The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-29

I much recent comment, is 1t not significant | that peonage was found to exist Tn | white rather than in 'black coun- ties?
 Coosa and Tallapoosa are not counties of large plantations, as are Lowndes' Bullock, Dallas, Macon and Perry Coun- ties. I know nothing personally or the defendants indicted but do know that the people of the two hrst-named coun- ties are not, as rule. Of the class that formerly owned the bulk of the slaves. It Is a fact. recognized by all who Know conditions in the South, that the rela- tions of the negroes with the large land- holders and ex-slaveholders are more cordial and more satisfactory than with the small landlords and non-slaveholding class. The great mass Of the negroes, outside of the cities, still work for whites of the former class.
 I myself was born and reared in that county in Alabama which has the greatest proportional excess of negro over white | population in the State. I have lived either in that county or its immediate | neighborhood practically all my fife, ex- cept while at college. Many of the former ants, still reside there. A large propor- tion of them are landowners and almost without exception they are prosperous, law-abiding, and respected by their neigh bors, black and wbite. Their relations with members of my own family are not merel ycordial, but affectionate-and kins- men of mine to the number of more than eighteen are employers of negroes in the county. So far as 1 know, no white wo- man has ever been assaulted in the coun- ty by a negro. I have set as special judge in the Circuit Court of that county in the trial of an action between a white man and a negro. dependent upon the testimony of the parties, in which jury composed entirely of white men, promptly gave a verdict for the negro. If these | were all the facts one learned about that county, it might be easily inferred that the condition of the negroes in that quarter is pretty nearly ideal.
 There is another way in which the grand jury's report throws light on the general situation in Alabama. While 1t | is believed that nothing can be truthfully | said in disparagement of the fearless dis- | charge of duty by officials of the federal court in the middle district, yet 1t is
 worth while remembering that some Of | these same persons indicted in that court
 were several years previously indicted in
 the local State courts for the same practices. The State prosecuting officer.
 after he had failed to secure convictions. l appeared before the federal grand jury in l these cases. The report informs us that
 the State authorities have been power less to punish the offenders. because of
 their influence. the timidity of witnesses.
 and the unwillingness of jurors drawn in | their immediate vicinity to do their full | duty" That this inability to convict | does not extend throughout the district | Is at least to some extent borne out by
 the fact that on the indictments found at Montgomery, away from the locality | of the crimes, all the defendants arraign- 1 ed up to this time, except the one now be- | ing tried. have been found guilty, the
 defendant Turner having pleaded guilty,
 since the jury disagreed in his case. The
 real trouble with the State courts of Ala ! bama is that the prosecution has no
 right to a change of venue. The federal l grand jury says that ''the great body | of the people in this district are
 violently opposed to these practices" If 1 this is true, we may well believe that l If the Alabama law had provided, as dc
 the laws of some States. for change ot
 the place of trial at the stance of the | prosecution, the peonage evil In Coos1 and i Tallapo0sa Counties would have been
 broken up by the State courts.
 Judge Jones presides in both the middle and northa: n districts. In these two dis siXty-seven counties of the State, there
 resides S2.3 per cent. of the negroes. Tn
 record already made by Judge Jones should be an assurance that If pe0nagc
 exists in the northern district 1t will te, ceiVe the same treatment there that il has got in tho middle district. In the l southern district reside IF per cent. ot
 the negroes of the State. There has been
 no occasion for the Northern public to be- | become acGu inted with Judge Toulmin
 him will rot douht that if peonage snail | at any time be found there, fenders will be as vigorously prosecuted as they have been in the middle district.
 I agree with the grand jury and with The Evening Post that all the available
 fac.5 on the subjeet of peonage should be made known. No fair-mindcr person
 objects to Il --. When known. Alab4. mans will not object to any fair inference [ being drawn from them. Their objec- | ton is to differences being dra i either from misstal lenents or from I incomplete statements of facts II may som et.mes be necessary in combat ing an evi. to lay emphasis on disagr ble facts, but 1t is never right to tell a half truth as if it were a whole truth
 Francis G. Caffey. New York, July 22.