4 Matching Annotations
  1. Jul 2017
    1. By its end 5.4 million people were dead, a body count second only to the two world wars.

      I had never heard of this, but 5.4 MILLION. I suppose thats why they call it the modern world's greatest forgotten world, im astounded

    2. When a poor family comes looking for work, the quarry bosses are ready to help with an “advance” on wages to help the family settle in

      This reminded me of how many illegal immigrants are treated here in the U.S. today. It is very common for business owners to hire illegal immigrants that do not yet have their papers for extremely low pay. Because many do not have official papers of their own, they are often paid under the table and well below minimum wage. I believe many business owners see this and recognize it as an opportunity to save money at the expense of the workers.

    3. These young men understood that the fine and the debt were just a trick to enslave more workers, a ruse aimed at convincing workers that someday they might pay off their debt and leave.

      It's really disheartening to see that people are aware of injustices yet know there is little that they can do

    4. The number arrested and convicted was pretty much determined by the number of new workers needed by the mining companies or other white-owned businesses.

      This is vile. The fact that the # of African-Americans arrested was proportionate to the # of people that the white business owners needed to work for them very strongly suggests that whenever they needed workers they would just accuse an innocent man and thereby forcing him to work.