The Ruin of the Old Regime 31 



following topics/: (1) The irksome supervision, (2) Com- 

 petition and Wages, (3) Hard times and Cheap Lands, 

 (4) The crop lien system. These were the general causes 

 of the breakdown of large plantations. ) 



Irksome Supervision. When slavery, as a means of con- 

 trolling labor was abolished, radical changes began to work 

 in the Negro mind. The immediate result was the com- 

 plete demoralizaation of the agricultural system. In describ- 

 ing what took place in 1865-66, Brooks gives the following 

 picture : 2 



"On many plantations operations went ahead with 

 scarcely any interruption. Planters called informal meet- 

 ings of the freedmen, explained in simple terms their new 

 condition and offered employment at the current rate of 

 wages to all who desired to remain. After wandering off a 

 short distance simply to assert their freedom many Negroes 

 returned to the plantations and took up their former labor. 

 Those planters who had been most considerate of their 

 slaves experienced the least trouble in employing them as 

 freedmen. * * * 



"On the other hand, there was a large element of the 

 freedmen who did not follow the course just outlined. The 

 widespread belief that the plantations of their former own- 

 ers would be divided among the ex-slaves at Christmas, 

 1865, acted as a deterrent to steady industry. The Com- 

 missioner of the Freedmen's Bureau found it necessary to 

 send out special instruction to all officers and agents, direct- 

 ing them to do what they could to dispel this delusion." 



In many sections of the State, the gang system of culti- 

 vation was doomed. The close oversight reminded the Ne- 

 groes too strongly of slavery days, and the sharp competi- 

 tion for labor gave them the power to demand better terms 

 or to move off. 



While the cultivation of cotton is not strenuous labor, it 

 demands imperatively, at certain seasons, that a constant 

 labor supply be available. Consequently, the landlords were 



2 Brooks, R. P., Agrarian Revolution, opp. cite p. 12-13. 



