The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1878-02-10
DAY.
NIGHT SESSION.
FRIDAY, February, s, 1877

., ~. Srabrook called up H. B. to provide
Nj Lo anprOva of official bonds of county
Ulcers OF Marion, Hancock, Harrison, Jack
on' perry. Greene, Jones, Smith, Gown pton
"%I Wavne, with Senate amendments, which
~ore cOncurred in.
M VII ReId of COahOma, was excused at his
3 npst. from accompanying the Committee
FqIrniversities TO Oxford and Mr.. Mar
%aII of Warren, was appointed ia his
;ead.
SPECIAL ORDER.
Tho House resumed consideration OF the
w mart OF the committee on the agricuI-
w ,nrsl lien law.
Mr.. 5pright offered an amendment, pend.
M ,,T which, an able discussion took place.
no DISCUSSION OF THE LIEN LAW.
Mr.. Gholson said: If the law was
.,nealed six or seven hundred of his Afri-
.sp and two or three hundred of his
rbite constituents, would be rendered home
Is.s and helpless. During the war it was
N demonstrated that hungry men would eat
almost anything, and their appettes were
N The same now. Money could not be obtain
N ri upon land in his county, but could be
n obtaiued upon crops grown upon this land.
others had said the law produced idleness
and extravaganza. Unfortunately legisla-
lion would not change the disposition of
men, and nothing but dire necessity would
n Drge some of them to labor. There was a
class Of traders and swndlers who did not
deserve 10 be clasSed with merchants, who
desired the law repealed, and injustice had
been done TO honorable 10 erchants in as sert-
ing that they charged eXorbitant prices
He did not think land owners desired the
repeal of the law, and there was no general
demand for its repeal. The law had proba-
blv been abused; bad men took advantage
Of ever law. More evils had been charged
to the lien law than justly belonged TO it.
Those who had been unfortunate, or become
embarrassed, through want of proper effort
on their part, wanted to blame somebody
for it, and they pitched into the lien law.
In 1861, our condition was such that we
thought we could not make a crop without
this law. 1t has been said that other States
got along without it; but how was it i'm
Pennsylvania and other States, where there
was no lin law, but where there was con-
hict between laborers and capital? The la
bOrers had no credit, and were clamoring
for employment to keep from starvation
We had the best labor on the continent:
but unfortunately, a great deal of it was de-
voted TO the cultivation of cotton. Old
fossils, like himself could not get out of the
habit OF raising cotton, and he was sorry to
say, a great many OF The young men, from
whom he had hoped better things, were fol-
lowing in their footsteps. The darkies all
year, and they also raised cotton.
MIR. Love thought the lien law was not
responsible for the depression that existed
that was due TO the contraction OF the cur
rency The object of the law was to protect
the agricultural interests of the State, the
labOrers and the poor men. The object was
good, and there may have been necessity
for it when enacted. 1t created a false basis
of credit, and gave credit to men who
should not have had it, or at least to the ex-
tent they got it-men without character or
worth. He thought credit should be based
upon the honesty and character Of men.
What was the result of this system? These
unreliable characters got almost unlimited
credit; if they raised crops they spirited
them away, or idied their time while their
industrious Dei9hbors were working. Did
the merchants lose these debts? No, they
tackled their losses on the accounts of good
men who were disposed TO pay their debts,
and this was the class that suffered. Men
got supplies, and hired number of hands,
and being i'm prOvident managers and inca
pable farmers they only made half crops.
Their laborers would soon begin To suffer
for supplies, and commence depredating
upon their Industrious neighbors; and la
bOrers on well-cOnducted places likewise
become demoralized. And this was the be-
ginning OF the lawlesSneSs in his county and
Southwest Mississippi, and the lien law was
responsible for it. 1t was bad system.
The colored men had been the principal
sufferers by the law, and it would be great
ly to their benefit if the law was repealed.
He said that the merchants in his section
had been eXtortionate, selling provisions,
even on the LIST of September at 100 per
cent. profit. There was not merchant in
the town Of Summit that did not charge
from so TO $50 per cent profit, and these
prices were the result of the lien law svs-
ha lah hoUp hppn no ri
from year to year, and they cannot get out
of debt and are becoming discouraged. If
the farmer and the laborer worked tOgeth-
err, if the farmer had control of the labor, it
would be better for both.
Mr.. Stands said: He did not expect to
change the vote of any member, but as he
had proposed the substitute, he would give
his reasons Although he belonged to that
profession of whom Henry Clay said, they
worked harder, lived better, and died poorer
than any otherS-the law-he had also been
farmer, aud filled every position on a
farm from that o a field hand up. He,
therefore, thought he understood the sub
ject. The lien law of 1867, was running
ulcer, undermining the State OF Mississippi,
and it was time to call In physician.
There was never yet a patient so sick but
that hope was left, aud he still thought
there was hope for Mississippi Our sister
Southern States had tried tue same plan
but not being as fertile and productive as
our 0wn-had been forced TO repeal the
law sooner than ourselves. Is the lien law
good one? he had only heard one mem
Der argue that it was beneticial-that was
Gen. Gholson, who had assisted in making
the law, and had a pecnlia affection for it:
II 1t is bad law, who suffers from 1t
Certainly not the rich man, nor the mer-
cnant who sells his goods, either honestly
or dishonesty Though he had nothing to
say against them. 1t only Injured the
llaboring classes who had used its provis-
ions. 1t was short-sighted and mistaken
policy which caused its enactment eleven
years ago. The products of Mississippi
We're as great in 1877 as in 1S59-there are
no more people to feed now than then, but
one was time of great prosperity, and
The other the reverse; $40,0O0,0OO came an
ihually into Mississippi, but did not remain
long enough to do any good. He did not
anticipate great relief from National imam
clal measures. 1t had been asserted that 1t
would be arrogance for the Legislature TO
rfal-1 OF r hn