The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1880-10-22

jail, are contracted out to "any responsible
person for their mere maintenance Even
person simply COMMITTED to jail for an offen-e
that Is bailable' can be compelled to 60 out and
work for any Of these contractors, because if
he refuses such person shall be entitled to
receive from the common jaller, as diet for
each dsy, only six ounces of bacon or ten
ounces of beef, and one pound of bread and
water" Beside this he is compelled to work
ont the costs of prosecution etc, which at the
rates paid by the contractor might consume his
entire life
The contract system prevails also in Alabama
and in Georgia to still greater extent, and, in
fact, this vile and degrading system extends to
nearly all the Southern States.
witnes before the Senate Exodus Investi-
cation Committee testified that in Texas g when
a man gets intoxicated or plays game of cards,
he is tried before the County Judge and fined,
and the courts wosk in the lawyers fee until the
whole thing amounts up to $50. SIS or $780,"
Said he: f" 4 man who was arrested in Milan
county for carrying a slx-shooter was fined SOS
l think the costs and lawyers fees amounted TO
S65; he was at work all last year and the rear
before last, and the year before that again.
Evidence was before the committee that col
ored woman was arrested and fined $50 and
hired to work it out at quarter of q cent day
Thirty dollars are II, 600 quarter cents. which
represents sentence in this case of nearly 80
years THESE people, IL WAS ALSO IeSLlileQ.
" work under the supervision of sergeant
with gun and nigger-hounds."
By the landlord lien-laws of South Carolina.
Georgia and other solid Southern States, the
landlord has lien in some cases on one-tIird
and In other cases upon the whole Of the crop
The miserable tenant cannot sell or take for his
own use any part of 1t, unless by the consent OF
the landlord, until the landlord is paid, and in
many cases has to turn over to him the whole
crop, trusting to his honesty for the return Of q
remnant. In too many cases the landlord takes
all or nearly all then the poor tenant Is forced
to maze contract with the landlord for future
food and supplies, in which he gives the land
lord the control Of everything.
This system of keeping poor people in state
of everlasting debt is what Is called peonage, a
condition in some respects worse than slavery.
1t was this system of peonage which. pursued
by the Spaniards in Mexico and other Spanish
American dependencies, led to the bloody revo-
lutions which freed them from the Spanish yoke
1t is this system of peonage which largely
accounts for the exodus of the poor colored peo-
pie from the South. This is how the "solid
South rules now in those States where it has
full power.
Can any one doubt that, in the event of the
election of Hancock and q Democratic House,
the "solid South" would extend the ac-
cursed peonage system over the North-over
white as well as black labor-and, i'll course OF
time, thoroughly Mexicanize iii If there be
such doubter let him glance over the pages of
history
The "solid South" where peonage now
exists, is g solidified by the old slave power
the power which insists on cunning labor, in
stead of paying it fair wages and giving it an
equal chance. For forty-tive years that power
has held tenaciously to this accursed system,
by which honest labor is degraded and made
seryile. They will never give it up. To them
it is religion. In 1885 their great apostle
Calhoun, said
"Let it be fixed, let it be riveted in every
Southern mind that the laws of the slave
holding States, for the protection OF their do
nestle Institutions are paramount TO the laws
of the General Government"
In 1886, Pickens, OF South Carolina, declared
that capital should own labor, and that " if
laborers ever obtain political power iii this
country. 1t is in fact i'll state of revolution p
Hammond, of South Carolina, termed the
people of the North the mechanics and labor
ers, by the Opprobrious name Of "Bans culottes p
Said he:
against this institution (slavery) war has
been commenced The sans culottes
are moving On the banks of the Hudson, the
Ohio and the Susquehanna on the hills and in
the dales, and along the iron bound coasts of
immaculate New England, they are mastering
their hosts and preparing for their rayages !"
In 1856 representative Keitt, a Southern
leader, said:
Slavery Is a great primordal fact, rooted il.
the origin of things. = AS a
corolary to this, it may be safely deduced that
the existence of laborers and mechanics in Or
ganized societies was the result of the partial
and progressive emancipation of slaves.
History tells us, ALSO that when the working
classes stepped out of bondage they branched
into four recurring subdivisions-the hirellng
the beggar, the thief. and the prostitute!'
Othel Southern leaders uttered similar doc.
trlnes, declaring ''free society failure
slavery is the normal condition of the labor
ing man, whether white or back;' "'the
principle OF slavery is right and does
not depend upon complexion" slavery
white or black, is right and neccs-
sa1y;" the laws of all the Southern States
justified the holding of white men i'll slav-
ery;' and the abominable "free society -
was denounced as berng made up of "mud-
stills Of the North" "sman farmers and greasy
mechanics"
Rulfn actually proposed to reduce the white
mechanic and laborer to bondage! While Fitz-
hugh systematiZed the proposition by saving
that q negro slave is worth about $500, a white
slave by reason of his harder working nature.
would be worth 81 ,000 Give, therefore, the
$1,000 capita ist one white slave, the $4,000
capitalist ten white slaves, and the millionaire
1000.
'But," says Northern Democrat, "the war
settled that matter of slavery forever that is a
dead ISSUE"
Not so, my friend. True, we thought it set
tied forever but the "solid South" has resur-
rected it. The bonds of slavery were struck
from the limbs of 100000 of slaves by one
stroke of the pen of Abraham Lincoln But
the bonds of peonage have been woven around
hnnh in nd fl1a ,oiSCs Ne4 bo ISo
publican party-the mission OF every free
Northern man-can never end until peonageno
longer exists in this republic. Nay, more. Not
only does it exist in the South, but it threatens
the Northern small farmer and mechanic and
laborer should the Democratic party gain con-
troll of the Government, because that party. as
l have shown, is absolutely controlled by the
"solid Southern" wing-that power which re-
ligiousiy believes in owned labor.
Grown insolent with past political success,
the old Southern leaders come to the front and
declare that all the precious blood and treasure
expended by the North in defending the integ-
rity of the united republic, and in freeing the
slave, were spent in vain!
So firmly, alas has the principle of human
slavery-of owned labor-been riyeted into the
Southern mind, that the war of the rebellion
only loosened 1t for time, ana the interval has
been employed by the solid Southern leaders
in reriveting it. We see it in the accurscd
system of peonage now legalized in the solid
South"
And we have the same old spirit of defiance
and arrogance breathed by their leaders. as of
old, on all points that We thought had been set
tied by the arbitrament of the sword.
Twenty years ago that sword was drawn.
Sixteen years ago that sword was sheathcd.
Those four years of carnage decided, if they
decided anything, that no State in this Union
had the right to peaceably secede that no citi-
zen of any State had the right to fight for his
State while attempting to forclbly secede that
the sovereignty of the State is subordinate to
the sovereignty of the nation; and that every
man, woman and child within its borders stands
free
Yet, only two years ago-fourecn years after
these questions had been decided by w&r-Jef-
ferson Davis, the stil-adored leader of the
solid South, declared Gas reported in a Dem
ocratic organ) his 'unshaken belief in the
right of secession and the duty of the citizen
to battle III the cause of the State after seces-
sion; that events had "vindcated the judg-
ment of those who held separation to be neces-
sary for the safety and freedom of the South
ern States and, said he, "You struck for in.
dependence and were unsuccessful. You
agreed to return to the Union and abide by the
constitution and laws made in conformity with
1t. TtttS f0r, and no further, do understood
your promise 10 e.Gt6lld."
This was from speech delivered but two
years ago by the ahmo5t-worshiped head OF the
rebel Conference.-The real head of the "solid
South" to-day. Is there doubt on that