The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1892-04-04

Wv aeAs w Viva -
Tho probability Is that until the great
national conventions tako hold Of this
matter and give voice to tho popular
feeling Congress will adopt no measure
that will 70 to tho root OF the evil.
Democratic Politicians Playing With
Fire.
Tho meaning Of tho Democratic talk
about the colonization Of colored vo-
tors In the lower part Of the state Ia be-
ing revealed with sufficient clearncss.
Tho general aim, OF course, is to ar.
ray tho whites against the blacks, after
tho "whito mans government" fashion
OF tho southern politicians. There is u
still moro specific object. 1t shows itself
in the frantic efforts Of Democratic pol
iticians to play III tho white miners OF
the Kanawha valley, in which trouble
has resulted from tho passage of tho
screen law by the late legislature.
The operators challenged tho validity
OF that law. The. supreme court OF up.
pcals. declared it constitutional. The
operators declared that they would not
operate their mines under that law and
proposed to their men to sign contracts
foregoing tho provisions Of the law. The
Democratic politicians have seized on
this rs an opportunity to work on the
white minors with the story that it is
the intention to d~isplace them with i'm.
ported colored Miners
A Democratic politician should DO the
last to stir up thia gu ,sticn, for it will
inevitably stir up related questions.
Naturally it bringsto mind tho convict
system Of the south, which is nothing
else than a cheap labor system. II you
look for tho penitentiaries Of tho south
ern states you will find them in the
scattered ~stockades; the convict camps,
OF that region, which bear a close re.
semblance to the slave pens OF other
times and in which the atrocities go far
behind anything OF slavery days. The
pictures painted by Mr.. George w.
Cable, a southern man, OF these convict
camps and the whole system OF south
ern convict labor made tho world mar
vel that such things could exist in q
civilized country.
When tho Democratic state OF Texas
wanted to build a capitol, it built its
capitol with convict labor. The Demo.
cratic politicians OF Alabama and Geor-
gia have made fortunes out of convict
labor.
Calvin :. Bricc, Democratic senator
from Ohio and chairman ofthe national
Democratic committee, can tell the
Democratic politicians Of West Virginia
all they want to know about. convict
labor, white and black, in his coal
mines.
Free labor was not cheap enough for
Senator Brice, andS,h he hired convicts
from the Democratic administration in
Tennessee to work in his mines in that
state. Tho free miners OF that region
rcvolted against the manifest injustice
of their state taking; the bread out of
their mouths. In the latter part OF
October and the early part of November
OF last year, these trea miners assaulted
the convict camps and set at liberty
about 500 men. Troops had to-be sent
to protect Brice's negro convict miners.
Tho revolt called attention once moro
to tho infamous system, and the COVER
nor of Tennessee Gained the free,
miners with the delusiae hope OF action
by the legislature. He called tho logis-
lature in extra session to consider the
law. The miners thought thei- case so
plain that they had no doubt Of the re-
peal OF tho law. Brice andlhis asso-
ciates were too powerful. The law was
not repealed. 1t stands to-day, and the
convict miners are mining the coal that
should be mined by the free labor OF
Tennessee.
When the Democratic politicians Of
West Virginia explain away Brice and
his convict miners they will have a bot
ter chance to get a hearing Tor the stuff
they arc trying to pour into the ears of
the white miners of this state. Repub-
licans have reason to be indebted to
them for bringing up the subject at
SEEING that the price of silver falls
after all this scountry;has done for that
metal, it is not strange TINT the owners
of silver mines want this country to do
something more, which isto give thom,
at the present price Of silver, moro than
thirty cents on the dollar, more than
$4,000, 900 ayear. on their product. And
the Democratic party is iii favor of do
ing it.
Yesterdays storm was "a workable
clap Of thunder out OF a clear sky. The
size Of the hailstoncs varied, Of course,
with the Imagination, but they were big
enough and fell iuriously enough to
meet all tho demands ola lrst-class
thing OF tho kind. That the damage
was not greater is as surprising as it
was fortunate.
WRoNG-HEADED Americans 90 on do