Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1913-01-24
Convict Leasing
System Given
a Hard Jolt
( Continued from page one)

under the guise of accomplishing uni
versal good. The South was sick from
its long period of deprivations. Crime
was increasing, for the crafty were
quick to take advantage of conditions.
The new problem of the negro stared
them in the face, ignorance, supersti-
tion, hatred of the whites and mis-
guided notion of his new position hav-
ing started the erstwhile slave on a
series of crimes and misdemeanors that
threatened another great war-one in
which the pentup passions of race ha-
tired would find full sway. The South
was bankrupt and crime was never be-
fore so rampant. So when the sugges-
tion of new servitude for the Grim
inal negro was presented, the South
seized upon it and the convict-leasing
system was established.
The condition thus imposed upon the
negro was, in many respects, worse
than slavery. His master was, as a rule,
of the type who represented the worst
of the former slave owners. He looked
to the business end of the transaction.
1t was cheap labor he secured for the
plantations and turpentine camps. He
paid the state from $100 to $500 per
year for each prisoner and the state
cared little what became of him. The
prisoner was taken far into the will
derness, was chained to his fellow,
made to work from fourteen to twenty
hours day and then prepare his own
supper at night. Doctors were expen-
sive and convicts were. cheap. So it
was cheaper to let the sick convict die
than to secure medical assistance and
save him. It was cheaper to make
him sleep in his chains in a stuffy
room without windows than to hire a
guard to keep him from running away
at night. 1t was cheaper to make him
fry his own scant piece of bacon over
a smouldering log in the chill night
wind than to provide cook and a
comfortable shelter.
AS time went on and the system was
perfected, sheriffs, justices and juries
became part and parcel of it. When
the five-year contract was made in
Georgia in 1904, by the terms of which
hundreds of prisoners were turned over
to contractors, the newspapers flared
before the public eye the intelligence
that the state would be the richer by
a net profit of $225,OOO. Vain hope!
A review of the history of the system
shows that in later years the state re-
ceived very little of the amount paid
by the contractor. The county got no
money until the sheriff, deputy sher-
iff, county solicitor, bailiff, court clerk,
justice, constable and other officers
had each received his share. All the
political machinery stood in with the
contractors, who were, in some cases,
members of the legislature. And this
with the knowledge that the money
was nothing less than blood money ex-
torted at the expense of the helpless
convict. Sorry fate Out of those
leased to contractors for five years
many never came back. In some of
the camps one out of every four per
ished-killed by the heavy toll. by the
fever of the swamp or by the cruelty
of heartless masters. The death rate
IN private camps was double that in the
county gangs. And in the face of
these facts, the perpetrators were
shielded and saved from indictment by
a machinery that knew nothing of JUS
tice but to pervert it.
In some Of the counties of the South
ern states, justices could sentence men
convicted of a misdemeanor to hard
labor for period not exceeding twelve
months. In many of these courts the
charge was never proven. Poor, il
literate, withut knowledge of the work
ings of the courts, without the means
to employ counsel, the unfortunate ne
gro was at the mercy Of the system.
He went out to a fate worse than
death, for, in all probability, there
would be no end to his sentence. Such
was the outrage of justice committed
in these courts that the offender might
well imagine the sign above the door:
"All hope abandon, We who enter
here" He left the court bound for
place beside which Dante's Inferno
was paradise. When his time of pun
ishment was up, his employer provoked
fight between him and brother con-
Wet and both were Immediately hauled
before the justice and meted out new
twelve-month sentence. Thus the law
was satisfied, the public protected, the
contractor and the state enriched.
Again, planters needed help It was
simple matter to go out and capture
pair of burly negroes, haul them be-
fore the justice and register the charge
OF debt against them. What chance
had the negroi The practice was COM
mon among planters and it was sim
pie matter to retain the services of the
captive, for as soon as his fine had
been worked out new charge was
brought against him, witnesses were
produced to prove his guilt, the SEN
tence was repeated and the unfortunate
negro expiated his imaginary crime to
the profit Of the planter. A fine of
$50 was often imposed for a trivial Of
fense. The planter paid the fine and
carried off the offender to work it out
A