The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-09-14
LABOR REFORM ASSOCIATION.
Their Objects and PrincipIes-The Good
!, Already accomplished.

Their Objects and PrincipIes-The Good
v Already accomplished.
y . ss G
| q plsnEHrrDs, SO, Aug. 90 1876.
MEssRs. EDITORS Lately. We have re:
'Feeived several letters from Citizens q
Anderson, requesting information re-
specting Anti Cotton Shop and Labor
Reform Associations, their objects, their
effects, and chiefly the "mo(es of organi-
zation." Through your courtesy:wehope
to answer all these correspondents. in one
letter.
You, sometime ago, in very compre-
hensive editorial, presented the princi-
pies and purposes of the Association in a
very lucid manner. s-.s,a..
Quite recently you published the Con-
stitution of Central Association in con-
nection with short letter from your very
able correspondent, Col. Warren D..
Wilkes. ~ s.'-''
This Association had its origin in q
conscious necessity. Owing to the imbe-
cility of the government, farmers and
business men generally received no pro-
lection. Labor had become unreliable,
generally pervaded by spirit of insubor-
dination, and a very decided and general
reluctance to submit to rightful authority.
Ignorance and indolence were seeking to
dictate modes of culture, terms of labor
and modes of traffic.
The traffic in farm products, especially
of seed cotton, had we'll nigh ruined the
farming interest in some of the most pro-
ductive sections of the country. a
There were found white men who, in
their haste to get rich, threw aside every
patriotic impulse and every honest prin-
ciple, and who did not hesitate to spend
the night in receiving bags of cotton,
corn and peas from laborets, which they
knew were stolen from the employer.
This villainous practice only increased
the decentralization which an imbecile
and licentious government created and
fostered. ...s
Employers and industrious laborers
finding themselves completely at the
mercy of the depraved and lawless, saw
that their only safety was in thorough
and general union"
Besides all this, the assessment of the
active capital employed IN production
was virtually taken from the proprietor
and given to the corrupt government
official; this assessment was generally
most unreasonable, and, in many in
stances, most malicious and oppressive;
and upon this assessment was levied
rate of taxation, which is continually
suggesting the question whether our civil
ization is worth in dollars and cents the
price we are paying for it. If govern
ment costs more than an industrious and
economical people can possibly earn, is it
reasonable for the people to begin to
demand that we should seek to establish
government in South Carolina that
shall be recommended to all producers:
i. By its cheapness. ;;ii. -
g. By its honesty.
8. By its strength. ag az
In South Carolina most especially do
We need government in which these
qualities abound. Organization" was
effected upon the following principles:
l. The abatement of the illicit traffic
in seed cotton and other farm products.
2. The control, productiveness and in
creased remuneration of labor. .g
g.. The -lessening the intolerable bur-
dens of taxation. "a. .'e
To give energy and force to these prin-
ciples, the members voluntarily made
certain pledges, the chief of which are as
follows: 5t
1. That we will not engage IN the
traffic of seed cotton and other farm pro-
ducts ourselves or permit others to do it,
except under such restrictions as the ex-
ecutive committee may impose.
2. We will not employ any laborer un-
less he has a certificate of discharge from
the other party, from a legally consti-
tinted court or from the executive COM
mittee of some sub-association. .,r.
8. We will report any fragrant act of
injustice in the assessment of property or
in the disbursement Of the public funds.
You see that we rely, first, upon what
ever power there may be in the admins
tration Of the law; for in the constitu.
ton provision is made for public prose-
cutions against those who uphold public
nuisances. 1--WE rely mainly, however,
upon the united force of strong, healthy
organized public sentiment directed
against these great evils, ..,a-
Any -laborer who may be convicted of
theft, OF arson, or willful insubordina-
ton, is dismissed from employment and
branded; any employer who may, cheat,
or defraud, or oppress a. laborer, is ex-
PEELED and branded; any official who
may be convicted in the thought Of his
citizens Of seeking to act dishon-
estly or contrary to the interests of the
people, is marked with brand as dis
graceful and disgustful as that which
God placed upon Cain.
These associations have produced an
effect in Laurens County almost magical.