The condition
of the colored man in this country is practically that of an outlaw. He is
scarcely thought of as having rights. He is distinctly told not to insist
upon his rights, but to do his duty; that rights will come as the result
of duty well performed. This is in effect to say the laws, the customs,
the institutions, which protect and defend other men are not to be invoked
by the Negro when in his opinion he needs them. A large group of men who
are looked upon after this fashion is at the mercy of any group of men who
enjoy in full vigor all that the institutions and government of their
country stand for. Therefore, it is not unusual to find that, without any
law at all, large numbers of laborers are restrained of their liberty in
quarters and in stockades, guarded by men who carry guns and deadly
weapons, and though having been convicted of no wrongdoing, are kept in
the condition of ordinary criminals. The report of the Attorney General
for the year 1907 contains a list of eighty-three complaints of peonage
pending in the Department of Justice. These complaints come from every one
of the former slave-holding States, with the exception of Missouri, and
since the publication of this report cases of peonage have been found in
that State. In view of the testimony afforded by the laws on the statute
books of the States, the decisions of the courts, the reports of the
Department of Justice, and the testimony of persons whose character is a
warrant of its truthfulness, the practice of peonage is exactly
coterminous with that portion of the territory of the United States in
which the institution of chattel slavery formerly existed. When we
consider the historic fact that the public opinion of the States embraced
in this territory has never considered Negroes as having rights which any
one is bound to respect, and that this public opinion has been active in
opposing the conferring of all legal rights upon Negroes, and has never
ceased to exert itself to divest them of such rights as have been given
them, it can not be wondered at that, while slavery no longer exists in
this country as a legal institution, it does exist in the opinion, the
sentiment, and the practices of the people. It is difficult to determine
how extensive the practice of peonage may be or how many victims may be
held in its prison house. On this point, Assistant Attorney General
Russell says "We have discovered cases of peonage and others have been
brou