DAY WAGES. 



Tabic slwiving the rate of u-ages of agricidtural laTyor per (lay, in transient service, from the 

 returns of statistical correspondents, made in Decemher, 1869. 



FREEDMEN'S LABOR 



The general tenor of reports indicates a gradnal improvement .in the 

 quality of freedmeu's labor. Tlie wild notions that freedom is synony- 

 mous Arith idleness and that a free farm well stocked is an incident of 

 suffrage are generally discarded by the colored man. The trial of in- 

 dependent farming without capital or foresight has so often resulted in 

 total failure and comparative destitution and suffering, that only a very 

 few, whose energy has purchased success, or those who prefer semi-star- 

 vation to regular work, still continue to cultivate land on tlieir own ac- 

 count. Freedmen are more inclined than formerly to enter into con- 

 tracts for their labor. The copartnership system still prevails very 

 generally — "working on shares" as it is commonly called. It is a 

 pernicious system, is becoming unpopular, (as we predicted a year 

 or two ago,) and should be exchanged for fair wages as soon as" the 

 change can be made. Our correspondent at Tallahassee, Florida, says: 

 •'Most of the planters of this county keep up the ruinous plan of hiring 

 laborers for a portion of the crop, giving generally one-fourth and board, 

 or one-third without board." Among the objections to this system are 

 the following : 



1. It is not a voluntary asssociation from similarity of aims and in- 



