The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-11-25

/ The leniency shown the McRees, de-
PENDANTS in peonage cases, by Judge
/ Speer was appreciated by them and
j viii be very generally approved by the
public. They did not know they were
violating a law of the United states or
/ any other law i'm following custom
I that, according to report, has prevail
/ ed in portions Of Southwest Georgia
4 ever since the Civil War. This custom
was the paying Of the fines of mis-
/ deme1nor couvicts and holding the con-
/ victs in servitude until they had work
ed out the amount of the fines paid
on their account.
The attention of the McRees was
called TO the illegality Of the custom
by the peonage cases in Alabama,
and they ait once abandoned it. They
did not attempt defense before the
court. They had no defense to make.
except that they had acted i'm ig-
u1r1uce of the law. and that they
had not been cruel or brutal in their
treatment of the convicts that had
been in their service. IN this they We're
borne out by the agent of the govern
meut. who went to Valdosta to get
evidence on which to base indictments.
This agent also said that the Nc
Rees had not attempted to conceal
anything, and that they had assisted
him in every possible way to get what
evidence the government wanted.
This being the situation, Judge Speer
imposed the lowest sentence permitted
by the law in two of the cases, name
ly $1,000 each. and suspended sentence
in the other cases. Neither the gov
eminent nor the court desired to be
unnecessarily severe in the inhiction
Of punishment. The aim was to salts
fy the law and at the same time to
make sure that there would be no
more offenses of a similar nature. 1t
is safe to say there will be no more
peonage in South Georgia. There
would have been none probably had
the people there known the custom of
paying the fines of misdemeanor con-
victs for the purpose of securing their
labor to the amount of the fines so
paid was an offense against the law.
In passing sentence, Judge Speer
took occasion to comment on the obli-
cation which rests upon the white peo-
pie of the South TO do what they can
for the betterment of the negroes in
their respective communities. 1t was
their duty, he said, to give the negro
a fair chance. There is no doubt that
this will be agreed to, and we believe
that the general disposition is to give
him a fair chance. There is no doubt
that the better class of white people
are ever ready to lend the negro a
helping hand. If this were not so, the
majority of the negroes would have
left the South before this. They would
have sought homes in the Northern
states. They know, however, that they
get more consideration and better
treatment in the South than in the
North. They may have few privileges
there which are denied them in the
South, but there isn't the same liberal
ity in the matter of opportunities of
earning a living in the North that
there is here in the South.
How the race problem is-going to be
settled no one knows. but while it is
in process of settlement the obliga-
tion that rests upon the dominant race
to show the most careful consideration
for the welfare and rights of the weak
er l'aee should be faithfully observed.