The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-11-06
By a Woman Detective Sent Out
-. By the Government
MAKES QUEER REPORT
She Says Labor Conditions Here Are
Worse than Slavery. and That We
Are Trying to Dupe Innocent For
eigners to this Part of the Country
) , to Hold Them in servitude, all of
Which Is Untrue.


The Washington correspondent OF.
The News aud Courier sends this
queer tale to his paper:
Declaring that all through the
Southern States negroes by the hum
dreds are held slaves IN stockades,
that peonage is a common occurrence,
and that the whole scheme of immi-
grafton Is planned to dupe unsuspect-
ing foreigners and to get them into
the cotton fields and the mills ofsthe
South, where they will be, held in
servitude. Miss Mary Quackenboss, a
special attorney Of the department Of
Justice, has fled with the department
a sensational report, after having
made an alleged investigation of la
Dor conditions III the South. - n
Some time ago Attorney General
Bonaparte decided that 1t would be
a good idea to send a woman investi-
gator through the South to make a
personal inspection Of labor condi-
lions. Miss Quackenboss was chosen,
and after. spending two Or three
months In North and South Carolina,
Alabama and Mississippi she has
made her report. She has fled with
the department Of Justice what she
calls an abundance Of evidence tend
ing to prove that labor conditions in
the South are intolerable and worse,
If possible, than they were at tie
time negroes were freed. ~
It is understood that Miss Quack-
enboss is very pessimistic az to the
success Of the movement that has
been started to divert immigration in
that direction. This view is based
upon the fact that as alleged immi-
grants have been alarmed through
learning about peonage cases disclos-
ed in the South, aliens and negroes In
several. instances having, Il Is dec.ar-
ed, been captured on various pre-
texts and held In stockades IN a con-
dition bordering on absolute slavery.
Another obstacle to immigration
to the South. she says, is the wages
paid to laborers and mechanics there.
It is reported that wages in the North
are from 40 to IS per cent. higher,
and that unless there Is a change In
the attitude Of Southern employers
both in the wages paid and in the
treatment Of aliens, Il will be- diff
cult to induce immigrants to go to
the Southern States.
The general question Of imrnigra.
ton is touched upon In passing by
Miss Quackenboss, who devotes the
major portion Of her report to a dis
cussion Of peonage cases in the Caro-
linas, Alabama and Mississippi. 1t
is understood that she advises the
Attorney General that conditions r
bad in several localities notably in
the Sunpyside colony in Mississippi,
which was established for Italians.
She reports that 1t Is nothing more or
less than a large plantation, and that
the Italians who live there are very
much dissatisfid with their envivon-
ment. '... '...
While Miss Quackenboss declines
to talk about her visit to the South,
and the officials likewise refused to
discuss her report, there Is reason to
believe that she has made a report
that is startling in many particulars.
Why the department Of Justice
should have chosen a woman to make
these Investigations is not yet dis
closed The report is undoubtedly
badly colored.