Free  Negro  Labor

Senate  Ex.  Doc.  no,  2,  39  Cong.,  1  Seas.,  p.  21.    From  Carl  Schurz's

report  to  President  Johnson.  [1865]

•

Immediately  after  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves,  when  the
general  confusion  was  most  perplexing,  the  prevalent  desire
among  the  whites  seemed  to  be,  if  they  could  not  retain  their
negroes  as  slaves,  to  get  rid  of  them  entirely.  Wild  specula-
tions were  indulged  in,  how  to  remove  the  colored  population
at  once  and  to  import  white  laborers  to  fill  its  place;  how  to  ob-
tain a  sufficient  supply  of  coolies,  etc.  Even  at  the  present  mo-
ment the  removal  of  the  f  reedmen  is  strongly  advocated  by  those
who  have  the  traditional  horror  of  a  free  negro,  and  in  some
sections,  especially  where  the  soil  is  more  adapted  to  the  culti-
vation of  cereals  than  the  raising  of  the  staples,  planters  appear
to  be  inclined  to  drive  the  negroes  away,  at  least  from  their
plantations.  ..
