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230 SYSTEM OF SLAVERY. 



servant of the creditor till the debt is satisfied; 

 and, serving, as he does, at very reduced wa- 

 ges, his expenses for clothing, and other ne- 

 cessaries, but too often retain him in perpetual 

 servitude. This system does not operate, how- 

 ever, upon the higher classes, yet it acts with 

 terrible severity upon the unfortunate j 

 whose condition is but httle better, if not 

 worse indeed, than that of our Southern 

 slaves. They labor for fixed wages, it is true; 

 but all they can earn is hardly suificient to 

 keep tliem in tlie coarsest clotliing and pay 

 their contingent expenses. Men's wj^^ 

 from two to five dollars a month, and those of 

 women from fifty cents to two dollars; m 

 payment of which, they rarely receive any 

 money; but instead thereof articles of ap- 

 parel and other necessaries at the most ex- 

 orbitant prices. The consequence is that the 

 servant soon accumulates a debt wdiich he is 

 unable to pay — his wages being often en- 

 gaged for a year or two in advance. Now, 

 according to the usages, if not the laws of the 

 country, he is bound to serve his master untu all 

 arrearages are hquidated ; and is only cnablea 

 to effect an exchange of masters, by engaging 

 another to pay his debt, to whom he becomes 

 in like manner bound. 



As I have aheady remarked, capital crimes 

 and highway robberies are of comparatively 

 rare occurrence in the North, but in smalj^ 

 deUnquencies, such as pilfering and petty 

 rogueries of every shade and description, the 

 common classes can very successfully coxa- 



