Carl Schurz

Name: Letters from the South — I The Sea Islands and Free Labor
Author: Carl Schurz

Letters from the South — I The Sea Islands and Free Labor

Summary

“Letters from the South — I The Sea Islands and Free Labor”, is a work by Carl Schurz. It explores elements such as negro, lessee and Southern.

Quotes from Letters from the South — I The Sea Islands and Free Labor (Carl Schurz)

Carl Schurz, Letters from the South — I The Sea Islands and Free Labor

“ I believe every intelligent Southern man must have come to the conclusion that slavery is gone and cannot be restored, but he deplores this fact most sincerely. If the negroes were not so “demoralized” as to render every attempt to restore the old form of slavery dangerous, I have no doubt the attempt would be made. But the “demoralization” of the colored race does not permit it. On the other hand, the introduction of a bona fide system of free labor is a thing wholly foreign to the Southerner's ideas. He does not know what free labor is. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Carl Schurz, Letters from the South — I The Sea Islands and Free Labor

“ I have heard it frequently repeated by Southerners that Northern men do not understand the negro, and do not know how to manage him. A short conversation with the lessee of that plantation, together with the evidences of thrift and prosperity all around, convinced me that a sensible, practical Yankee, brought up under the influences of free-labor society, is better calculated to solve the great labor problem in the South in a practical manner than a quondam slaveholder, whose every step will be guided by his former prejudices. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Carl Schurz, Letters from the South — I The Sea Islands and Free Labor

“ Certain kinds of work requiring a higher skill, for instance ploughing, are better remunerated than others which can be performed by a less skilful laborer. Each family has a certain patch of ground for itself, on which vegetables and sometimes cotton are raised. The only incentive to faithful labor is self-interest, and the lessee considers it sufficient. He assured me that all he had to do was to ride over his plantation once in two days, and to spend with each gang of laborers about five minutes, long enough to give directions and to inspect the work going on. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Carl Schurz, Letters from the South — I The Sea Islands and Free Labor

“ The negroes are living well, are saving something from their earnings, have their schools and meeting-houses, and the lessee is doing an excellent business. He assured us that he as well as his negroes considered the enterprise a perfect success.
Here is a man who is in possession of land and capital; he wants other men to labor for him. As an inducement he offers a fair remuneration. If he wants the work well done, he knows that he must pay well for it. There are other men who want to make a living by the labor of their hands. They know that in order to earn something they must work for it. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Carl Schurz, Letters from the South — I The Sea Islands and Free Labor

“ Those who go at the solution of the free labor problem in the South with the assumption that the negro will not work unless forced to work, are likely to succeed in making the negro unwilling to work. I am confident the problem will be solved as soon as the school house occupies the place where once the whipping post stood. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Carl Schurz, Letters from the South — I The Sea Islands and Free Labor

“ It would be unreasonable to expect that the first attempts of the emancipated slave to set up for himself, attempts made under unfavorable circumstances, should in all cases prove perfectly successful. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Carl Schurz, Letters from the South — I The Sea Islands and Free Labor

“ Some of the cotton and cornfields through which we passed were in a decidedly bad state of cultivation, others better, but hardly any quite satisfactory until we reached the plantation to which our journey was directed. Then the appearance of the crops suddenly changed; the fields were free from weeds, the cotton plants healthy and the corn fields promising a heavy yield. Every thing bespoke thrift and industry. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Carl Schurz, Letters from the South — I The Sea Islands and Free Labor

“ I have now heard a good many Southern people speak about this subject, some of them very emphatic in their protestations that they accept things as they are, without any mental reservation, — restoration of the Union, abandonment of the right of secession, abolition of slavery and all, — but whenever you question them about particulars as to their future course, you will always find this to be the burden of the song. “The nigger is free, to be sure, but he will not work unless compelled to work ”

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Source: Wikisource

Carl Schurz, Letters from the South — I The Sea Islands and Free Labor

“ A business street, Merchants' Row, have sprung up, giving evidence of the commercial enterprise of our army sutlers. Extensive piers and wharves afford the necessary accommodations for the shipping, and clusters of naval and military workshops and storehouses are scattered on the islands inclosing the spacious bay. ”

Carl Schurz

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