SLAVERY IN MEXICO.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVI, Issue XLV, 19 June 1911, Page 3

SLAVERY IN MEXICO.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —By the article in your issue of the 15th inst. on the subject, another instance is afforded the Socialist of noticing .the taixlv discovery by the pa-ess of to-day of the hideoiisnef« of the iore*ent competitive system. The "stair,tliriirr- revelations," with other equally "startling dittos." have appeared peatedly in Socialist journals for ma.iy years, and amongst other powerful exnonenti mav bp mentioned Mr Char'.cs Edward RuwelPs contribution,s to "Everybody's" and other n ion rival.*. It may be equally -sta.rt.linir to learn, that the Mexican f!ave driver can. be equa.l'ed. or even outdone, by his prototype in the Southern. States of U.S.A. Listen ! 1 am quoting (extracts) from the "C'o«n>or>oiitan Ma«nx,iiKb. 5. Marc-h 1907. "Slavery "n th" South to-day." a rrvr.latkm of axi : in Florida and other States, which rnako« possible the actual nils-laveiHent whites and blacks under Trust domination." By Richard Barry). Editor's note : "TJk-e an infamy- resnrrevtrd from tin' Dark ;i condition < f slavery exis-ts lo day, the

horrors of which woi'.id strain credulity were, thev not .sulk'tantni ted by most copious and exact facts. Jhe hoary institution of chattel slavery hag, reappeared in our day and generation to add its fresh budget to the suiie.rinigs and l crimes of centuries. . . Whites an.J blacks are to-day being indiscriminately held as chattel slaves, and the manacle, lash, bloodhound, and bullet are teaching thorn submission, without pa-rtiality to colour. . . . Industrialism long a.go began a system of slavery whereby the worker was squeezed' of his skill and vitality, and .then when he ceased, to be of use was thrown aside like factory rubbish. Was th'.s not a cheaper form than the old' sla v-e svsteni? . . . Yet this industrial

sla-ve.ry had its unfortunate drawbacks for the Corporations. There wavs the danger of Labour organisation, and the immiinonce of strikes. . . Eventually, however, they invented a chattel-slave system, the devilish cunning of which is a marvellous .product. The Constitution cf tine United States prohibits slavery (eve.rv State Constitution does the same), but now, at this very hour, an atrocious bloodthirsty system of chattel slavery exists in. manv of our Southern State. The Standard Oil clique, Flagu.s Florida Ea.«t Coast Railway Company, the Turpentine Trust-, the Lumber Trust, and others, have put in force a .system, of peonage which is actual slavery, and it .s done under legal sanction' of State laws—not direct laws—but by subterfuges, which nevertheless attain the end in view.'' Then fo'lows the article -of Mr Barry, of ten pstges. If you a.re sufficiently interested to print. I am sufficiently inter■e.t'i'd to loan you the magazine. Note. —This is the same C. E>. Russell who re: ently toured New Zea'and. and was referred to in your journal as a "radical labour leader" ; but who is one of America's widest- known and esteemed iouirnnilist*. and -is not a "Radical." but a declared ./'Revolutionary Socialist. I am. etc. J. B. HULBERT. 92 Hardy-street. Juno 16, 1911.