The Washington bee., 1892-10-15
LEASING CONVICTS.
DEMOCRATS INDIFFERENT TO THE
RIGHTS OF WORKlNeMEN.

| d1nerence to Rights of Labor-The Con-
vict Lease System in the South.
| Especial Correspondence1
I WASHINGTON, Oct. 10.-The working
men of the country are finding in the re-
cent labor trouble in the south a beauti-
full opportunity to judge of the real ami
mus of the two political parties toward
labor and laboring people. That the
Democratic party has been the foe of free
labor is recognized feature of the earlier
history of this country, and that it is still
Indifferent to the interests of the labor
ing element must be apparent to any
body who stops to study the situation as
brought sharply into notice by the pres
ent condition of affairs in the south.
Word comes from Tennessee that in spite
| of the promises of the governor the con-
ditions in regard to the use Of convict
labor in competition with free labor have
not at all improved.
Absolute Control Shows Real Sentiment.
1t is only in the states or localities in
which party has absolute and undis-
puted control for long period that its
real attitude toward any element of So
ciety is clearly shown. Where the ma
jority is slender it is often necessary for
party leaders to hide their real senti-
ments in order to continue their control.
But in the southern states, where they
have had enormous majorities and held
them constantly by their own peculiar
methods, they have shown their entire
disregard of the interests of free labor
and to the laboring element generally.
Convict Labor Leased in the "Safe DEM
Ocratic" States.
Take the "safe" Democratic states of
the country at large as an example.
There are perhaps dozen which have
been considered absolutely safe to the
Democracy under all circumstances,
located of course in the south
In ten of these twelve states they have
put convict labor into direct competition
with the workingmen of the state. In
only two Of the safe Democratic states
has the party omitted TO show its hos
tility to labor by failing to put convicts
in striped clothing into open competi-
tion with the workingmen. Scattered
all over these "safe Democratic" states
are camps of convicts, worked upon
plantations or in the mines in competi-
ton with the laboring men of those
states, and if the laboring people dare
protest, that favorite argument of the
southern Democracy, the rifle, is turned
against them.
Brutal Treatment of Prisoners.
The tales of horror which come from
these convict camps are shocking, not
only in the matter of their cruelty to the
convicts themselves, but to the working
people at large whose interests are over
ridden by party which thus shows its
absolute contempt for their interest and
appeals. Prisoners are beaten, starved,
threatened with death in order to force
them to perform heavy tasks and thus
increase the competition which their la |
Dor produces against the free labor with |
which they are brought into colnpeti- |
ton. These questions have been brought |
to the attention Of the authorities time |
after time, but with no avail. Labor
leased for forty cents per day, and driven |
to its utmost tension with hoggings and |
threats of death, is calmly put into com
petition with the working people at
large, and they are held in subsection
by the use of rifles and Gatling guns,
while Democratic governors and legisla-
tors refuse them relief.
Compare This with Republican Methods.
This could not happen in any but
'olidly Democratic community. At least
It does not happen in any other. There
ire twice as many "safe Republican
states at the north as there are ''safe
Democratic" states at the south. Yet
here is scarcely single one of the GER
ainly Republican states which permits
convict labor to be brought in any way
nto competition with the laboring ele-
nent. Conviots are worked in prisons,
md care is taken to select for them en-
,loyment in the occupations which will
,ring them as little as possible into COM
'etition with free labor or skilled work
nen, and prevent their personal contact
With any.
Convict camps and convict competi-
ion with the laborer are things uu-
nown in Republican states, and only
revail in states where the Democracy ;
hows its true colors by the enjoyment
t an enormous and absolutely safe ma !
ority. And the more absolute the ma
Ority the more absolute in this regard 9
the rights of the laboring man. In ,
en-twelfths of the solidly Democratic :
tates leased convict labor is put into 6
with the workingmen of the :
communities. Ten-twelfths of the states =
the Union which lease their convict /;
lbor are solidly Democratic states, for
here are but two states outside of the r
ol1dly Democratic south that have even !;
modified form of convict lease system.
Seen in National Affairs. h
Not only has the Democratic party y
1own its Indifference to the rights Of .
'bor under slavery and under the con- I
let lease system, but also by the words d
nd votes of its officials at Washington. 81
7hen the Mills bill was before congress
Republican amendment proposing to q
zclude from the United States goods n
Manufactured by convict labor was de- a
'ated by Democratic votes. A similar f,
ction in the Mckinley bill was almost n
'lidly opposed in the vote by the Demo- "
attic members of the house. Mr., Cleye-
nd while governor of New York vetoed o.
10 bill abolishing convict labor in pris- a,
Is, and while president vetoed the anti