--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.
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