The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1907-01-31
And Are Treated With Utter Disregard and Con-
tempt Says Governor Dawson
BY BIG CORPORATIONS OF THE STATE
Winners are Oppressed and Wronged and Cheated m be
Payment OF Compensation of Their Labor
characterises it as Robbery.

The following excerpts from tn,
special message of Governor. Wm
NJ. o. Dawson to the legislature in
regard to the Raleigh and Wyoming
County pconage cases and the
murder of two Italians in Fayette
county by a ''guard"s will make
interesting reading to those who
are not acquainted with the in
lqmtous ''guard" and private de,
tectlvo system prevalent in this
state:
In suming up the matter the Gov.
ernor says
AS to the Raleigh county case, it
appears that under contract with
the lumber company, which was
building Il railroad, a New York
Labor agency furnished the lum-
bcr company 26 men, the lumber
company agreeing to pay them
s1.5O to $1.65 per day, and ad-
vanced money to pay their rail
road fare from New York. When
these men came to Raleigh county
they became dissatisfied and start
ed to return. They were summar-
lily arrested and deprived of their
liberty. Probably they were de-
ccived by the labor agency, either
as to the kind of labor they were
to perform, or as the compensation
they were to receive, or us to both.
On paying back To the lumber
company the amount of their trans.
portation a part of the men were
:ls summarily released from arrest
as they were arrested. The men
were all charged with fraud.
Those who did not or could not paw
the money back, were imprisoned:
afterwards they went to work in
peonagc. The whole proceeding
shows an attempt to collect a
simple debt by durcss, which is
unlawful.
The Wyoming county case shows
that these contract. laborcrs are
held i'll peohage, guarded by armed
men, until they have paid back the
transportation money, and if they
escape they are unlawfully arrested
and brought back by no gentle
means, and sometimes by vicious.
cruel, lawIess men employed as
guards.
The Faycttey count case speaks
for itself. 1t looks like a cruel,
lcartlcss and wanton murder of
two men by one of these ''guards. -
The use of guards in this state
is not restricted to cases like these
we are considering. They are used
also at some collieries TO protect
property of the owners, to prevent
trcspassing, and especially to pro-
hlbit labor agitators and organizers
of the miners union from gaining
access to the miners. Every
man, of course, has the right
to protect his property and
his premises from trespasse1s. If
L trespass upon your property You
have the right to eject me; but it
IS your duty to warn me first, and
in no event to use more force TO put
me Off than is necessary; you have
no right to assault me and beat me
or to kill me. Many outrages have
been committed by these guards,
many of whom appear TO be vicious
and daredevil men who seem to
aim to add to their viciousness by
bulldozing and terrorizing people.
1t is submitted in all candor that it
IS not to the best interest of the
owners of these collieries to employ
such lawless men or to justify the
outrageous acts committed by them
A few months ago 1 was compelled
to parole from the penitentiary-
l had much doubt whether | ought
not to have given an unconditional
pardon-a young man who killed
one of these guards, in case that
had many, If not all, of the ele
ments of self-defe Sc. The en-
pIoyers of these guards make the
mistake it would seem. of uphold
ing them in such unlawful acts. AS
pointed out in my regular mess
age, men of property cannot afford
to disregard the law or to wink at
| its violation. A violation of law