Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1911-12-07

| throughout the lumber region of Maine
| that any laborer was liable to imprison-
| ment who refused to work according to
| the provisions of his contract until he
| had settled for all advances, no matter
what misrepresent atoms may have been
| made to induce him to enter into the
| agreement. The contract labor law has
! become club which the foremen and
| superintendents draw upon the laborers
who refuse to go to work or to continue
| at work. II q man leaves his employer
before settling for advances he Will be
pursued and apprehended, or someone
will telephone to the constable, who viii
arrest the laborer. He VIII then be
| brought before the justice and sent down
the river to prison; or If he consents to
| labor until he shall have reimbursed for
all advances and the fine and cost OF the
prosecution the employer will settle with
| the court and constable and will take
| the laborer back into the forest. No
| doubt many of the laborers never attempt
to escape, although they may consider
| that they have been basely deceived
about the conditions of labor"
So it Is seen that while 1t is popularity
supposed that most of the peonage in the
| United States Is in the southern part Of
! the country, 1t Is a fact that New Eng
land Is far more negligent in this re-
spect than are any of the States south
of Mason and Dixon's line. Hence we
have merely another illustration of the
inaccuracy of public opinion which,
founded as it Is on newspaper reports,
errs exactly as those reports are exag-
gerated or false. It Is a curious thing
that the investigation by the United
States government into this peonage
question was started because of the re-
ports of conditions in the South which
had appeared in magazines and news
papers. Two southern congressman
whose pride and honor would allow no
imputation Of this kind. founded or un-
founded, to be made against their native
States were moved by the current
charges to introduce resolutions into the
national House to have them investigated.
1t was not thought possible at that time
that peonage could exist anywhere else
in the country, and so the resolution
directed the immigration commission 10
look into the treatment and conditions
{ of work of immigrants on the cotton
: plantations of the Mississippi delta. In
t the States of Mississippi and Arkansas
and upon the turpentine farms. lumber
camps and railway camps in Florida
1 Mississippi. Louisiana and other States
1t is interesting to note that the phrase
r and other States'' was inserted as ar
afterthought in order to avoid the APP
pearance of scctionalism. But the irony
Of fate willed 1t that more peonage wa:
I discovered In the other States" than il
5 those parts of the country where it wa:
5 supposed to flourish most luxurantly.
Peonage, of course, was found to som,
D extent in the South. but not to the OK
tent in which 1t still exists in Maine
The most fragrant case discovered was
2 in the State of Arkansas. There the i'm
migrant was first arrested as a vagrant
! a very easy charge by the way, to sus
tain against a man looking for work
I convicted on this charge before a jus
' tice OF the peace. and sentenced to pay
fine Of $40 and costs. There was added
to his sentence. without any authority
in law whatever, the expenses and thu
! mileage of the constable who came t.
the town where he arrested vel
as the expenses and mileage of both the
: the place of arrest to the convicts farm
I Arrived at that institution the lessee
: paid to the county where the arrest tool
place a certain portion of the fine anC
e costs, but held the prisoner to work on
both the legal and Illegal expenses q
1 the rate of seventy-five cents a day. Th'
$ prisoners were kept on a bond, herdet
I together with no special arrangement.
TlaN or.
locked into the building from Saturday
" night to Monday morning. Despite the
t fact that during week days they were
: beautifully employed out doors there was
a good deal of sickness among them
. They were guarded when working by
n TRUSTEES" armed with shotguns The
, men were sometimes whipped and other
wise ill-treated.
o Exactly what constitutes peonage is ar
interesting question. According to the
decision in the Clyatt case peonage is d
status or condition OF compulsory ser
e vice based upon the Indebtedness of the
l neon to the master The basic fact l.
/ Indebtedness" Now this Indebtedness:
$ can be secured in various ways, We
r have seen how it is secured by the iuin'
II bermeu's agents in Boston Another
method is tnat or Wnlcn lnc -Alh'tliSeis
II case just quoted is an excellent illustra
: ton And with the different definitions
a | of peonage there have gone differen
methods of breaking up the practice. IT
i the North as we have seen, the law has
II done more to encourage pconage thar
= to discourage it. But in the South where
$ many of the victims have been imm
/ ! grants sent from New York city by thu
= gross misrepresentation of local labor
t AGENTS. the United States district attor
:, news have been vigorous and successful
u In their prosecutions. Legal talent ha
. worked to break up whatever tendencl
i there was toward peonage in connection
with the aliens, and the fact that jurie.
IN the South will convict even in case
of technical peonage unaccompanied b!
brutality would seem to indicate tina
: offences against laborers are not per
United there to the unpublished eXten
= .kht they are allowed IN Maine
Z POISON OF RATTLESNAKE
~