The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-27


 that this isNthe prevailing sentiment any where, but that it should exist at all IS a gross and baseless slander upon a brave and high-mnded people. Only re- gently the supreme court of the United States declared invalid certain portions of an Alabama statute making it crime for man to enter into a contract to perform services, obtain advances upon the faith of it, and then break it without just cause or good excuse, having neither at the time of execution nor afterward any intention of fulfilling it's obligations.
 Result of Decision
 This decision was heralded by a pfomi- nent newspaper in Massachusetts as over throwing a peonage law In Alabama. This law had been upheld by our courts upon the familiar power the state was supposed to possess to punish fraud. l am not to be understood as criticislng the highest court in the land. This l dls- claim Whatever may have been our preconceived notions, we bow in submis- sion to that high authority Our people have always entertained great respect Tor that tribunal We are not unmindful or the fact, or ungrateful in it's recollectloh' that in more than one instance, the SUI preme court has protected us in the en- joyment of our rights under the constitu- tion You do not, however, need 10 DC l 1eminded that the dissenting opinion, sus- taniinz the Alabama law, was written by Mir Justice Holmes, who comes rom Massachusetts, and who was himself a union soldier. While we accept In the proper spirit the decision Of the court you will let me, l am sure, call attentloh briefly to the practical results 10 loiio", to state the attitude of my people, as conceive it. when this law was enacted.
 A bor Ia " has been tnXOk eu alike by white and negro employers as the only remedy for the wrongs or a shiftless and vagrant class or laporers D. I say this from a personal experiehoe as a prosecuting attorney Tor SIX yeais in county where the blacks in some rural sections very largely exceed the whites, ten-fold even, in numbers. will be indulged the statement tha' the emasculation of this statute, aim ing only to punish fraud and not .o imprison for debt, will operate more harshly against the shiftless or Vagran' laborer than against his employer, Fms Is A fact familiar to those who know the situation and Is easily accesslpie to those who honestly seek the truth "In conclusion. l want to say thd' in the pursuit of industry and mate rial nrosperity. the people of this sec ton have not abandoned In the slight est degree their love of liberty. They still have faith in a constitutional forn of government. wherein power Is helo in check and the individual man given the largest possible freedom. They be- lieve in a country like ours. stretching from ocean to ocean and rom iakes to gulf, embracing within its territory every variety of soil. climate and pro duction known to the temperate zone and including within it's population the representatives, or their descendants of practically every race of mankind each with different sentiments, tastes ambitions and interests that, out ol this heterogeneous mass there can De moulded and maintained homoge- neous whole only by remaining true to the principles upon which the fath- CTS builded this republic. And the chief cornerstone of the fabric Is in their opinion the recognition and up building of AA individual man, and this to be primarily, Ly his own char acter. his own foresight his own de. termination, his own resolute energy
 'This, then. MT. Chairman, is my word from the lower south. I have not conceived I needed to defend my people here and at this board. noi are YOU to believe either that l feai I shall be reckoned unmindful of my duty as @ guest in here defending the southc against aspersions. Personally I have owned that Maryland has its own appeal for me and I shall ado there are thousands of heart strings throughout my section of our common country that thrill with response te the name of your beautiful city. l takt 1t upon myself to bring greeting iron that section tv the Merchants an6 ManufactureIs association of Balti' more. 4ss