--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 31 number: 11 published: 1928-09 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, “The Slave Trade Renewed,” *Improvement Era* 31, no. 11 (September 1928): 967–968." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera31011unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera31011unse start_page: 967 end_page: 968 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1928-09) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera31011unse publication_year: 1928 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1928, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Slave Trade Renewed The Slave Trade Renewed One can hardly conceive of a practice more inhuman than was the slave trade as it existed in this country less than four score years ago. Beginning with the Dutch ves- sel which, in 1619, brought to Virginia the first ship-load of African slaves, fortunes were acquired by heartless men who made it a business to entice or force negroes aboard their vessels, and, unmindtul of family tics, brought them to this land. Children were torn from parents, husbands and wives were separated, and all because some conscienceless men could make money out of this detestable traffic. Pathetic stories without number could be told of case9 where father or mother or children were "sold down the liver." The slave had no future. Naturally his lot in some cases was not so hard as in others. Many masters were kind-hearted and con- siderate, but the blacks, nevertheless, re- mained in oppressive bondage. American readers would be startled were they to see in one of the big dailies that a ship-load of slaves had just been landed in New York harbor. Startling though it may be, that is precisely what did happen not long ago. Furthermore, that is exactly what is happening nearly every day. The slaves, it is true, were not black. Neither force nor falsehood was used in persuading them to come aboard. They were citizens of this or other lands who come and go at will and acknowledge no man as master. Many of them were wealthy; practically all were in comfortable circumstances, but according to their own confession, a large number of them were slaves. The follow- ing incident will illuminate this point: A gray-haired lady and a maiden of ten- der years were occupying chairs on the liner's deck. Both were smoking cigar- ettes. The older lady said, "My doctor has positively ordered me to stop smoking, if I value my life, but I absolutely cannot do it. If I were you I wouldn't let smok- ing become a fixed habit." The young lady laughed, took another "draw," and said, "Oh it's already that; I simply could not live without my cigar- ettes." Of course the slave-driver. Nicotine, is not equally severe with all his bondsmen. Some are treated with a measure of con- sideration, as were many of the blacks of the South, though they still remain slaves: but many are, so to speak, torn from their families and "sold down the river." Simon Legree, the "villain" in Uncle Tom's Cabin, was no more insistent and merciless in his demands upon his slaves than are nicotine and some of the stimulants so com- monly us«d. In this case, too, boys and girls, men and women, are being exploited that a few may make money. In the dining room of the steamer herein referred to, where several hundred persons ate at one sitting, many smoked while the stewards brought their orders; not a few did so between courses, and a very large number at the conclusion of the meal, des- pite the fact that some women and children were on the verge of seasickness and were nauseated by the offensive odor of tobacco. But those slaves could not help it. They were driven by their taskmasters, and acknowledged their helplessness. The paradoxical and pitiable thing about the whole situation is that those who are thus chained hand and foot, as com- pletely enslaved by their habits as was th.' black man by his owner, have the poten tial strength to break the bands if they but would. The following is from a sermon by Brigham Young: "I have frequently said to my brethren and sisters, if they cannot live without tea, coffee, brandy, whiskey, wine, beer, to- bacco, etc., they can die without them. This is beyond controversy. If we had 968 IMPROVEMENT ERA the determination that we should have, we would live without them or die without them." It may be thought that comparing the use of tobacco with negro slavery is to in- troduce an anti-climax into the argument; but the cigarette, "insignificant in size but with gigantic power, is today causing more real misery in the United States than was endured by the four million negroes at the time of their emancipation. Joseph Smith suggested a practical and comparatively inexpensive solution of the negro slavery problem — the purchase of the slaves with funds derived from the sale of public lands, — but he was ahead of his time and his plan was not accepted. Through him a solution of the other forms of slavery here referred to was offered to the world — simply the non-use of the en- slaving article. This plan, also, failed to meet with popular approval. After the na- tion had given blood and treasure in stag- gering amounts to free the negroes, thought- ful men realized that Joseph Smith's plan was one worthy of a great statesmen. These other slavery problems are costing precious lives and treasure, also in stagger- ing amounts, and thoughtful men of the nation are beginning to look upon Joseph Smith's views on this point as basically sound. — C. Measure of Men Out here in the West, on the world's high crest, Where you call your neighbor friend, And a kindly deed to a man in need, Will a lot of faults amend. Though your hands get rough and your face gets tough, From buckin' the wind and rain, And your denim's thin, or it needs a pin Where it couldn't stand the strain. Though your old blue shirt is grimed with dirt, And your hat's behind the styles; When your laugh rings out with a lusty shout, You kindle a thousand smiles. Sigurd. Utah If you see the skies you must raise your eyes, And straighten your shoulders back. While your clean red blood like a surging flood, Goes pulsing along its track. You accept the dare as your lungs take air, (To refuse is a western sin) And your thoughts soar high as the arching sky, Enriching the soul within. IRVIN L. WARNOCK