Carl Schurz

“ I think the negroes deserve a great deal of praise for their moderation. Another race, if suddenly freed after such experiences, would probably have proceeded to cut the throats of those who were in the habit of whipping wives and mothers. Now go home, treat your people well, and pay them fair wages, and do not come to me again and clamor about danger and insurrection, when the freemen working on your plantation dance and sing, and when the girls refuse to accept a whipping. ”

“ Education is the only thing that can bring the masses of the Southern people under the influence of the general sentiment of the country. We have been speaking of the emancipation of the poor whites of the South. The poor whites will not be emancipated until they are lifted out of their bottomless ignorance. A very intelligent gentleman from Alabama with whom I had a conversation about this subject, told me that on every plantation of fifty to sixty slaves he could pick out from fifteen to eighteen negroes that were in point of intelligence far above the average of the poor whites. ”

“ It will require the experience of many years to make many Southern men belonging to the “enlightened” class understand that an efficient system of popular education is the very fountain from which free-labor society draws its strength and health. They are apt to recoil even from the difficulties with which the diffusion of useful knowledge among the poor whites is surrounded; much less are they likely to trouble themselves about the education of the blacks.
It is true the Southern people are at the present moment very poor and have to look out for a living. ”

“ What I have seen here leads me to the conclusion that in cultivating the Southern soil by free negro labor Northern men are apt to succeed better than Southern men, at least as long as the latter do not succeed in casting off their old habits. It is not difficult to find a reason for this, and I think it is the true one: the Northern man is not governed by the customs and traditions of the slave-labor system. He knows from actual experience what free labor is, and understands the working of its machinery. ”

“ There are certainly exceptions to the rule, but it can be said without the least exaggeration, that a majority of the planters in this region are entirely unaware that a free laborer owes his employer no duty beyond the fulfilment of his contract and the general duties of a citizen. They cannot get rid of the idea that the man who works for them belongs to them, and is obliged to regulate his conduct in every particular according to their notions and whims. ”

“ While the Southern country is still under military rule, the government and the people should employ, without loss of time, whatever legitimate means they possess to promote the great object. Much can be done independently of the future action of the President and Congress. It is certain that, unless the charitable spirit of the Northern people steps in, very little if any thing will be done in the South to advance general education. ”

“ While Southern men, with but few exceptions, will insist upon it that the negro will not work unless compelled to do so by physical force, they are obliged to admit that in a great many instances he does work without compulsion, and works well. A letter was communicated to me from a contractor who employs some seventy or eighty negroes in cutting timber; he has now been at work with them for about two months; although the labor is very hard, not one of the negroes has left him, and they worked steadily to his entire satisfaction. ”

“ Another contractor, who has undertaken a railroad job not far from this city, has been endeavoring for several weeks to secure negro labor, and the negroes regularly desert him after having worked a few days. The former has his laboring force at work about seventy miles from the city, while the railroad job of the latter is to be done in its immediate vicinity. It is generally noticed that the proximity of a large town has a disturbing influence upon the negro. ”

“ When you speak to Southerners about the necessity of educating the negroes and poor whites, some of them will go so far as to tell you that it is a matter worthy of consideration. When you ask them what they are going to do about it, they will reply that they do not know; they reckon they cannot do any thing at present. When you suggest that the people ought to tax themselves for that purpose, they will reply in nine cases out of ten, that the people cannot afford now to spend money for such things; that the people are poor and must be economical ”

“ Bread they will have; the area planted with corn this year is so enormous in the Southern States that, although the average yield per acre may not be large, — and it will indeed hardly exceed 12 bushels, — the aggregate quantity will be more than sufficient to feed the people until the next crops come in. Thus bread they will have; they raise it themselves; but popular education they will not have unless it be imported from abroad. ”

“ These pursuits are certainly not unprofitable, but they take away from the cotton and corn fields a considerable proportion of the labor force, and the fields I walked over bore evidence of it. It must, however, be taken into consideration that these people must live until their crops are harvested and sold, and that, therefore, they have to do something to provide themselves meanwhile with the necessaries of life. ”

“ The planters have organized themselves into bands, and are protecting each other in the enjoyment of the “inalienable rights” as slave-owners. Especially the young men, returned soldiers and officers on parole, seem to have adopted this method of showing their willingness to return into the Union and of accepting the results of the war. It is greatly to be desired that the military authorities should soon succeed in stopping these outrages and in bringing the perpetrators to condign punishment. ”

“ As I remarked before, agencies like these will bring about a convenient distribution of the laboring force over the country, and it is not until then that the system of free negro labor on a grand scale can be fairly tested and judged as to its efficiency. The Southerner maintains that it cannot succeed under any circumstances. Unprejudiced men will acknowledge that it has already succeeded in a good many instances under unfavorable circumstances ”

“ I admit the labor will not be of the pleasantest for the individuals engaged. In many localities they will have to combat stubborn prejudices, for some of the hard-shell Baptist poor whites are of the opinion that “larnin’” is an evil thing. ”

“ Our lives are not safe. It is impossible to put up with the demonstrations of insubordination on the part of the negroes. If they do not cease I shall have to remove my family into the city. If we are not protected we cannot stay in the country. I would rather give up my crops to the negroes than the lives of my wife and children. ”

“ They will serve the colored people best by giving them sober advice. They must keep in mind that the negroes will have to live together with the white people of these States, and that in the end it will be far better to harmonize their interests and feelings, than to embitter their relations by exciting addresses. ”

“ At other places, where negro schools are to be started, the teachers must expect to meet frowning faces and insulting sneers on the part of the “superior race,” but as long as the military are here, there will be no danger. ”

“ It is proper, nay it is necessary, that the teachers sent here to instruct the negroes should be inspired with a sincere sympathy for the race. But it is also very important that they should have cool heads. Their judgment should not be too weak for their enthusiasm. They should be able to see things as they are and not act upon the presumption that the negroes, because they are entitled to our sympathy, must therefore be faultless. ”

“ Large numbers of them flocked to the towns immediately after their liberation, because it was there, they thought, that they would find and enjoy their real freedom, and many of those that have been put to work in the immediate vicinity of cities seem to be controlled by an irresistible desire to look in from time to time. At a certain distance from the towns the negroes work with greater steadiness and perseverance, provided sufficient inducements in the way of wages be offered them. ”

“ Unless other disturbing causes interfere, the distribution of the laboring force of the different parts of the State will soon regulate itself. Although the cities will continue to exercise considerable attraction, there are two things which will soon cause a reflux of the negro population towards their old homes. ”

“ Nothing that charitable benevolence can do for the South is more important than this. There is at the present moment probably not a single school in operation in the interior of this State and there will be but few next winter, unless teachers are sent and paid by the North. ”

“ Schools ought to be opened late in October, and be kept in operation all through the winter. The movement once started will soon take care of itself. If any of the benevolent societies of the North are found willing to make an effort in this direction worthy of the magnitude of the object to be attained, I would volunteer a piece of advice. ”

“ While most of the gentlemen who at present are administering the affairs of the freedman seem to be sufficiently impressed with the justness of this policy, it is desirable that they should all be so. ”

“ She ought to resist when you offer her a whipping, and I hope she will. And I will tell you another thing. Among your slaves there are probably men who have seen their wives, and young men who have seen their mothers whipped by your order. ”

“ Under such circumstances there must necessarily be much confusion. A large number of the freedmen do not yet correctly understand their rights, while a great many of the planters show very little alacrity in acquiring a just conception of their duties. ”

“ He employs between twenty and thirty negroes at ten dollars a month and board; he says that they go to the field about sunrise, stop a short time for breakfast at eight o'clock, stop again for dinner from twelve till two, and then work till after sundown; that his laborers work as well as any laborers he ever employed, and that he has no trouble with them whatever. ”