The broad ax., 1925-05-30
coRoLFUL NEWS MovIEs'
BY: The camerman
/ Oh Lord, How Long7
2. Railway Mediator Appointed.
8 Peaceful Politics.
4 Colorgrams.

8. Peaceful Politics.
a. Colorgrams.
Whipped on his barred back with
bludgeons, brutally SCARED with in
struments Of extreme cruelty, intim-
idated with threats Of instant death,
'framed-upH on theft charges, cheated
from his due wages, and defrauded
in food purchases are a few Of the
experiences Of George Diamond, a
Negro worker in the turpentiue
camps Of the Pensacola, Florida, dis
trist, now a witness in the Govern
ment's case Of peonage against FIVE
soulless employers. on trial last week
in the United States Court. The ex-
periences Of Diamond and his fellow
workers make a New York third
degree" seem like a Heavenly dream.
They even make the life Of slave On
a Spanish galleon, centuries ago be-
fore Democracy had made much
headway, seem like a vacation outing.
To know that in America, the land
of the free and the home Of the brave,
such uncivilized acts are still in vogue,
It Is but 70 know that there Is 20
much yet undone in civilizations on
ward march.
The beast that is within some men
is still mocker of Love and Justice;
and the Iaxity that prevails in Florida
and its sister southern states in the
preservation Of law and order, where
Negroes are concerned, is still a
mocker Of the customs Of the United
States. Has Florida a competent la
Dor inspection staff which has any SEM
blance Of regard for the Negro work
er? Does Florida still yearn for the
lash and the baying Of bloodhounds?
Is Florida statehood asleep that con
donation Of peonage is open and no.
torious? Are there not enough red
blooded men Of pride to stamp out
the parasitical practices Of unjust en-
ployers, themselves too lazy to work
and too dishonorable to pay others
Just hire for their labor.
AS Napoleon once said: Good God,
How rare men are" We wonder how
he would feel in the midst Of a
Floridian peon camp. Sympathetic
and thoughtful employers. even in the
South, have realized, particularly dur
ing the last decade, that their own
preservation depends, more than any
thing else, upon humanization Of their
conduct towards labor. Upon the
majority Of them the dawn has broken
that i'll treatment Of labor, like chick
ems, always comes home To roost.
The black mans qualification in the
South has exacted the heaviest toll
in sectional progress that this coun-
try has ever seen; and it has been
only recently, since Northern capital,
believing that the South has under
gone a change of heart, has lent its
aid to southern industry, that the
South has begun to recoup its losses.
But, the peon camps Of Florida and
Georgia are again making deep sores
in the Southland, and unless it's we'll
wishers and well-doers can stamp out
such inhuman storehouses Of torture
the South cannot hope to march for
ward. How long peonage practition-
ers can live and thrive in the South,
apparently no one but God Almighty
knows; but how long southern states
will continue to pay the price which
uncivilization always exacts from its
proponents depends upon whatever
quickening spirit Of justice there vet
remains in section Of the L. S. A..
which continues to lust the body and
soul Of the suffering black men and
women within its borders.
c. Cornelius Webb. trusted EN-