"far better than they had expected." It is true the number of planters who
made that admission was small, but it nearly corresponded with the number
of those who, according to their own statements, gave free negro labor a
perfectly fair trial, while all those who prefaced everything they said
with the assertion that "the negro will not work without physical
compulsion," could find no end to their complaints. There are undoubtedly
negroes who will not do well under the best circumstances, just as there
are others who will do well under the worst.

In another part of this report I have already set forth the exceptional
difficulties weighing upon the free-labor experiment in the south during
this period of transition. The sudden leap from slavery to freedom is an
exciting event in a man's life, and somewhat calculated to disturb his
equanimity for a moment. People are on such occasions disposed to indulge
themselves a little. It would have shown much more wisdom in the negroes
if all of them had quietly gone to work again the next day. But it is not
reasonable to expect the negroes to possess more wisdom than other races
would exhibit under the same circumstances. Besides, the willingness to
work depends, with whites as well as blacks, somewhat upon the nature of
the inducements held out, and the unsatisfactory regulation of the matter
of wages has certainly something to do with the instability of negro labor
which is complained of. Northern men engaged in planting almost uniformly
pay wages in money, while southern planters, almost uniformly, have
contracted with their laborers for a share in the crop. In many instances
the shares are allotted between employers and laborers with great
fairness; but in others the share promised to the laborers is so small as
to leave them in the end very little or nothing. Moreover, the crops in
the south looked generally very unpromising from the beginning, which
naturally reduced the value falling to the lot of the laborer. I have
heard a good many freedmen complain that, taking all things into