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 In the communities of Osprey and Venice, during the enumeration of the 1910 US Federal Census, there are two turpintine camps mentioned. In the camp located in Osprey it appears the owners leased out state and county prisoners for labor. This leasing system of convicts was very common in the southern part of the United States. These prisoners were incarcerated at these camps and the only supervision they had were by the company foremen. They were treated and lived under horrid conditions. An outcry by concerned citizians were heard by state legislators and the leasing of state convicts was ended in 1919. The leasing of county prisoners ended in 1923. *Note - on the census the enumerater desrcibes these men as "convicts" under the heading of "Relationship of this person to the head of the family" The camp in Venice it appears used a different kind of system for obtaining cheap labor. This system was called peonage or forced labor. Here the employees lived in isolated labor camps and were forced to purchase inflated priced goods from their employer. Between this practice and shady bookkeeping, the companies would keep their employees in debt to them at all times. Debt peonage laws required debtors to work off their debts and made it unlawful for them to leave the employment of their debtors. *Note - on the census the enumerater describes these men as "head" under the heading of "Relationship of this person to the head of the family" You'll also notice that not all of the laborers lived at the camp.
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