The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1901-10-10
A GREAT AND GROWING EVIL.

n IAEAI AND GROWING ENIl.
Need lii the South for the Labor o
All Able to Work.
Two editorials were published in tn
same column tho other day by the Go
lumbus (Ga) Enqui, er-Sun. In on
of them was the statement, Man,
complaints have been made by differ
ent communities in Georgia thus sprins
and summer about vagranls, idlers ant
lOafcrs. Columbus has more
than her share of this very undesirable
citizenship" In the other was tho
statement, "There is hardly mill OF
manufacturing industry here but needs
more labor, and there IS work in these
industries for thousand or more peo
pie that can be had for the asking"
About the same time, with the com
plant coming from every industry il
lts section OF scarcity of labor, the
Magnolia (Miss.) Gazette published q
vigorous editorial donouncing the ne.
gro parasites infesting the towns of
that State, and demanding that author
ltles should enforce the law against
vagrancy. 1t clearly pointed to the
means whereby these vcrmin arc en-
abled TO exist in these words
"The mystery of his existence is not
such mystery after all when we be-
GIN to investigate it at short range.
lie is thorough parasite. He lives
ON others. Like the ancient Indian
who hunted and lished and battlcd
with his enemies while his sQuaw titled
the earth and fed hiM, 80 this parasite
lives on the labors and thcfts of his
woman For him she robs the pan.
try gives him, not crumbs, but whole
heaps of food from The rich mans
table, and TO him she carries her week
ly wage. Indeed, his system has be-
come 80 extensive that il is very prob.
able that the majority of white families
who employ cooks in this country arc
feeding one or more of these gentle
men Of leisure day after day"
Observers in Northern cities, such
as Philadelphia, New York, Chicago
aud Pittsburg, in which the negro
problem is becoming serious menace
to the health and morality of The COM
mulity will recognize the truth of the
Gdzctte's observation, and it is only
necessary to squint toward the book
learning which is setting the lisiug
generation of negroes in the South on
the high road to the chain gang, the
Jail and the penitentiary to recognize
the origin of the growing curse. 1t is
not confined to Georgia, TO Mississippi
or the South. 1t is found in every
large city in the country where negro
women have found the means TO earn
an honest livelihood, and where the
great majority of them would continue
to earn it were il not for the black para
sites who follow closely upon their
heels, and who not only hold them up
regularly for the greater portion, if not
the whole, of their wages, but who
suggest to them the petty pilfcring, the
lnsOlcnce and shiftlcssncss which have
become the banc Of many patient
housewife.
There is need in The South for the
labor of every man or woman, black
CT white, able to work. There is no
reason why anyone should be a loafcr
or vagrant. The remedy is not diff
ticult to find. Georgia itself has a law
which permits anyone TO arrest vag-
rant, who shall be punished by the
county court or bound over for one
year for service to some one. The law,
as the Enquirer-Sun points out also de-
fines vagrants i'll unmistakablc langu-
age, as follows:
"1. Persons wandering or strolling
about in idlencss who are able to work
and have no property to support them.
go. Persons leading All immoral,
idle Or protliyate life VINO have no prop.
erty to support them, and who are able
to work and do not work.
"3. All persons able to work, hav-
ing no property to support thom, and
who have not some visible and known
means for fair, honest and reputable
livelihood.
"4. Persons having fixed abode,
who have no visible property to sup
port them, and who live by stealing or
by trading in, bartering for or buying
stolen property.
"5. Professional gamblers living in
idleness."
Those States which possibly may not
have such provisions should make them
as soou AZ possible, and should vigor-
ously enforce them. The curse is toe
| widespread for one State to be expect
cd alone to suppress it. There must
be widespread, united plan carried
out promptly and strenuousiy. 1t ls q
curse which not only acts as an imme
diatc drain upon the thrift of com
munity, but it also tends to dcmoralize
the workers, and stands as block il
the way of immigration of indust,iou
folk TO the place where they woul
have liberal rewards -Southcrn Farn
Magazine.