Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-08
SERVICE OF COOLIES
Involuntary Servitude on the
Canal Works Unlawful.
Gu RRENT PRACTICES
EXAMPLE OF BRITISH COLONIES
MAY NOT BE FOLLOWED.
Opposed to the Prohibition of the Con-
neutrality-suspicious. of
Eight-Hour Law.
CURRENT PRACTICES

Upon the request of the executive COM
mittee of the Panama canal commission
the Attorney General has given an ex-
haustive opinion upon the subject of the
employment of coolie labor upon the canal.
He says:
Your request does not refer to me any
question of policy expediency but only
leads me to consider the effect upon labor
on the isthmian canal of the thirteenth
amendment to the Constitution of the
United States, the first section of which is
follows:
- Neither slavery nor involuntary servi-
tude, except a punishment for crime
whereof the party shall have been duly con-
victed, shall exist within the United States
or any place subject to their Jurisdiction
Practice of Coolyism.
1T is stated that the commission pro-
poses to import oriental aliens under con-
tract to perform labor on the canal The
condition of such laborers is not necessa-
rily one of involuntary servitude, but it
may be and, in fact, usually is a condition
of involuntary servitude, limited in dura-
ton. This is clearly shown by an exam
ination of the relation of the laborer to his
employer, which has come to be described
as coolyism in the various parts of the
world where 1t exists. A description Of
typical case of coolyism will illustrate the
applicability of the principles 1 have stated
and indicate the danger to be avoided in
the employment of contract labor in the
construction of the isthmian canal. 1 in
Vlte your attention to description of it
where it exists with its best safeguards,
under the control of a humane enlightened
nation"
The Attorney General then quotes from
me encyclopedia Britannica a summary of
the law in India, where the coolies are re-
crulted for the British West Indian Is
lands. The ordinance regarding the immi-
grafton and treatment of the coolies en-
acted in Trinidad and Tobago is also de-
scrlped. The Attorney General says:
Conditions of Service.
L entertain no doubt that the condition
describe in this ordinance is that of in
voluntary servitude, and not the less in
voluntary servitude because the contract of
service in which the laborer submits to the
conditions prescribed by the ordinance was
entered into freely and voluntarily. and
under careful public supervision Under the
provisions of the ordinance the laborer,
curing the agreed term of his service is
not free laborer. He does not choose the
work IN which he is to engage. He must
reside or a plantation, which he cannot
leave without permission. If he absents
hlmself from work without lawful excuse
or refuses or neglects to attend at the sne-
clfc time and place for the performance of
work, or to begin finish any particular
work which he is directed to perform he is
punishable by fine Imprisonment If he
Is an habltual idler he is liable to imprison-
H-ent II he deserts his plantation he is
liable to fine or imprisonment or both
tor many other offenses specified in the
ordinance he may be imprisoned and il
is expressly provided that the times dur
ing which he is imprisoned shall not be
included in the time which he has agreed
to work, with the result that by the onera
IInyl
law specifically to work the full time upon
winch he has agreed. He is, while thus
heiu 10 compulsory labor, in a condition
o. involuntary servitude.
The Constitutional Prohibition.
In the employment of labor upon the
canal the utmost care should be taken to
exclude the conditions which have been
lfialcated as those of involuntary servi-
tude or any other conditions of like effect
or tendency. This care should be eyer
cised not only in making the contracts To
which the United States is a party hut
IN scrutlnlzlng the contracts, usages and
practices between those who agree to fur
nlsh contract labor to the United States
and the laborers themselves What ruIas
regulations, officers and inspectors NAV
De needed IN order that the employment
OF labor may not be violatiye of the thir
teenth amendment NAV well he Jeft 70
the discretion of the commission"
The Eight-Hour Law.
The Attorney General has also given his
opinion that the eight-hour law applies to
mechanics and laborers, whether paid nv
Gay, month or year. ION the other hand"
he says the statute applies only to those
persons who may fairly come within the
description of laborers and mechanics. Pc
yond these general statements it is impos-
slble for me, consistently with the we'll
established rules governing the giving of
opinions by this department, to go, In an
sWerlng your first question"
Inc question was whether the law an
pHed 10 that class of employees whose sery-
ices are necessary before and after the
regular hours of work in order to enable
the ordinary mechanics and laborers to rem
der eight hours service
II is believed that the commission will
nave no difficulty in determining in each
case as 1t arises whether the empIoye is a
Iaoorer or mechanic. or whether his duties
are such as to warrant some other desis
nation OF his employment
Inc Attorney General holds that the
elght-hour law does not apply to laborers
ana mechanics in the employment of he
fanama railroad and steamship line. as
they are not employees of the United States
government