depends
upon the laws governing property in labor. Here the industrial problem
widens out into the social problem.

There are four variations in the treatment of labor as property in the
United States, each of which has had its peculiar effect on the
character of immigration, or has grown out of the relations between
races. They are slavery, peonage, contract labor, and free labor. Under
slavery the laborer and his children are compelled by law throughout
their lifetime to work for an owner on terms dictated and enforced by
him. Under peonage the laborer is compelled by law to pay off a debt by
means of his labor, and under contract labor he is compelled by law to
carry out a contract to work. To enforce peonage and contract labor the
offence of "running away" is made punishable by imprisonment at forced
labor, or by extension of the period of service. Under freedom the law
refuses to enforce a contract to work, making this an exception to the
sacredness of contracts, and refuses to enforce the payment of a debt
by specific service. This leaves to the contractor or creditor the
usually empty relief of suing for damages. The significance of these
varying degrees of servile, semi-servile, and free labor will be seen in
the following discussion of the social relations of the superior and
inferior races.

In the entire circuit of the globe those races which have developed
under a tropical sun are found to be indolent and fickle. From the
standpoint of survival of the fittest, such vices are virtues, for
severe and continuous exertion under tropical conditions bring
prostration and predisposition to disease. Therefore, if such races are
to adopt that industrious life which is a second nature to races of the
temperate zones, it is only through some form of compulsion. The negro
could not possibly have found a place in American industry had he come
as a free man, and at the present time contract labor and peonage with
the crime of "running away" are recognized in varying degrees by the
laws of Southern states. These statutes have been held unconstitutional
by the Supreme Court,[79] under an act of Congress passed in 1867, but
the condition of peonage which they contemplate is considered by many
planters as essential to the continuance of the cotton industry. One of
them, in southwestern Georgia, a graduate of Columbia College, with five
years of business training in the Northern states, is quoted in an
interview as follows: