The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-09-25

wages when faithfully paid. and with the result of their years cropping. This. l am sure. would he honest testimony of the Southern landlord.
 The remaining tenth is mainly composed of loafers and dudes who gather In the back streets of cities, living by petty thievlng or on the earnings of their wives dresses. etc There is also a percentage of worthless day laborers whom farmers
 are compelled 10 employ for lack. of bet drift from place to place, without local attachment. or any special purpose other than that of beating their employers. This submerged fraction of very bad me- crimes and are so often hunted and de. stroyed like wild beasts. It is pitiful, but they offensive leayen the reputation of the entire race. One Of this wretched er but before he has tool in his hand must be supplied with food and lodging. often with shoes and clothing. If per chance a rainy week intervenes, at the end of 1t the negro is in debt several dol- lars. and then finds it to his interest to light out''-that is, abscond. It Is not an infrequent event that one years mar vest IS completed month or two before on bottom lands work is delayed for many weks by overfiows or by sipe water. In either case. when ready to begin work. the chances are that the planter will be
 
 hands to seek work on higher ground but few of them may return; if he has fed them during the overflow they will be in debt and unwilling to work the debt out. Some few planters protect themselves by species of terrorism. but the majority of them submit, as they do to the fai.ur of crop from natura uses. There Is no remedy for this method of robbery: the debt Is a simple one, collectable as are ordinary debts from insolvents. Owing to the scarcity of labor. blacklisting Is of no avail. A negro commits a crime; the magistrate desires to be lenient and fixes the fine as low as possible; the criminal may already be in debt to his employer, but. anyway the latter needs the labor and pays the fine and costs, with pos sibilt of being repaid in work. After working and repaying a small part of this debt the man gets sullen ard Is ready to quit. l am sorry 10 say that this kind of Ingratltude is by no means confined to the negro. It was perhaps to offset this age cases in labama.
 One would think from reading some Northern newspapers. tha tthere is per- petual war between employers and labor CTS in the South. I am sure that the trouble with Southern labor is far less than that between employers and white Ia Dor in the North and West. The 'dea of Southern landlords and their aborers being kept from each others throat by State troops Is utterly absurd-at least up to this period.
 l repeat emphatically that great ma- jorty of Southern negroes are quiet and inoffensive, easily satisfied and controlled and the Southern man who wishes they were back in Africa is one who quarrels with his bread and butter. It is mere corollary to the above that nlne-telthS of the colored people of the South are as free and happy as it is in the nature of human beings to be, and he who at- tempts to widen the breach between the races IS not only an enemy to both races. but also to civilization.