The leader., 1904-02-20
MOVE AGAINST NHITECAPPERS AND
LABOR AGENTS.

ana laDOr agents, is a movement
inthe right line. The Leader coun
seled some such movement as this
on the part of the law-abiding
farmers of Lincoln county sever.
al weeks ago, and much valuable
time and great saving to the
farming and business interests
would have resulted, had deci
sive, vigorous action then been
taken. However, it is not toe
late yet to accomplish a great
deal if the situation is rightly
and wisely handled.
The present labor troubles in
this county, Franklin and Amite
are due, primarily, to the white
Gaping lawlessness which has
prevailed in these counties, and
any procedure to remedy exist
ing conditions which ignores
this fact, will fail of the desired
cure.
This whitecapping movement
had it's inspiration in the miscon.
duct of few officious negroes
and the determination of many
white farmers to prevent negroes
from owning and living on farms
of their own Or serving as ten.
ants on the lands owned by mer'
chants Or non-residents. After
negroes on such lands had been
quite thoroughly intimidated and
unsettled and this alarm ha6
spread among the negroes on the
lands of white farmers, the op.
portunity was seized by labor
agents to swarm into these coun.
4ties from the Delta and Louisiana
and aggravate a situation already
desperately bad. We do moi
entertain the least doubt that la
Dor agents have employed un
scrupulous men, white and black
to post notices, fire into houses
and do all they possibly could to
terrorize and unsettle the. negro
population, in large portions o1
this county, in order that they
they might be tie more easily
decoyed off by agents. The home
strikers, white and colored, to dc
such dirty work, are not lack
ing, but the fact remains that the
labor agents would never have
found this such an inviting fielo
for operation and they and theil
pestiferous tools been able tC
accomplish such serious damage,
had it not been for the federation
and half-approval given to white
cap lawlessness in it's earlier
stages, and which is still shown
in some sections of the county
Every farmer in the county with
any intelligence, ought to have
foreseen from the beginning
what has come to pass under the
policy Of acquiesence which has
prevailed. The cold blooded as
sassination of two negroes by citi
zens of this county, and the
shooting and serious woundine
of several others who were living
on places of their own, and all
of this with no serious effort tc
to bring to punishment the per
petrators of these crimes or any
public expression of condemns
ton by the white citizenship Of
the county, has spread dread and
a feeling of uneasiness among the
whole negro population and made
it the easy prey of labor agents
and their underhanded methods
| It will therefore be a vair
thing for the farmers and other
citizens, to spend their time
and influence in driving out the
labor agents, unless they intend
also to correct the home crimi
nails and give the white-cappers
land their imitators the medicine
the law and justice prescribe
1.-THE farmers will make them.
lselves ridiculous by playing the
ostrich act or blind mans buff
as concerns the home factor il
/ the trouble.