Waterbury Democrat., 1902-02-26
LABOR IN THE SOUTH

A serious condition of affairs pre- vails i'll most of the states of the south i'll this important matter of the treatment of the labOring people, who are regarded in most instances as bound to service for a term of months usually twelve months, by the con- ditionS of the contract they sign at the beninning of the year, but which fre- quently never terminates, because the planter usually gets the control over the actions of the laborer through the operations of the credit system, or other device. Tn most of the south ern states the laws are so framed as to protect the farmer and contractor and storekeeper as against the labor CT. No appeal to the courts avails him anything, except to tighten the hold of the employer upon his time and movements. This is very gener- ally known among the laborers and to the courts for q redress of their grievances. In many districts of South Carolina, Louisiana and Miss issippi a virtual condition of slavery has been hitched upon the laborers under the operation of the laws made to accomplish that purpose, and con- trary to the provisions of the federal constitution. That there is substan- { tial truth in this view of the matter was made manifest in q horrible man ner in the findings of the grand jury 1 in a South Carolina county very I short time ago. It has also been I shown in many instances that convicts whose time has expired have been 1 held to service long after by the con- 1 tractors. because of laxity of over- 1 sight of the matter by the stateauthor- l ities having charge and oversight of the l penal system. But it is with the ] question of free and not prison lab 1 or that we wish here to deal.
 1 We believe that the tendency of the states to leave those states for the l states of the north and west will in- crease rather than diminish in force during the present decade. All the industrial and civil conditions pre- vailing in the southern states point to the outcome of the matter, while the dominant race in the southern states show no disposition to relax the se- verity of their laws or to moderate the Offensiveness of their conduct toward the Afro-American people. On the contrary, the tendency is distinctly I toward greater severity in the law and more offensiveness in the con- duct of the white race. The younger generation of Afro-Americans will not stand for this sort of conditions when they can easily change it by days journey in the Jim Crow cars.
 The farmers of the south should take warning from the labor famine condition gradually developing in North Carolina Louisiana and Missis- sippi. While they have a chance to do so they should seek to change the odious state of affairs which is surly
 depriving them of the best labor force l in the world fitted for tleir purposes. l What is now only tendency will in short time become a manifestation
 with which they cannot cope. We believe all the evidence in the case points to the conclusion we have reached here. The southern farmers. l and other employers of labor, cannot afford to lose theirAfro-A lab- or, because they cannot replace it.
 Neither the Italian nor the Chinaman l is adapted to the peculiarities of southern labor requirements; neither of them could ever hope to understand
 or to master the mule, for instance, the most essential spoke in the wheel of southern industrialism after the
 Afro-American laborer We think it fair conclusion that the Afro
 American laborer of the south cannot be replaced to advantage, and that by pursuing q policy of oppressive re- | strictions and extortion, with offensive legislation covering the -Ameri-
 can people in all the relations of life, the southern farmers, and those they
 control. the politicians. stand in their
 own light, and in the end will have to
 pay dearly for it in the loss of cold | caSh.-NeW York Ape