Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-04-05
WRONG AND SHOULD GO.


Birmingham and an era of prosperity
almost or quite equalling the good times
enjoyed in this community when it was
said that Birmingham was on a boom.
The trouble is the system practiced in
this district by the employers of day la
Dor. Our pay rolls are immense, but the
business men and laborers are not get
ting fair play
The State Herald does not contend that
contractors, mine operators etc, do not
possess a perfect right, both morally and
legally, to own and operate stores COM
monty called commissaries. Those men
and corporations have just the same
right to engage in the business of store
keeping that any merchant in Birming-
ham or elsewhere has.
The system which gives rise to COM
plant, and just complaint, too, is the
way laborers are paid off. In the first
place, pay day comes too seldom. In the
second place, the men and corporations
who issue checks should redeem them
when they fall due in money If demand
ed. 1t should be known of all men that
when the pay day of any concern en-
ploying laboring men comes around that
it will promptly pay the checks that it
has given out, no matter by whom pre-
sented, and, if demanded, pay them in
cash.
Such system would be perfectly fair
to all parties and especially would it be
justice to the man who strikes hard ticks
from morn till night to earn his wages.
AS it is, the laboring men in this district
do not get the benefit of competition in
trade. A large majority of them are men
of families. They have no earnings laid
aside for rainy day, and are therefore
forced to trade off their time checks dur
ing the month while they are earning
them in order to feed and clothe them
selves and their families. The checks be-
ing redeemable only in merchandise, they
are forced to trade at the company
commisSary or use them elsewhere at a
ruinous discount. OF course it will be
said that these company stores sell goods
as cheap as they can be had elsewhere.
To answer this we need only to say: If
you mean what you say, why persist in
practicing a system which forces men to
buy of you? If the commissaries sell
goods just as cheap as they can be had
elsewhere the man who labors for the
owner of the commissary and is given
it's checks knows it full well, and the
commissary owner will therefore run no
risk in saying to him. Here is your check
We want your trade and can and Will
sell you goods as cheap as anybody. AT
the same time say to him: This check
will be paid in cash on pay day If not
traded out with us. Go now and try the
market.
The system now in vogue in this dis
trict which operates to deprive the la
boring men of the benefits of competi-
ton in trade and cuts the retail mer-
chant, who is paying his part to sustain
the community, off from fair chance at
the trade of the community, and which
indirectly forces the man who tolls for
his daily bread to pay tribute to the OPP
orators of the commissary stores is
wrong, radically wrong, and should go.
We don't think there is merchant or a
laboring man or a professional man in
all this county of Jefferson who is not in
some way connected with commissary
who will not agree with us in the PROPOSE
tons laid down above. Then why longer
suffer when we have 1t in our power to
get relief. If the system in vogue in this
district Is unfair, why longer, tolerate it?
1t is within the power of the people of
this county to prevent the continuance
of a system known of all men here
among us to be the common curse of the
business and laboring interests of this
district. The best thing that can
just now come to this city and
county Is a law compelling cor
porations to pay off at least four times
per month The claim Of unconstitution-
alty is nothing more nor less than a
dodge. Corporations are creatures of the
law. The people make the laws, and the
time is at hand in Jefferson county, Ala
bama, when the people must take some
steps to protect themselves against their
creatures The business and laboring in
terests of Birmingham and Jefferson
county have suffered long enough at the
hands of the system now In vogue in this
county. Infant industries should not be
permitted longer to flourish on the mis-
fortunes of the poor. The weak are APP
pealing for protection, and they should
not be allowed to longer appeal in vain.
The people have the power to rule and
they should do 1t.