Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-10-20
HUMAN SLAVERY.
Government Has Its Hands Full in
 Examinations Now,

Examinations Now.
 Washington, Oct 20.-Two forms
 of human slayery--one essentially
 vicious and the other differing from
 the first only in degree of degrada.
 tion-;-are attracting the official at.
 tention of two of the great govern.
 ment departments. The bureau oi
 immigration of the department oi
 commerce. and labor Is Investigating
 the importation into, this country oi
 Chinese women for immoral pur-
 poses and the department of justice
 has instituted informal inquiries into
 the alleged practice of peonage in
 Florida.
 It is almost incredible that human
 slavery should exist in this great,
 free country, but official investiga-
 tion has disclosed the fact that it
 does exist in most revolting formal
 most within the shadow of churches
 and government buildings. Despite the utmost vigilance on the part of
 immigration officers, hundreds of
 Chinese women have been smuggled
 into the country, particularly on the
 Pacific coast, during the past few years. By few Americans they are ever afterward seen. They are held as prisoners in underground rooms, are rarely if ever. permitted to see the light of day and are the slaves, body and soul. of the masters who bought and paid cash for them. Prin- cipally in. San Francisco, but to a considerable extent in all of the Pa cific coast cities Chinese slavery Is practiced. In every respect 1t is far more cruel and reyolting than negro slavery ever was in the south. He
 roic efforts are being made to stamp it out, but little progress is being made. The conflagration following the earthquake in San Francisco re- vealed much that, prior to that time, had been merely matter of sur mise. Some of the wretched crea- lures were roasted alive in their un- derground prisons; others were cap tured by the authorities and since have been deported; built is believed the majority of them yet are held in the awful captivity of their masters. Coincident with this situation in the far west. condition has been de- veloped in Florida which has induced the governments officials of justice to sit up and take notice. The story brought to Washington by Miss Em- ma Stirling of Tampa, Fla, secretary ,of the Florida Humane association, concerning the practice of peonage in that state already has been circu- lated widely. The cruelties endured by the victims of the practice, it is, said, are quite .unimaginable. Oddly enough, the men who suffer, these icruelties generally are white and most of them are from The north. They are induced to go to the lum- Der and turpentine camps by the of fer of high wages. Once there, they are afforded no opportunity to es- cape. They are. guarded like. felons, herded together in miserable bar racks, locked in cells at night, given as little food as will permit them to exist and beaten if they dare to com plain or fail to do their work. It is charged that some of the companies which are the beneficiaries of these practices are financed by northern capitalists. .,,5oe n, ,,,-es, s,.r.-
 This is not the first. time the, ma tional government has interested it. self in peonage practices. About three years ago the whole country was aroused by revelations concerning slavery and peonage in Alabama, Georgia and some other southern states. Under the federal law some convictions were secured of those guilty of the crime and the best peo- pie of the south aided President Roosevelt and their. own local au- thorities in purging the states of the evil. Governor Jones of Alabama did much to eradicate the system from his state. Ittwas his ac- tivity in the peonage cases which resulted later in his appointment to the federal bench by President ....
 The situation in Florida, if re- ports of 1t are to be trusted, is far the worst ever disclosed. It is ex- pected that the investigation. now in progress will involve not only minor local officials. who have been con. nivfng quietly at the practice of peonage. but will reach men higher lp' who are backing big southern development companies. A paucity 1f labor in parts of the south has in- iuced them to resort to the practice 'f peonage and their yielding to is likely to get them into serious trouble. a'NV