The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-02-24

@HE wounds occasioned by the now (CD almost forgotten peonage cases in southeast Alabama have been re-
 opened by the New York Herald in a
 two page article by stephen Bonsal who
 has spent several weeks in that seeties
 of the state. In most cases the northern and eastern newspapers have exaggerated
 this question of peonage and put the state
 of Alabama in a false light before the
 country but in justice to the Herald ana Mir. Bonsal 1t must be said that his writ
 ings on the subject are the fairest pre-
 sentation of the question that have ever
 appeared in a paper published in any or
 the great cities of the United States.
 The word peon is of Spanish origin and
 in the Spanish American countries Is ap-
 piled to a person who Is held In involun- tary servitude to work out debt. Since
 the beginning of the investigation or the cases in southeast Alabama the meaning of the word has broadened to such an ex-
 tent that In many cases it is a msnomer. It Is not my purpose to defend the
 crime of peonage but having been born
 in the county of Tallapoosa and having lived among the people there accused of
 peonage for many years, I will attempt
 to explain the practice as it existed prior
 to the investigation by the Federal au- thorities.
 In my opinion 90 per cent of the per- sons charged with the crime of peonage
 were ignorant of the fact that they were violating the law. To them and their neighbors the crime does not appear near lv so atrocious as the northern papers
 would have persons believe. The Her ald gives a very fair presentation of this side of the case, and MT. Bonsal truth fully says that in many cases the men
 who have been dragged before the courts are men of honor and of good standing
 in their respective communities.
 Since my early boyhood l have been
 familiar with the practice, but like the people about me, saw nothing heinous or extraordinary in it. In fact l did not
 know It to be unlawful until the Federal
 authorities threw an entirely different light upon the situation
 In Talapoosa county it was generally believed that the well-to-do citizen who took a negro out of jail by paying his
 fine and allowing him to work out the
 indebtedness, was doing the person who
 Is now termed peon, an act of friend
 ship. Of course as long as this released person Is not kept in prison or locked up
 at night he Is not a peon and such cases
 have not come under the search light of
 law Negroes soon saw the advantage of this practice and at every term of court
 their white friends were called upon to help them out of trouble. These negroes
 in many cases preferred to work for
 their white friends rather than go to the chain gang White farmers saw a
 profit in this and the practice gradually spread.
 Persons living in the north have made the mistake of ignorantly placing the negro in the same light as the poor white
 man. and thereby forcing comparisons which were erroneous. The negro in the farming sections is not looked upon as a man of honor and he is not. He still believes that he has a right to take what
 belongs to his white friends, and his re- ligfon does not put this under the head of larceny He is not man who re- spects his contract. By his failure to work out his contract according to agree
 ment the negro has caused many of his white friends to suffer financial loss Not having an abundance of confidence in the negro's honesty the farmers in
 some instances began the practice of keeping him locked up at night so as to
 prevent a possible breach of contract This brought the practice into peonaEe.