George H. Yeaman to William H. Seward, July 20, 1866

Mr. Yeaman to Mr. Seward.

Sir: Having expressed to the minister of foreign affairs the desire to acquaint myself with the plan and details of the protection and superintendence adopted by the Danish government for the freed people and laborers in its West India islands, and the facilities afforded that population for education and religious instruction, as well as the facts in regard to their increase or decrease in numbers, their willingness to labor, and the amount and value of the productions of those islands as compared with former years previous to emancipation, he has kindly favored me with the enclosed printed and manuscript documents, besides several others printed entirely in the Danish language, concerning the population, trade and products of those islands, the substance of which I may here after communicate.

My intention was to make a synopsis or condensed statement of these ordinances and regulations, but they are generally short, and so explicit and detailed that no abbreviation of them could be made so available as the originals; and I now place them at the disposal of the State Department, in the supposition that they may be found interesting to those engaged in devising means for protecting and improving the condition of a similar class of population in the United States. Though these regulations seem to be formed at once with a view of justice to the laborer and of securing the productiveness of the estates, there is probably not much in them that could be copied or adopted with advantage in the United States; but we may derive assistance from the efforts of others under circumstances not entirely dissimilar, and find a lesson of instruction in any result that has been attained.

Without undertaking to review in detail this system of minute regulations, it seems to me on its face, as well as proved by its results, to be over done. Its theory seems too much to depend upon control, direction, and prescription as the means, instead of relying entirely or mainly upon protection of person and property as the stimulations of individual exertion. Any reasoning to prove that such minute and stringent regulations are necessary for a particular class of people, is only another form of argument proving that they are not really a valuable part of the population; and this imputation may generally be met by the reflection that a given class of population is often ignorant, indolent, and immoral by reason of the restrictions and the superfluous or unjust control imposed upon them.

The principal interest I have derived from the perusal of these documents has been to strengthen the opinion that the perfect and equal right to contract and acquire property, and to exercise all trades and professions, and the equal right of enforcing performance of contracts and obtaining damages for breach of them, either on the part of employed or employer, is the best incentive that labor can have, and the only real assistance government can give to it or to capital, and that all beyond this is shackle and encumbrance to both.

The abolition of slavery in the Danish West Indies necessarily ended compulsory labor and the arbitrary transfer or sale of the laborer; but the attempt to prescribe the exact hours of labor, the exact amount of wages, the formalities of the contract, the kind and quality of food, the extent of house-room and “provision ground,” corresponding with the “truck patches” formerly allowed slaves in the southern States, would hardly be recognized in the United States as compatible with a wholesome and active freedom, even by those who opposed the change from slavery to freedom recently effected in many of the States.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your most obedient servant,

Memorandum.

When the emancipation of the slaves in these colonies took place, in a sudden and violent manner, in the year 1848, one of the most essential objects that it was considered necessary to have in view was, as far as possible, by those laws that were to regulate the relations between the owners of estates and the laboring population, to secure to the estates, for a longer period, the necessary amount of labor, on reasonable and to the native laboring population favorable terms, and particularly to counteract those circumstances which in other colonies in which emancipation had taken place had led to the native laboring population so rapidly withdrawing from agricultural occupation, and thereby rendering in a very few years the continuance of cultivation completely dependant on the introduction of foreign laborers.

The law that was passed with this view, namely, the accompanying provisional act of 26th of January, 1849, is, together with the two royal ordinances, dated 22d February, 1855, still unaltered in force, and determines, together with the general laws of Denmark, the position of the laboring rural population in this island.

As far as regards the above-mentioned view, to attach the laborers to the estates and to accustom them to steady agricultural occupation, it has, together with other enactments in the general laws, worked satisfactorily, as the greater part of the population, who formerly as slaves had been attached to the estates, have with their families continued as free laborers in that occupation.

Whereas this law and such of its clauses, particularly the one fixing the amount of wages, as can least be defended, from a general point of view, must be supposed originally to have only been intended to last for a short period of transition, unfortunate circumstances and, above all, that the amount of labor in the rural districts, even prior to emancipation, was inadequate, when compared to the size of the island and the requirements of cultivation, and has continued to decrease since that event, have hitherto caused some hesitation as to its repeal, and any change would not be advisable until an opportunity was offered to secure to agriculture a greater amount of labor through immigration.

The most essential points in the relation in which the laborers are placed by this law may be summed up under the following heads :

1. All contracts relating to labor to be performed on estates must be entered into for one year from the 1st of October, and the legal time for giving notice to leave is the entire month of August.

2 The working days are the five first days in tke weeh not acknowledged as holidays. On Saturdays the laborers are not bound to work, but may work for a day’s wages of twenty cents for a laborer of the first class, (which, by an allowance of bread and sugar, is increased to twenty-five cents.)

The daily working hours are nine, with three hours interval for breakfast and dinner. Extra pay is allowed for work performed at other than the ordinary working hours.

3. The amount of pay as fixed in the law is :

a. A house free of rent, to be built and kept in repair at the cost of the estate. Every grown-up laborer to have his separate room of a square measurement of at least 168 feet and a cubic measurement of 1,660 feet. The houses are built of wall or wood, the roofs covered with shingles, and the floors, as a general rule, covered with boards.

b. The use of a piece of ground, about 50 feet in the square, for cultivating provisions. On many estates of large extent these grounds are larger.

c. Daily wages at the rate of 15 cents per day for a laborer of the first class, 10 cents for a laborer of the second class, and 5 cents for a laborer of the third class. The usual allowance of 6 quarts of corn-meal and 2 pounds of salt fish or herrings is reckoned and deducted from the wages at the rate of 5 cents for every day, or 25 cents for the week. The value of such allowance is, taking an average of prices when bought in large quantities, about 32 cents, and consequently it is asked for by all the laborers, who have thereby gained no inconsiderable augmentation of the amount of wages as fixed by law. The sharing out of extra provisions, particularly bread and sugar, has gradually become very considerable. The laborers have an unlimited right to rear poultry and hogs, the latter, however, to be kept enclosed.

d. On a deduction of 2 2/3 cents every week in the weekly pay, the laborers are, according to the law and custom, entitled to free medical attendance, and medicine for themselves and their families. In serious cases of illness the estate laborers are admitted at either of the two communal hospitals, and treated and cared for at the expense of the public.

e. Employers have, as far as full-grown individuals are concerned, no right of punishment, with the exception that they, in case of intentional absenteeism from work, can deduct as a fine seven cents daily out of the laborer’s wages.

Complaints against employers, and differences with regard to the mutual relation between them and their laborers, are decided in the ordinary course of law, presided over by judges holding royal commissions, and exclusively paid by the state. On all cases not quite insignificant the sentences may be appealed to the courts of higher instance; and where there is any question of inflicting punishment of a severe nature, the government appoints a lawyer to defend the accused. Persons above eighteen years of age cannot be sentenced to corporeal punishment.

f. Weak and infirm individuals of the rural population have hitherto been supported by those estates on which they formerly worked. Agreeably to the general laws of Denmark, and such special arrangements as have been made in the colonies, every individual not able to support himself is entitled to pauper relief.

g. For the children of laborers employed in the country a sufficient number of schools, in every respect well provided for, is established, in which they, until they have filled their tenth year, are instructed during the first five days of the week; and from their tenth until they fill their thirteenth year, on Saturdays. All expenses connected with these schools are defrayed by the colony, the parents paying nothing.

To understand the preceding statements, it must be kept in mind that the fact of the amount of labor disposable for agriculture being so inadequate, and constantly on the decrease, has necessarily led to the result that the laborers have gradually vindicated a right to an extremely liberal interpretation of all enactments relating to their duties and rights, and an access to many privileges on the estates. The law lays no hindrance in the way of individuals belonging to the laboring population in the country settling in town, when they are able to find work and constant occupation there; and many former estate laborers have acquired real property in the towns.

In consequence, finally, of the position of the laboring class, they are, to a great degree, independent of the prices of the first necessaries of life, as the abundant allowances they receive as a part of their wages is calculated at a fixed amount, far below the actual value, and as they cultivate a considerable quantity of vegetables on the provision grounds allotted to them.

Altogether, the general impression on all who have had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the material condition of the laboring population in this island, as it exhibits itself in their dress, house, furniture, ponies and wagons, which they either make use of to cart their provisions to market in the towns, or to drive themselves to church in, &c., must be that there certainly can be few places in the world where the laboring class is, in this respect, generally better situated than in this island.

Ordinance containing alterations in the ordinance of the 6th of June, 1862, for raising funds in aid of immigration to the island of St. Croix.

The enactments in section third of the ordinance of 6th June, 1862, for raising funds in aid of immigration to the island of St. Croix, fixing those amounts that are to be paid into the immigration fund by the party who first employs an immigrant, and stipulating the periods when the amounts are payable, shall only be applicable in the case where the immigrants are introduced from the East Indies or China; and it shall, in the case of immigrants introduced from other places than the aforesaid, as hitherto, be lawful for the government, after previous deliberation with the colonial council of St. Croix, to give such rules in the aforementioned respect as may be found requisite, according to the circumstances, and necessary for securing the interests of the immigration fund.

Section 2. Whenever laborers are introduced into the island, either for account of the public, or by private individuals under the control of the authorities, and with pecuniary aid from the immigration fund, on the condition that such laborers, after the expiration of the first year of their service, may engage themselves on other estates, or take other employment, the person first employing or retaining such laborer in his employment during the second or third year shall pay into the immigration fund an amount equal to one-fourth part of the total expenses for introducing the immigrant into the island, but within such limits, in regard to the amount thus to be paid, as may be fixed by the government after previous deliberation with the colonial council.

Section 3. The immigration fund shall be administered by the government, who will every year furnish the colonial council with a statement of the means belonging to the fund, and also lay before the council, for its approval, an estimate of the revenue and expenditure of the said fund for the following financial year.

Stadfaster of Haus Majestat,

Kongen, C. 11 Mai. 1866.