The Appeal., 1904-10-29
SOUTHERN CONDITIONS.

| Felix Adler, the great ethical teach
er recently said in one OF his very
notable addresses: "The present
condition of the South is analogous
to that condition of Europe which fol-
to the French Revolution" And this
is true.
Every evil which existed in Europe
just prior to the French Revolution
may be found at the South except one
l-excessive taxation. While excess
i've taxation does not exist at the
| South, taxation without representation
may be found there, and this was
| the historic cause of the American
Revolution. t
Taine says that 81 per cent of the
| produce of the peasantry of France
| went to the tax gatherer in the shape
of impQsts of various kinds. Massil-
lon, the eloquent priest of that period,
described the condition of the masses
OF the French population as being
economically lower than that of the
West Indian slaves Carlyle says:
"Thirty million French people groaned
under nightmare of oppression"
The aristocracy of France lived by
the sweat of the toiling masses, and
stole the fruits of their toll from them
with governmental agencies. The
masses were kept in ignorance-no
school system was provided for them
by the state, with the result that in
their wretchedly impoverished condi-
ton and low intellectual state, immor-
ality and vice were manifest every
where.
Now, in many respects the condi-
tion of the Afro-American people at
the South is infinitely worse than was
the condition of the rural French just
ON the eve of the revolution.
Afro-Americans at the, South
charged with crime are tried by Cau-
casian judges and Caucasian juries
and prosecuted by Caucasian attor-
neys, all Of whom are more or less
inoculated with the virus of race pref
udice, and the universal Indifference
felt by the masses Of Caucasian men
and women of the South to the out
RACES daily perpetuated on, Afro-Amer-
leans has long since crystallized into
statutory enactments which are un-
democratic, unjust and Infamous. No
better way can be found to determine
the intellectual condition of people
than by a perusal of their laws. =
We find that in every Southern state
laws have been so cunningly devised
as to recognize the great industrial
power of the Afro-American and at
the same time other laws place him
in category somewhat lower than
that of a man. Thus in one state he
;e ~ fn i11fn
Cthe- one. on account of a statute
making it a. penal offense for emf
grant agents to "entice" Afro Ameri-
can labccers from the state. In the
~ame state which thus recognizes his
industrial indispensability. he is not
permitted to enjoy unrestricted ac-
comnDdations On the common car
riers. Jim Crow cars being espe-
cially manufactured for his benefit.
He is not allowed to vote, and "a
man who does not vote ultimately be-
~"-',~~ the slave of the man who
does' =. d.;
Millions of Afro-American farm
hands are kept in perpetual debt, by
a system of contract wage slavery,
from which very few ever succeed in
emancipating themselves, and this be-
cause while the crops are growing
they are extended a system Of credit
for their food and clothing by store
keepers, who are usually the owners
of the plantations on which the Ia
borers are working. These laborers
being illiterate and unable to read or
calculate intelligently, are defrauded
by dishonest storekeepers, who man.
age to keep the balance at the end of
each year Of service in their favor
Occasionally disputes occur, and black
men are put to death as a warning
that the storekeeper's account is not
to be questioned. And thus they drag
their. weary lives out from year to
year. Brothers to the OK" with no
hope for their Improvement .A
Black men are lynched so frequent
ly nowadays all over the South that:
it no longer excites the attention of
busy people. %..
The South provides no adequate ia
cilities for the education of her dark
hued children, who are required by
law to attend a separate and often
inferior school, In several of the
states the schooling is restricted to
the lowest grades, as in Louisiana,
where it is prohibited by law to give