objects of the meeting of the citizens of the parish of St. Mary, assembled at the court-house of said parish on the 15th day of July, A.D. 1865, to deliberate concerning the discipline of colored persons or freedmen, respectfully report that they recommend to the town council of the town of Franklin the adoption of the ordinance of the board of police of the town of Opelousas, passed on the third day of the present month, with such alterations and modifications as may suit the wants and necessities of this locality; also the ordinance of the same board of police passed on the same day, relative to the town of Opelousas; which ordinances are herewith presented for reference. And they furthermore recommend to the police jury of the parish of St. Mary, whenever convened, to make such regulations with regard to the discipline and management of the freedmen or colored population for the entire parish as may be most conducive to the quiet, tranquillity, and productiveness of said parish generally. The committee further recommend to all well-disposed citizens to co-operate with the authorities and with each other in producing a return to civil rule and good order within the shortest delay possible, that the State of Louisiana may be restored to her proper condition as regards internal political stability and tranquillity, as well as the representation she is entitled to in the councils of the nation, which representation is more important to her now than at any previous period of her history.
W.T. PALFREY, Chairman.
Proceedings of the Mayor and Council of the town of Franklin.
Friday,July28, 1865.
Pursuant to call of the major commanding, the mayor and council met this day. Present: A.S. Tucker, mayor; Wilson McKerall, Alfred Gates, John C. Gordy, and J.A. Peterman, members of the council.
The following was unanimously adopted, viz:
ORDINANCE relative to the police of negroes or colored persons within the corporate limits of the town of Franklin.
SEC. 1.Be it ordained by the mayor and council of the town of Franklin, That no negro or colored person shall be allowed to come within the limits of said town without special permission from his employer, specifying the object of his visit and the time necessary for the accomplishment of the same. Whoever shall violate this provision shall suffer imprisonment and two days work on the public streets, or shall pay a fine of two dollars and a half.
SEC. 2.Be it further ordained. &c., That every negro or colored person who shall be found on the streets of Franklin after ten o'clock at night without a written pass or permit from his or her employer, shall be imprisoned and compelled to work five days on the public streets or pay a fine of five dollars.
SEC. 3. No negro or colored person shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within the limits of the town under any circumstances; and any one thus offending shall be ejected and compelled to find an employer, or leave the town within twenty-four hours. The lessor or furnisher of the house kept as above shall pay a fine of ten dollars for each offence:Provided, That the provisions of this section shall not apply to any free negro or colored person who was residing in the town of Franklin prior to the 1st January (1865) last.
SEC. 4. No negro or colored person shall reside within the limits of the town of Franklin who is not in the regular service of some white person or former owner, who shall be held responsible for the conduct of said negro or colored person; but said employer or former owner may permit said negro or colored person to hire his or their time by special permission in writing, which permission shall not extend to over twenty-five hours at any one time. Any negro or colored person violating the provisions of this section shall be imprisoned and forced to work for two days on the public streets:Provided, That the provisions of this section shall not apply to negroes or colored persons heretofore free.
SEC. 5. No public meetings or congregations of negroes or colored persons shall be allowed within the limits of the town of Franklin, under any circumstances or for any purpose, without the permission of the mayor. This prohibition is not intended, however, to prevent negroes or colored persons from attending the usual church service, conducted by established ministers of religion. Every negro or colored person violating this law shall be imprisoned and put to work five days on the public streets.
SEC. 6. No negro or colored person shall be permitted to preach, exhort, or otherwise declaim to congregations of colored people without a special permission from the mayor, under the penalty of a fine of ten dollars or twenty days' work on the public streets.
SEC. 7. No negro or colored person who is not in the military service shall be allowed to carry fire-arms or any kind of weapons within the limits of the town of Franklin without the special permission of his employer in writing, and approved by the mayor. Any one thus offending shall forfeit his weapons and shall be imprisoned and made to work five days on the public streets, or pay a fine of five dollars in lieu of said work.
SEC. 8. No negro or colored person shall sell, barter, or exchange any articles of merchandise or traffic within the limits of Franklin, without permission in writing from his employer or the mayor, under the penalty of forfeiture of the said articles and imprisonment and one day's labor, or a fine of one dollar in lieu of said work.