The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1907-08-23
CAUSES TRGugl- /.
EEthis Farmers Meet, aid aid Mist Mist Have
Some Relief.

Some Effective Law Must Be Passed
10y the Legislature to Enforce La.
Dor Contracts.
The labor question is being dis
cussed from n end Of the State to
the other, and the recent occurrences
over In the Fork near Norway are
figuring extensively in the discussion.
following letter from Columbia
to the Augusta Chronicle will give
some idea of how the question is re-
garded in all parts Of the State:
Federal Judge Brawley's decision
Knocking out the South Carolina la.
Dor contract law continues to cause
trouble In the rural districts with
that large class Of negroes with whom
the big stick of a Jail sentence has to
be used to Inspire proper. regard for
contractual obligations. And though
1t is confidently hoped that the far
mers will pull through the present
season without violence between the
races, and that Legislature will next
spring enact some effective relief
measure, there is constant danger in
various parts of the state Of very
serious clashes ove conditions that
the decision has brought about. The
killing of Constable Valentine in Or.
angeburg county n few weeks r
followed by the narrow escape from
lynching the negro had with all but
a rior occurring among several far
mers gathered at the inquest in a
general quarrel about farmers en-
couraging negroes to jump their con-
tracts since the decision; and half
a dozen other killings Of negroes by
white men In widely separated sec
tons of the state, + but nantes
tatiOns Of how the danger spots are
showing up.
The effect of the decision has
spread with amazing rapidity even
among the most ignorant negroes
The scramble Of unprincipled farmers
for help has perhaps played q more
important part in getting the negroes
informed than the publication in the
newspapers. The result is that the
mean negroe has become infinitely
more insolent, and since he has got
ten it into his head that Uncle Sam
has espoused his cause his proneness
to violence has become more marked
There is no danger for the present
of calling into service the dreaded
Ku-KluX-Klan, but farmers are free.
ly talking Of taking matters into theil
own hands by means of communit,
bands. to stop negroes whom they
have kept from want for food and
Il r1nthjnp th.npuh fhn uyfpSo, f,Dn, T.,
%solently refusing to carry out theii
contracts to work out their debts ant
and spending the time getting drums
and raising rows. OF course there
has been abuse Of the law on the part
Of some farmers, who have cheated
tho negro and kept him in long ser.
vitude after he had fairly discharged
his debt; but these are rare instances
The great mass of South Caroline
farmers have no disposition to op
press the negro, but they are insist
ent, some of them to the extent OF
taking the law in their own hands
that he shall have tho same respect
for his written contract as others arc
required to have. When the Orange
| burg farmers chose q spokesman tC
tell the crowd in very emphatic Ian
guage that they did not propose to
stand for the acts OF certain white
men in encouraging negroes to juml
their contracts or tolerate such con
duct on the part Of the blacks, law OF
no law, they gave expression to ;
feeling prevailing in many countie:
in the State. Your correspondent
gathered his impressions not onl.
from visitors to Columbia, but from
personal interviews with farmers II
half a dozen counties recently.
"Wo've got to have relief, ant
promptly, or we L coming before
the next legislature in mass and de
mand it, said ~Penitentiary Director
j.. O. Wingo, an extensive farmer ant
former member of the house from
G~reenville county. "Therc Is goinf
to be serious trouble If we don't &c
it,"
Just what sort Of law should BIZ
enacted that will stand the test has
not so far been definitely outlined
The question will be treated a
length in Governor Ansel's message
next spring, though just what he vii
recommend, he himself does not seen
to have determined as yet. One aug
gestion is that a thorough and effcc.
tive rural police system be estab-
lishcd for the purpose not only OF
Kidding the rural districts Of the ne
gro criminal but of driving the idle
to the chain gangs as we'll. Some far
mers advocate hiring these convicts
to farmers and others, as was form
|erly done with ~penitentiary convicts;
but these sort Of contracts were much
abused, and 1t is not likely that the
legislature will ever again go back to
this system.
One very hopeful sign in the pre-
SEN situation is the healthy growth
OF public sentiment against abuse of
the negro. Thcsuperstition that 1t
Is dangerous to punish a white man
for brutal disregard Of o negro's
rights is rapidly passing.