The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1909-05-13
SHOULD VACATE
JAIL SENTENCE
THIS is THE OPINION OF THE
SOUTHERN ZIMMERMAN I'M
THE CASE OF MANAGER w. S.
HARLAN OF THE JACKSON LUM-
Der co.

Der co.
The Southern Lumberman, publish
ed at Nashville, ia its last issue.
says editoIially:
The action of the United States SUI
pTeme court in denying writ Of GER
tiorari in the case of w. S. Harlan,
of the Jackson Lumber Company.
LockhaTt, Ala, charged with peonage,
ends the litigation and leaves in force
the action of the lower court, i'm
posing a fine of $4,000 and a sentence
of eighteen months Imprisonment in
the Atlanta penitentiary. Unless exc
cutive clemency is interposed, both
the Jail sentence and the fine will
stand.
By every man familiar with the
facts of the case, this punishment
will be regarded as far too drastic.
1t is to be hoped that executive Gle
mency will be interposed. The law is
INDICATED in the conviction secured.
and to pay the fine would be an am
pie punishment The attorney gen
eTal for the supreme court says that
the facts upon which the sentence O.
the lower court rests are established
by cloud of witnesses. Even il this
be so, in the view of every just and
faiT-minded man, there were extern
uating circumstances which greatly
ameliorate the moral guilt.
Labor conditions in the South at
the time the offense was committed
were peculiarly vexatiOus to every
man engaged in business and trying
to do something. Unable TO secure
at home at any price the labor ne
cessary to carry on operations, and TO
conserve enormous Investments. many
lumber manufacturers and others re-
sorted TO the expedient of going to
Northern and Eastern cities and of
entering into contract or agreement
with the idle and poveTty-stricken
denizens of the sIums. To bring these
people where profitable, pleasant AMI
healthful labor at good prices could
be furnished them would look like an
act for the common good, rather than
the beginning step OF crime.
In many cases the experiment prov
ed disastrous. The employers mis-
judged the men whom they secured.
They were hOOdlumS and gUtteT-Tats,
men who did not want work at any
price, but were merely playing for
their expenses to be paid for iaunt
South, where the winter climate
would be more in line with their ideas
of comfort and ease. When they az
TlNSG at IQe Mill or factory, their
only idea was to escape from the
agreement, to take the road as tramps
and to live off the country without
money and without price. This is not
true of every man brought down.
But it is true of a great many. There
IS no doubt about it. These men
were, Of course, without financial or
property possibilities. What legal
steps could be taken to hold them
TO the agreement and to make them
work out the expense money advanc-
ed? Absolutely none. Here is where
the employers were led into tn infrac-
ton o. the law. Without reference to
the particular case under discussion
the details of the evidence of which
we have not now before US, and which
have passed from mind, but with only
the general aspects of the matter in
mind, many of these employers were
tempted into the exercise of force in
the assertion of what was justice
and right. 1t was not lawful, nor
10 be eXcused-The Southern Lum-
herman will never raise its voice in
the defense of any lawIess act-but
it was human nature, an intensely
human error.
The case of Mr.. Harlan is one where
justice should be tempered with mer-
Cy. The Jail sentence should be va
Gated. The fine will vindicate the law
and ample justice will have been &C
complished.