Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1884-02-06
MISTAKEN LABOR LEGISLATION
which IL Carried Into Effect Would
Have Reduced American work men
10 Mere Slaves.

which iT Carried Into Effect Would
Have Reduced American work men
TO Mere Slaves.
The movement of the various labor as
srcistions Of the country to secure legisla-
ton looking to the prohibition of imported
foreign labor by contractors, has called at
tention to past legislation of Congress on
the SUBJECT Of imported labor, and espsci-
ally 10 an act passed on the 4th Of July,
1SG4, to encourage emigrsnts. This act
created Bureau of immigration to be
under the control of the State Department
and provided for the
appointment OF n salaried Commits
sioner
at Washington and New York city to look
after its management. The second section
Of the act provides that AL contracts,
made in conformity with the regulations
of this bureau, by emigrants in foreign
countries whereby the emigrants shall
pledge the wages of their labor, to pay the
expense of emigration, shall be held to be
valid in the law, and may be enforced in
the courts of the United States, or of the
several States and Territories, and such ad-
vances. il so stipulated in the contract, and
the contract be recorded in the Recorders
office where the emigrant shall settle, shall
operate as q lien upon any land thereafter
acquired by the emigrsnt, whether under
the homestead law or on property other
wise acquired until liquidated by tine emf
grant"
This section squinted considerably to-
ward 9 system Of peonage, and the next
section went further to establish the secur-
ity Of those who might be disposed to EN-.
bark in il, eXempting all contract bound
laborers from military duty or other inter
ruption which might interfere with
The Value OF Their Services.
Several attempts were made to put the
plan in operation, one Connecticut CON-
paBy organizing for the purpose OF fur.
nishiug skilled mechanics TO the Eastern
and common lsbUrers to the Southern
States, and they were recommended on the
ground that under the provisions OF the
act they could be rigidly held to term Of
service as well secured at cheaper rates
than any other class OF employees.
Fortunately, before much head way was
made under the act, Gen. Butler's atten.
ton was called to il and he managed to
stop the appropriations for this bureau.
do not knew that the sct was ever formal
ly repealed, but the withdrawal Of the sp-
propric tions for commissioners stopped the
work of the bureau snd left the plan to be
carried on, if at all, by private indlvldusls.
What it might have developed if carried
ont under government sanction can be lm-
sgined from
Looking into Similar Systems
established by other governments. In con-
yersation with Governor Pacheco few days
since he explained to me the system OF
peonsge or contract bound labor in Mexi-
co. This virtually amounts to white
slavery, and yet Is based simply and solely
upon the idea Of working out a money OBJ
legation entered into by the .peon or his
ancestors. The peon originally makes
contract to work out advances made him,
and his master makes it his business to see
that he never acquires the sum necessary
to secure his independence. The system
has so cheapened labor IN that country
that the peon is with difficulty able to earn
enough to provide the necessaries OF life,
let alone pay anything toward reducing
his obligation. Under the law there the
child inherits the obligation Of his parent,
and one generation takes up the burden OF
a preceding one. The law
Enforees the System Thoroughly
giving the master about the same rights
over his white serf as were secured to slave
owners under our slavery regime and the
plan is perpetuated by the same class OF
legislators that was used before the war to
render slave property secure. asked the
Governor how it was that those subjected
to this system of white slavery were pre-.
vented from paying of their Indebtedness,
and he said il resulted in part from the low
rate of wages paid and the degradation to
which, by long service, Peon labor had
been reduced. Six cents day, ne told me,
was about the average rate paid to the peon
for his labor. Out of this he had to buy
the scanty clothing OF himself and family
and the mergre food on which they lived,
and thus, although in some cases the
amount they owed the hacienda did not
amount to more than 8 dollar and fifty
cents, il was sufficient 10 bind them and
their children to
A Life Long seryitude.
He said further that they had come to
bear il with patience and resignation, and
knowing no other lot and brought down by
long service to degree of intelligence not
much above that Of any other beast OF bur
den, thsy went to their daily task as rule
cheerful and accomplishing.
1t is not likely that white labor in this
country will ever be brought to any such
point Of degradation, but Ii is interesting
TO note the start that was made in that di.
rection less than twenty years since, and
the disposition that would establish SIM
liar condition Of affairs among Us but for
the watchful care Of representatives OF
labor interests who realize the growing
danger to which men who can only work
with their hands are subjected in this as
well as in other countries.
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MlAr SHALL Re DONE WiIA IHE