The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1905-03-23
PEONAGE
WHAT CONSTITUTES THE OF
FENSE.
Judge Speer's Opinion-His Charge to
the Feredal Grand Jury in
Savannah.

| NeW ol1edllS oldteS OF MdTCn ~, an
may be perused with general interest
For some time the Federal courts i
the Southern States have paid consider
able attention to the trial of peonag
cases growing out of the Oppressive
| labor contract laws passed in several O
these States. 1t is matter of notoriet,
that the shiftless and unreliable charac
ter of the negro laborer has rendered
necessary the adoption of laws for tn,
punishment of the violation of labo
contracts.
"ln the cotton belt the farmers have
been confronted by most peculiar sit
uatlon of affairs. At the beginning o1
the year contracts are made with the
number of negroes considered necessar,
to cultivate and gather a stated number
OF acres of cotton and other farm pro-
ducts. These negroes are furnished
with cabins in which to live, and few
of them having either money Or credit
their employer engages to furnish the
provisions and supplies necessary to en-
able them to fulfill their contractual
obligations. 1t not infrequently happens
that laborer will draw the supplies to
which he is entitled under the agree
ment before the end of the eyar, go in
debt to his employer and then abandon
his contract in the midst of the cotton
picking season. The negro being fnan-
cially irresponsible, there is no recourse
tor the employer who has often sus-
tanned great losses as result of such a
condition of things. The growing abuses
of these contractual obligations on the
part of the negro laborers led finally to
the adoption Of the laws Furnishing Sc
rlously such violations of contracts, and
In some of the States the laws enacted
upon this subject were drastic and
tyranlcal in their nature. Moreover, un-
serupulous employers of labor have in
many cases taken advantage of these
despotic laws, to encourage the negro
to go into debt hopeless1y-for, as
rule, the negro only needs a little en-
couragement and he will voluntarily in
volve himself in debt to an extent which
will render it impossible, Under the
most favorable circumstances, for him
10 extricate himself for years to come.
Partly as a result of his own innate
dishonesty, and partly as result of the
of INSCRIPTIONS employ
ers, the negro, in some localities has
been virtually reluced to slavery, by vir-
Tue of the power which unwise labor
contract law places in the hands of TIN
men, Several convictions in
Federal courts presided over by such
Southern judges as Judge Jones of Ala
bama, Judge Speer of Georgia and 9TH
ers, have emphasized the vicious char
acter of some of these laws and will
doubtless lead to notifications and
thereof While the EN-
oloyer ought to he given all reasonable
protection, yet the laws looking to that
end ought not to be of such a nature
IS to violate the Constitution of the
United States and to debauch both the
aborer and his employer. Yet this has
undoubtedly been the tendency of some
Of the labor contract laws to which at
ention has been directed by these Fed
eral prosecutions. i
But at recent term of court held at
Savannah, Ga, Judge Emory Speer, in
al able charge to Federal grand jury,
delivered the following utterance, which
will excite general interest not in the
South alone, but throughout the coun-
ry. Judge Speer said:
i do not hesitate to declare that en-
forced labor on a local cfain-gang, i'm
,osed for an offense not amounting to
,rime, is involuntary servitude and
oeonage, in the light of the decision of
he United States Supreme Court, no
natter what the State law or the mu-
licipal ordinances on the subject may
,e.' -....
So far as we can see. from the stand
ooint of laynan, there does not appear
Q be any escape from Judge Speer's
conclusion on this subject This opin-
on the judge justifes by most power
'ul and convincing review of the legal
md moral aspects of the question, pre-
ented in a lucid and scholarly manner
md backed up BY apt citations from the
tatutes and the decisions of courts.
The Constitution of the United States
,eing quite explicit in its prohibition of
Involuntary servitule save as a punish
nent for crime, it is quite likely that
he charge delivered by Judge Speer
will cause shaking up Of the statutes
q many States.
II is probable that there are few
;tates in the Union in which there are
lot laws, either State, county Of munich
a, providing for the punishment Of
laisdenneanors By work in the chain
I.n nl fhe rock Pile 81 ii some otler