The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-05-24
BY C. T. CARPENTER

when these poor people are pressed
TO the last penny to live. In the
grim struggle for bread. the tax is
forgotten and with it the right to
vote is lost
When a major political contest is
involved, however, the landlord
often pays the poll tax for his ten
ants and charges it to their account,
but requires them to vote for his
candidate. Since he can give or
withhold food, clothing and shelter
it is natural that these people regis
ter his will by their vote.
1000 Potential Voters
To appreciate the full political
significance of this system let us
consider the case of the landlord
who has 5000 acres in cotton. This
acreage requires 500 sharecroppers.
If each cropper is married and of
age, there are 1000 potential voters
on one farm, most Of them con-
trolled politically by one landlord.
AS a result, the landlords polit-
ical influence is increased a thou
sandfold, while that of the share
cropper is reduced to practically
nothing. This fact influences the
attitude of the politicians, officers,
legislatures and even the courts.
Under this system healthy self
government can not exist. In its
place are powerful and corrupt po-
litical achines-hateful and hated
oligarchies-operated and admin
istered by, and in the the interest
of, the landlords without thought
of the tenants who create the
wealth of the South.
System Is Explained
A few examples will illustrate how
the system operates:
/. AS to habitation. Laws have
been passed by which the landlord
may evict, at the end of the cotton
season, at his will or caprice, every
sharecropper on his farm. The
sharecropper has no remedy.
2. AS to education. The country
school has been practically aool-
ished. The landlord either lives in
town or his children can reach the
town school in a few minutes by
auto. But the Sharecropper and his
children live in the country, usually
on mud roads, without autos, with
out clothing fit to wear at the town
school. The result is the shocking
illiteracy of the cotton states.
3. AS to property. BY the statutes
the landlord has lien on every
thing the tenant grows, for the pay
ment of rent and supplies, and laws
have even been passed making it a
crime punishable with imprisonment
for sharecropper to abandon his
crop without first paying his ac-
count.
4. AS to security of person. Many
acts of violence and outlaWry have
recently been committed by plant
ers and their agents against share
choppers and their organizers. They
have been taken out and whipped;
their homes have been riddled with
bullets; three of them have been
shot; their meetings have been
broken up in violation of the con-
stitutional right of freedom OF
speech and assemblage. Not one
arrest has been made as a result of
these outrageS.
Arrests Are Framed"
Sharecroppers and their organiz-
ers, however, frequently have been
arrested and convicted on false and
framed charges. Justices of the
peace and mayors have convicted
and sentenced innocent men with
out regard for law or decency.
The moral and spiritual effect of
the sharecropper system is the sad
dest chapter of the story.
The development of moral and
spiritual strength, the building OF
character, is process dependent
upon the natural development of
certain functions of mind and body.
So fundamental are these that they
are often referred to as natural or
inalienable rights. So often have
they been written into state and ma
tional constitutions that they are
properly called constitutional rights
Fundamental Rights Denied
The simplest and most funda-
mental are the rights Of freedom of
speech, of assemblage, of security of |
home, person and property, and to
these should be added the right of
each child to a primary education |
To maintain the sharecropper
system these rights must be denied. !
When tenants have union meetings
their seapkers are arrested on charges
Of anarchy, disturbing labor, obtain
ing money under false pretense, OBJ
structing streets and alleys, bar
ratry, or any other far-fetched
charge; and when tried in justice
or mayors courts are promptly con-
victed.
AS a result of these conditions, the |
worst thing has happened that can
befall a people. Their spirit has /
been broken. The qualities of in
dustry and thrift, courage and self |
reliance, truthfulness and honesty, /
honor and virtue are gradually be- /
ing destroyed; and over this popula-
ton is settling pail of gloom and /
ignorance.
TomOrrOw-AAA makes plight
worse.