The Monroe journal., 1916-12-15
no MORE RUNAWAY SAILORS

4 ~ tttt NTH "
the Sea by Mr.. Wilson Is Strik'
ing Forecast Of What Would Hap
pen il Freedom We're Tried Else
where@The Terror of the Run
/ away Sailor" When the Editor Wa,
Little Boy.
when the editor OF The Journal
was a little boy-a very little. boy
living in the country near a seaport
town. something happened which
struck terror to his mind - q
thing that he could not understand
at all then. could not even under.
stand when the running year:
brought him TO manhood. and never
fully understood until few years
ago when some men here and there
began to enquire why il was that all
wrong things seemed to remain
wrong in short. when the muck
rakers" began TO pry around and
start the great crusade that has al
ready uncovered and uprooted much
wrong and has set the ball in motion
So strongly that il will never stop
rolling till men are free and equal
and happy and so wise that they will
not stand for things that are wrong
simply because we have always had
them.
II was the cry of runaway sail
ors". II was said in our neighbor-
hood that many sailors had deserted
their ships and in fleeing from the
aw and the officers. had become dan
gerous to life and limb in the locali-
ty. As we scurried along the road to
schools and neighbors' houses we
quivered at every bush by the way
side. expecting TO see huge rough
men, clad in red shirts and cutlasses
and pistols, ready to spring out and
rob and carve up childish frames,
Men in the neighborhood locked their
smoke houses with double locks and
put two charges OF shot and powder
in the old guns that stood in the
corners. Just what the sailors had
done We could never understand.
OF course the older Cncs understood
but they never explained. They knew
that though sailors were white men
and tina wethen stood near ground on
which bloody battles had been fought
to free the negro slaves, these white
men were still slaves and had com
mitted no crime other than the leav-
ing of their jobs on the ships where
they had been beaten and starved and
shackled with irons and put in dun
geons. and could not help themselves.
because the law Of all nations. includ-
ing that of the United States. made
il crime for sailor TO leave his
ship except under such conditions as
made him a practical and actual
slave to the master. These men who
We're said to be lurking in our neigh
borhood were not seeking to kill us.
They had simply run away from their
masters and were trying 10 hide, But
the sentiment OF the time and the law
dubbed them criminals and our
supplied the rest.
And the same laws which existed
then continued to exist in this coun-
try till few months ago when
Woodrow Wilson signed the bill
which abolished ii and made the men
free as other workmen are free. The
story of that law and its effects is
told as follows by a writer in The
Public:
The gathering OF the American sea-
men at Baltimore in their annual con-
vention may serve TO remind some
persons that labor organizations are
not as useless as they had thought
them Because of the unique condi-
tions OF seafaring life, in which all
nations mingle. an effective union
has never been possible. But in spite
of this handicap the American branch
of the International Seamen's Union
has been the means of striking the
shackles literally shackles ~ from
the last remnant of enforced labor
in this country Under the able and
untiring leadership of Andrew Furu-
seth, assisted by such men as Victor
Olander of Chicago. and Walter Mac
Arthur of San Francisco. an educa-
tional campaign has been carried on
till the American conscience was
quickened. and Congress was induced
to give to seamen entering American
ports the rights enjoyed by other
men.
But Congress in giving to seamen
the right to quit their ship when
safely in port set in motion an in
fluence that extends far beyond its
immediate jurisdiction. For when
the law became operative that sailor
entering an American port was a free
man, having the right TO return with
his ship or not, II was felt in every
port in the world. and upon all the
high seas. Every captain and mate
in charge of ship headed for Ameri-
Ca knows that once he touches port
his control over his men will be lost.