The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-05-12

no1lous at voting times. Especially when
1ney attempt to vote any but the Demo-
cratlc ticket. There is never any objee-
tlon to that. Several southern states have
educational qualifications and laws for
Young Which if a colored voter should
VioiaUe ne reapS his reward on the chain
gang. Colored voters must read New
state Constitutions and interpret the
same to the satisfaction of the election
managers. Failing to do so, and INSIST
ing on voting, they are considered polltl,,
cally obnoxious, for which the courts Will
settle with them
There are Jim Grow cars in almost
as many southern states as the conVlcU
lease system is. The two seem to work
together pretty we'll. A person OF African
descent may have first class railroad
ticket for which he pays as much as any
other passenger but he must content him
self with "Jim Crow car treatment or
be charged with violating the laws.
Some southern white claim that the col
ored people are vicious, for which many
of them are arrested If such a charge
be true, those who have had absolute con-
troll over these people for wellnigh 300
years are certainly responsible for their
short coming. George O. Gable puts it
right when he says:
Determinations made against him are
more and more unbearable the better
public citizen he tries to be; that they
are impediments not to the grovelings of
his lower nature, but to the aspirations of
his higher"
Strange fact, that every place of vice
and corruption in the South, is open to
ries, THE (. II. G. A, . "The Z. o. G.
Al and "The o. c. T. W and the
best colleges, churches and schools are
closed against them. These are some of
the cold facts that the northern people do
not often get about the conditions that
now exist in the South
With the wheels of justice turning
against these unfortunate people, can
there be any reasonable wonder that the
colored race, 1851 per cent of the total
population, furnishes one-third of the
prisoners? The wonder should not be that
they furnish one-third but why they do
not furnish two-thirds. According to the
census bulletin in 1899 the colored race
had increased from 4, 100000 in 1868 to
Z, 10000. Thus they constituted 1875
per cent Of the total population. Yet they
contribute one-third of all the convicts
in the country, though less than S.S per
cent OF the paupers and still smaller
percentage of the mutes and insane are
found among them. With such tremen-
dOus disparity between the proportion of
criminals and paupers from the colored
race, the case demands thorough inves-
tigation As the colored race is univer-
sally recognized as very poor and IMPROVE
dent, it necessarily follows that they
would furnish more paupers than pris-
oners, or at least that they should con-
tribute more paupers than they do. A
very poor and improvident race usually
furnishes more paupers in any country
than it does prisoners. But this race of
African descent contributes both an alb
normally small proportion of prisoners
and paupers throughout the northern
state, according to its population. Since
it is in the South that SO many prisoners
of color are found, hence second refer
ence to the bulletin is justifable. The
census bulletin shows that the average
sentence of penitentiary convicts in the
United States in 1896 was for native
whites of native parentage, years and
20S days, that of a colored convict 6 years
and 1873 days The average penitentiary
sentence in Rhode Island was years and
256 days, and in Mississippi II years and
116 days Those sentenced for life in the
north Atlantic and central groups of
states were 81 per centof the whole; and
the life sentence in the south central
group were 8 per cent Of the whole; 2.97
per cent of the sentences in the north
Atlantic were for life and 81 per cent of
those in the north Genital, 1856 per cent
were for life, and in the south central
group 978 per cent were for life. OF the
total number of convicts serving sentence
for less than life, the native whites of
native parentage had g. 1856 years to serve
and the native colored $3.50 years.
Henry M. Boies in his book on Ameri-
can Prisoners and Paupers'' says that:
Petty crimes, which among civilized
whitepeople would not be serious in their
consequences to the perpetrator, almost
universally in the South condemn the
negro to the criminal class for life."
In vain have Southern Legislatures
been petitioned to adopt some reformatory
measure through which the punishment
of prisoners might be checked. Georgia
has a law supporting the lease system
which does not expire until April, 1899.
When this law was evacuated the COVER
nor of that state was a lessee, answerable
to the State in bond for s37, 500, which
bond holds good till April, 1899 and is
not transferable. A United States senator
from Georgia has been known to own as
many as 525 convicts at one time, in coal
mines, iron foundries and around coke
ovens. With the executives at the head
of these degrading systems in the South,
it seems futile to expect any changes by
leaving the matter for time to settle.
An appeal should therefore be made to a
higher tribunal of public sentiment, both
North and South alike. The honor of the
nation is at stake SO long as this barbar-
GUS system of leasing out prisoners and
treating them as they are in the South
prevails. 1t is hoped that a strong protest
may be heard from every Christian or
ganization in the land at last The free
in spirit what they purport in the letter.
ID. E. TOBIAS.
(Mr. d. E. Tobias, the author of the
above communication, is a colored man,
a native of South Carolina, and now pur-
suing his studies in Brown University.
He is deeply interested in his race and
from time to time, as opportunity pre-
sents, he is endeavoring to awaken public
sentiment to compel reform in Southern
laws and systems, especially those affect
ing the colored race.-Ed. PRESS