The record-union., 1892-08-19
THE TROUBLE IN TENNESSEE.

Years ago the RECORD UNION de-
nounced the convict rental system of the
South. 1t then believed the whole scheme
30 be one of slavery and downright cru
city. 1t has ever since held to that view,
and has repeatedly exclaimed against the
nefarious system.
1t has been clearly shown that the con-
yicts in Southern States adopting the sys-
lem are made such for very trivial Of
lenses; for crimes rated in other States as
slight mIsdemeanors; that the uncon-
cealed purpose has been to railroad the
black man into the penitentiary; once
there he is sold to a contractor for the full
period of his term and worked in mines.
swamps, clearings, etc. The contractors
are utterly careless of the lives of the
men, and wholly Indifferent to their COM
fort. They treat them far less humanely
than they do cattle, because the loss of an
OK means money loss; the death of
convict means nothing to the contractor.
So these poor wretches are driven to
che last notch in the labor effort; they are
lifted, whipped, beaten and kicked; they
are lodged like swine and fed like dogs.
They are exposed to all manner of in
clement weather. never given the atten-
tion due human being, clothed in rags,
given no opportunity to be cleanly-in
short, treated, according to all accounts,
brutally and inhumanely. The State,
after hiring out the convicts to the con-
tractors, takes no further thought con-
corning them, except to keep few guards
about to receive those who are not longer
needed and whose terms are not up, and
TO prevent escapes.
1t is against this farmed-out convict la
Dor that the Tennessee miners have
arisen. Now while the system of farm
ing out the convicts is outrageous. inhu-
man and a shame to civilization, the
right and duty of the State to employ
convicts in some useful vocation cannot
be questioned-it has passed the season
for debate. Every idle convict is sup
ported by some Woodworking son of in
dustry; it is the poorest economy innagin-
able to permit convict inmates of public
prisons to be idle; not only must they
labor, but their work should contribute
TO their own support; indeed, able bodied
convicts ought to be self-supporting. It
is an indefensible plea that convict labor
conflicts with free labor; but convict idle
ness does conflict with free labor.
But the infamous character of the con-
7ict system of hire in the South cannot in
any way it may be viewed Justify the
4awlessness of the miners striking against
It. These foolish people appear to be
blind to the fact that they are really
striking against the laws of their own
making. That, in one sense, they can
do and ought to do, but the strike should
be at the ballot-box.
The people of Tennessee in their SOW
ereign capacity made the convict rental
avs, the system is that of the majority of
HSSRNSs oAAA GAO 10L1euy Is not force
and arms, but the ballot and agitation
until the majority think with the right
sentiment that condemns the system.
The officers of the law in marching
Groops against the strikers are not doing
so in support of the convict rental svs-
lem, but to vindicate the power of the
State and its solemn duty to suppress
1awlessness. The action against the
strikers who resist the States forces
ought to be sharp, instant and decisive.
Order must be preserved, and no matter
what may be said about the infamy of the
contract system referred to, it is not
greater than the outrageous uprising
against the laws and the peace of the
people.
For the Executive of the State, who
has by dalliance with ambition to fill
Office again, permitted affairs to assume
their present phase, no condemnation is
too severe. He had it in his power to
have nipped the difficulty in the bud, but