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practicable after the publication of these regulations, to make a roll of persons employed upon their estates, and to transmit the same to the
provost-marshal of the parish.
In the employment of hands, the unity of families will be secured as far as possible.
VIII.
All questions between the employer and the employed, until other tribunals are established, will be decided by the
provost-marshal of the parish.
IX.
Sick and disabled persons will be provided for upon the plantations to which they belong, except such as may be received in establishments provided for them by the
Government, of which one will be established at
Algiers and one at
Baton Rouge.
X. The unauthorized purchase of clothing, or other property, from laborers, will be punished by fine and imprisonment.
The sale of whisky or other intoxicating drinks, to them, or to other persons, except under regulations established by the
Provost-Marshal General, will be followed by the severest punishment.
XI.
The possession of arms, or concealed or dangerous weapons, without authority, will be punished by fine and imprisonment.
XII.
Laborers shall render to their employer, between daylight and dark, ten hours in summer and nine hours in winter, of respectful, honest, faithful labor, and receive therefor, in addition to just treatment, healthy rations, comfortable clothing, quarters, fuel, medical attendance, and instruction for children, wages per month as follows, payment of one half of which, at least, shall be reserved until the end of the year:
| For first-class hands, | $8 per month. |
| For second-class hands, | 6 per month. |
| For third-class hands, | 5 per month. |
| For fourth-class hands, | 3 per month. |
Engineers and foremen, when faithful in the discharge of their duties, will be paid two dollars per month extra.
This schedule of wages may be commuted by consent of both parties, at the rate of one fourteenth part of the net proceeds of the crop, to be determined and paid at the end of the year.
Wages will be deducted in case of sickness, and rations, also, when sickness is feigned.
Indolence, insolence, disobedience of orders, and crime will be suppressed by forfeiture of pay, and such punishments as are provided for similar offences by Army Regulations.
Sunday work will be avoided when practicable, but when necessary will be considered as extra labor, and paid at the rates specified herein.
XIII.
Laborers will be permitted to choose their employers, but when the agreement is made, they will be held to their engagement for the year, under the protection of the
Government.
In cases of attempted imposition, by feigning sickness, or stubborn refusal of duty, they will be turned over to the
provost-marshal of the parish, for labor upon the public works, without pay.
XIV.
Laborers will be permitted to cultivate land on private account, as herein specified, as follows:
First and second-class hands, with families, one acre each.
First and second-class hands, without families, one half-acre each.
Second and third-class hands, with families, one half-acre each.
Second and third-class hands, without families, one quarter-acre each.
To be increased for good conduct, at the discretion of the employer.
The encouragement of independent industry will strengthen all the advantages which capital derives from labor and enable the laborer to take care of himself and prepare for the time when he can render so much labor for so much money, which is the great end to be attained.
No exemption will be made in this apportionment, except upon imperative reasons, and it is desirable that for good conduct the quantity be increased until faithful hands can be allowed to cultivate extensive tracts, returning to the owner an equivalent of product for rent of soil.
XV.
To protect the laborer from possible imposition, no commutation of his supplies will be allowed, except in clothing, which may be commuted at the rate of three dollars per month for first-class hands, and in similar proportion for other classes.
The crops will stand pledged, wherever found, for the wages of labor.
XVI.
It is advised, as far as practicable, that employers provide for the current wants of their hands, by perquisites for extra labor, or by ap propriation of land for share cultivation, to discourage monthly payments so far as it can be done without discontent, and to reserve till the full harvest the yearly wages.
XVII.
A Free Labor Bank will be established for the safe deposit of all accumulations of wages and other savings; and in order to avoid a possible wrong to depositors, by official defalcation, authority will be asked to connect the bank with the Treasury of the
United States in this department.
XVII.
The transportation of negro families to other countries will not be approved.
All propositions for this privilege have been declined, and application has been made to other departments for surplus negro families in this department.
XIX.
The last year's experience shows that the planter and the negro comprehend the revolution.
The overseer having little interest in capital and less sympathy with labor, dislikes the trouble of thinking, and discredits the notion that any thing new has occurred.
He is a relic of the past and adheres to its customs.
His stubborn refusal to comprehend the condition of things occasioned most of the embarrassments of the past year.
Where such incomprehension is chronic, reduced wages, diminished rations, and the mild punishments imposed by the army and navy will do good.
XX.
These regulations are based upon the assumption that labor is a public duty, and idleness and vagrancy a crime.
No civil or military officer of the
Government is exempt from the
