The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1913-01-24
Convict Leasing
System Given
a Hard Jolt
CONTINUED from page one)

its long period Of depriyations. 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-
ton. hatred OF the whites and mis-
guided notion Of his new position hav-
ing started the erstwhile slave on
series Of crimes and misdemeanors that
threatened another great war--one in
which the pent-up passions of race ha-
tired would find full sway. The South
was bankrupt and crime was never be
fore 80 rampant. So when the sugges
tion of a 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 rule,
Of the type who represented the worst
of the former slave owners. He looked
to the business end Of the transaction.
It was cheap labor he secured for the
plantations and turpentine camps. He
paid the state from 800 to 5000 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
save him. It was cheaper to make
him sleep in his chains in 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
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
net profit Of $225,000. Vain hopel
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-
4 if, county solicitor, bailiff, court clerk,
I 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 ut the expense of the helpless
convict. Sorry fatel 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 rat'
in private camps was double that in tn,
county gangs. And in the face o.
J these facts, the perpetrators wer'
shielded and saved from indictment b,
} machinery that knew nothing of jus
, tice but to pervert it.
In some of the counties Of the South
ern states, Justices could sentence mel
convicted of misdemeanor to hare
labor for a period not exceeding twelv
. months In many of these courts tn
! charge was never proven. Poor, il
literate, withut knowledge of the work
ings of tho courts, without the mean
! TO employ counsel, the unfortunate ne
$ gro was at the mercy of the system
S He went out to a fate worse tina
I death, for, in all probability, Their
r would be no end to his sentence. Sue
was the outrage Of Justice committe
4 in these courts that the offender Nigh
|. well imagine the sign above the door
p Gan hope abandon, We who ente
here He left the court bound flo
place beside which Dante's Intern
was paradise When his time of pun
a ishment was up, his employer provoke
4 fight between him and brother cor
Wet and both were Immediately haule
a before the justice and melted out a me-
twelve-month sentence. Thus the La
a was satisfied, the public protected, tn
contractor and the state enriched.
$ Again, planters needed help. 1t wa
r simple matter to go out and captur
8 pair Of burly negroes, haul them b
fore the justice and register the charg
e Of debt against them. What ehanc
d had the negroi The practice was con
mon among planters and it was sin
Pile matter to retain the services of th
captive, for as soon as his fine ha
e been worked out new charge wa
+ brought against him, witnesses wer
{ produced TO prove his guilt, the ser
n tence was repeated and the unfortunat
/. negro expiated his imaginary crime I
the profit of the planter. A fine Q
/. $50 was often imposed for a trivial OF
: Tense. The planter paid the fine an