The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-04-06

knew Halliday who consented to hear
his plea.
You are fooling away your time and
this mans time, Halliday he told him
in a friendly way. I'D cut my right arm
off sooner than take q negro in these
mills and precipitate a strike"
But would a strike occur with no
unicn organizaticn?'
eyes, in minute. You know Simon
LegTee who owns these mills. If a dis
turbance occurred here now the old devil
wouldn't hesitate to close every mill
next day and beggar fifty thousand peo-
ple.''
"Why would he do such a stupid
thiEg?'i
Just to show the brute power of his
$2C00,0O0 over the human body.
millions of dollars over the human body.
The awful power in that brute's hands,
represented in that money, is something
appalling. Before the war he cracked
blacksnake whip over the backs of a
handful of negroes. Now look at him,
in his black silk hat and faultless dress.
With his millions he can commit any
and every crime on the catalogue from
theft TO murder with impunity. His
power is greater than a monarchs He
controls fleets of ships, mines and mills,
has under his employ hundred thou
sand men. Their families and associates
make population of a million. He buys
judges. juries, legislatures and gov
ernors and with one stroke Of his pen
today can beggar million people. He
can equip an army of hirelings, make
peace or war en- his own account. or
force the governments to do it for him.
He has neither faith in God, nor fear
of the devil. He regards all men as his
enemies and all women his game.
How many lives he had blasted
among the population of over a million
only knows. 1t is said he has murdered
the soults of three hundred innocent
girls in these mills"
1.-The picture of that brute with a whip
in his hand beating negro caused the
most terrible war in the history of the
world Three millions of men flew at
each others throat and for four years
fought like demons. A million men ard
six billions of dollars worth of property
were destroyed
HE was a poor harmless fool there
beating his own faithful slave to death
Compare that Legree with the one of to-
day, and you compare a mere stupid
man with prince of hell. But does this
fiend excite the wrath of the righteous?
Far from it. His very name is whisper
ed in admiring awe by millions. He
boasts that hundred proud mothers
strip their daughters to the limit of
police law at every social function he
horors with his presence, and offer to
sell him their own flesh and blood for
the paltry consideration of a life interest
in one-third of his estate! And he laughs
at them all. His name is magic!
Il know of one weak fool, petty
millionaire, whom Legree lured into a
speculative trap and ruined. On his
knees in his Fifth Avenue palace the
whining coward kissed Legree's foot
and begged for mercy. He kicked him
and sneered at his misery. At last when
he had tortured him to the verge of
madness he offered to spare him on one
condition-that he should give him his
daughter as a ransom. And he did it.
mo, the brute power of such man
mind. His chances for debauckery and
cruelty are limitless. The brains of his
hirelings are put to the test to invent new
crimes against Nature tointerest his APP
pctitcs. The only limit to his power of
evil is the capacity of the human mind
to think, and his body to act and en- lire
When he is exhausted. he can command
the knowledge and the skill of ages and
the masters of all science to restore his
strength, while satellites lick his feet
and sing his praises.
Risk the whim of such a man with
the lives of these poor people depend
ent on me? No, I'd sooner kill that
Negro you have brought here and take
my chances Of detection"
Halliday gave up the task, returned to
New York, placed Harris in a room, and
sought the aid of the greatest labor
leader in America, who had arrived in
the city from the West The day before.
No, Halliday" he said emphatically.
Send your negro back down South. We
don't want any more Of them, or to come
in contact with them. I have Just come
/ from the West where desperate strike
was in progress in one of Legrees mines
Our men were telling in the depth of the
earth in midnight darkness never seeing
the light of day, f-r just enough to keep
body and soul tox ether. They tried to
wiring one little ffncessjon from their
absent master. WI bad never con-
descended to hono' them With his
presence. What did he do? Shut down
his mines, and brought up from the
South herd of negroes who came
crowding tc the mines to push our men