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Report on the Condition of the South by Carl Schurz
page 60 of 289 (20%)
consideration, they really did not know what they were working for except
food, which in many instances was bad and scanty; and such complaints were
frequently well founded. In a large number of cases the planters were not
to blame for this; they had no available pecuniary means, and in many
localities found it difficult to procure provisions. But these unfavorable
circumstances, combined with the want of confidence in northern men, were
well calculated to have an influence upon the conduct of the negro as a
laborer.

I have heard it said that money is no inducement which will make a negro
work. It is certain that many of them, immediately after emancipation, had
but a crude conception of the value of money and the uses it can be put
to. It may, however, be stated as the general rule, that whenever they are
at liberty to choose between wages in money and a share in the crop, they
will choose the former and work better. Many cases of negroes engaged in
little industrial pursuits came to my notice, in which they showed
considerable aptness not only for gaining money, but also for saving and
judiciously employing it. Some were even surprisingly successful. I
visited some of the plantations divided up among freedmen and cultivated
by them independently without the supervision of white men. In some
instances I found very good crops and indications of general thrift and
good management; in others the corn and cotton crops were in a neglected
and unpromising state. The excuse made was in most cases that they had
obtained possession of the ground too late in the season, and that, until
the regular crops could be harvested, they were obliged to devote much of
their time to the raising and sale of vegetables, watermelons, &c., for
the purpose of making a living in the meantime.

On the whole I feel warranted in making the following statement: Many
freedmen--not single individuals, but whole "plantation gangs"--are
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