Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-06-06
BRUTALITY IN THE CAMPS
Laborers Leased to Practically IT.
responsible Contractors.
NO RESTRAINT OF EMPLOYERS
Complaint Made by White Workmen
Who Have Gone From the North.
Charges Against Flagler.
BY WILLIAM +. CURTIS


Peonage in the south is serious mat
ter, although the extent 10 which 1t exists
has been greatly exaggerated and the en-
deavors of the special agents of the gov
eminent to earn their salaries and show
their zeal have caused a general misap-
prehension of the situation. The number
of prosecutions and convictions for this
crime does not correspond with the re-
ports of the men who have been sent out
by the Department of Justice to make
Investigations They have not been able
to obtain evidence to sustain their
charges. But that is often the case. The
experience of the Attorney General and
the Secretary of the Interior as to the
reliability of their inquisitors into various
forms of fraud against the government;
and violations Of the Revised Statutes has
taught them that very small flame
sometimes causes a very large smoke, and
smoke is not tangible in a court of jus
tice. The Investigations of peonage have
resulted in the disclosure of several afro
ciouS cases of human slavery, but the
greater number of the charges has been
based upon hearsay or false testimony.
The same story has been made to answer
for a number of cases If told with varia-
tons of location and detail.
There are various forms of peOnage and
they exist here and there in different
parts of the south and in different forms
and for different reasons. 1t Is not true.
as many people believe, from the sensa-
tional stories that have been told by gov
eminent agents and indignant travellers
that the practice is common in every
community. The crime is more general in
the turpentine and lumber and phosphate
camps than anywhere else. and it occa-
sionally appears on ordinary plantations.
where it cannot be prevented SO long as q
wicked law authorizes the courts of
Georgia to sell to the highest bidder the
labor Of persons convicted of petty Of
lenses and crimes
Leasing the Convicts.
There is no penitentiary in Georgia !:
there are no warehouses;; no prisoners are
kept in the jails. but at every term of
court persons who are convicted of Of
lenses for which Imprisonment is the
penalty in other states are sold as slaves
to whomever desires that kind of labor
and the money goes into the public treas
ury. These cOnvicts are leased, as II
is called down here, to any one who Is
willing to pay. And other persons who
are convicted of offenses punishable by
fine are leased to any person who Is
willing to pay the fine and permit the
prisoner to work out the amount at a
fixed rate of wages.
yond. the lawful period because OF the
avarice Of fhe lessee or the ignorance
OF the victim who has no one to advise
or protect him or look after his interests,
but is left entirely to the mercy of the
man who has paid his fine and bought his
labor.
Humane. conscientious and intelligent
people down here will argue that this sys-
tenn. like the practice of working police
court offenders in public chain gangs In
the streets, is very much better for the
health and the morals of the prisoner
than to lock him up in a cell or to lease
his labor to a manufacturer within the
walls of penitentiary. as Is done in the
northern states. They claim that the
leased convict lives in the open air. is
well fed and is taught the value of labor.
and undoubtedly that is true In certain
cases. But these benefits depend entirely
upon the character of the lcSsees and. as
a rule. men who will lease convict labor
because they can get it cheaper than free
labor are not likely to be humane or con-
scientious.
No Restraint on the Employer.
The actual cost Of convict labor is very
much below that of free labor, and for
that reason many planters hang around
the courts to get an opportunity to
lease" a convict or two. and the obliga-
ton to treat them humanely cannot be
system of surveillance. In slave times,
when human beings had a fixed market
value, the owner fed them and sheltered
them and cared for them just as he did
for his horses and mules because If they
lost their health or their lives he would
be the sufferer financially. Under the
convict system these conditions do not
prevail. The death of leased" laborer
releases the lessee from further payment
Of charges to the state.
fvr,n v{0t- t. l..
gangs to work In turpentine. phosphate
and lumber camps. or in railway construc-
ton, and the terms of the contract re-
quire the lessee to feed clothe and treat
them properly. He is also responsible
for preventing their escape. and If a con-
Wet gets away he is required to pay the
expenses of the pursuit and recapture of
the fugitive. That stipulation naturally
leads to a great deal of unnecessary con-
-finement and cruelty. As a rule. gangs of
leased cOnvicts are cruelty treated. par
ticularly in phosphate mines and turpen-
tine camps in Florida. 1t is a common
saying that Il five years lease is equlva-
lent TO a death penalty.
This form of peonage is authorized by
law and il will be continued So long as
the cruel statute remains in force There
have been Spasmodic attempts TO repeal
it, but such legislation would involve the
expense of erecting penitentiary and
local WorkhouSe.
Complaint by White Workmen.
The greatest degree of complaint comes
from laborers who have been shipped
from New York. Philadelphia Baltimore
and other northern cities to work on
railway construction. in the lumber
camps. on the plantations, truck farms
and among the fruit orchards of the
south Their services are procured
through employment agents, who are
guilty Of gross misrepresentation in
describing the nature of the employment,
accommodations, wages. etc. These
agents receive a commission on every
laborer they ship and therefore 1t is to
their interest to ship as many as are
needed. And when their victims reach
their destinations and discover the truth
they are naturally indignant and discon-
tented and desert In search of better en-
ployment as soon as they have an op-
portunity. The employer. on the other
hand. having paid their travelling ex-
penses from New York or Philadelphia
and having paid q fee to the agent who
sent them down, naturally takes every
measure In his power to prevent them
from deserving him until they have earned
enough to reimburse him for his advances.
The convict class are almost exclusively
coiored. The imported labor is almost ex-
clusively white. and being unaccustomed
as soon as the latter secure their release
they go straight to the nearest official au-
thority and make complaint of the treat
ment they have received. They are sent
to the district attorney and are often
taken before the grand jury. and indict-
ments are often found upon their testi-
mony. But there is nothing to keep them
date of the trial. so that they seldom ap-
near TO give testimony in court and no