The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1906-12-07

East and West, has its own faults; no
section can with wisdom spend its
time jeering at the faults of another
section; it should be busy trying to
amend its own shortcomings. To
deal with the crime of corruption it
Is necessary to have an awakened
public conscience, and to supplement
this by whatever legislation will add
speed and certainty in the execution
of the law When we deal with
lynching even more is necessary. A
great many white men are lynched,
but the crime is peculiarly frequent In
respect to black men, The greatest
existing cause of lynching is the per-
petration, especially by black men,
Of the hideous crime of rape-the
most aboninable in all the category
of crimes, even worse than murder.
Mobs frequently avenge the commits
sion of this crime by themselves tor
turing to death the man committing
it; thus avenging in bestile fashion a
bestile deed, and reducing themselves
to level with the criminal.
Capital and Labor.
In dealing with both labor and cap
ital, with the questions affecting both
corporations and trades unions, there
is one matter more important to re.
member than aught else, and that is
the infinite harm done by preachers
OF mere discomfort These are men
who seek to excite violent class hat.
red against all men of wealth. They
seek to turn wise and proper move
ments for the better control Of cor
porations and for doing away with
the abuses connected with wealth, in
to a campaign of hysterical excite
ment and falsehood in which the aim
is to inhame to madness the brutal
passions of mankind. The sinister
demagogs and foolish Missionaries who
are always eager to undertake such
campaign of destruction sometimes
seek to associate themselves with
those working for a genuine reform
i'll governmental and social methods,
and sometimes masquerade as the
reformers. In reality they are the
worst enemies Of the cause they pro
fess to advocate, just as the purvey
ors of sensational Islander in news
paper of magazine are the worst
enemies of all meA who are engaged
in an honest effort to better what IS
bad in our social and governmental
conditions.
Railroad Employees Hours and Eight
Hour Law.
/ call your attention to the need
Of passing bill limiting the number
of hours Of employment of railroad
employees. The measure is a very
moderate one and / can conceive of
no serious objection TO it. Indeed, 50
far as it is in our power, it should be
our aim steadily to reduce the num-
Der Of hours Of labor, with as a goal
the general introduction of an eight
hour day. There are industries in
which it is not possible that the hours
of labor should be reduced just as
there are communities not far enough
advanced for such a movement to be
for their good, or, if in the Tropics,
50 situated that there is no analogy
between their needs and ours in this
matter. On the Isthmus Of Panama,
for instance, the conditions are in
every way so different from what
they are here that an eight hour day
would be absurd; just as it is absurd,
so far as the Isthmus is concerned,
where white labor can not be employ
ed, to bother as to whether the neces-
sary work is done by alien black men
or by alien yellow men, But the
wageworkers of the United States are
Of so high a grade that alike from
the merely industrial standpoint and
from the civic standpoint it should
be our object to do what we can in
the direction Of securing the genera,
observance Of an eight hour day.
Employers Liability.
Among the excellent laws which the
Congress past at the last session was
an employers liability law. 1T was
marked step in advance to get the
recognition of employers liability on
the status books; but the law did not.
go far enough. In spite Of all precau-
tions exercised by employers there are
unavoidable accidents and even
deaths evolved in nearly every line
Of business connected with the me-
chanie arts. This is inevitable sacri-
foe of life MAJ be reduced to a mini
mum, but it can not be completely
eliminated.
Investigation Of Disputes Between
Capital and Labor
The commission appointed by the