126 



PRICE OF LABOR. 



fact is, the negro cannot live on such wages, unless he 

 owns in fee, a lot of three or five acres, or ekes them out 

 by stealing. He is driven by necessity to the purchase 

 and cultivation of land for himself, and he finds such 

 labor, so much better rewarded than that bestowed upon 

 the lands of others, that he very naturally takes care of his 

 own first, and gives his leisure to the properties of others, 

 when he feels inclined ; in that particular acting very much 

 as if he were a white man. 



But far better evidence than the nominal cost of labor, 

 may be produced to show that wages are actually very 

 low. In the first place, every house and shop is filled 

 with black servants. People with incomes of less than 

 five hundred dollars a year, will keep more servants than 

 would be expected in the United States, from an annual 

 income of ten thousand. 



When the census was taken in 1844, it appeared that 

 there were in Jamaica at that time 23,153 household ser- 

 vants, under which name I do not mean to include agri- 

 cultural or day laborers of any kind, who number about 

 200,000 more. By the same census it appeared, that 

 there were 142,831 persons without any occupation or 

 pursuit. Here we have over 160,000 persons, or more 

 than 2-5ths of the whole population, unproductive, com- 

 paratively. 



There are from three to five times as many persons em- 



