The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-09-04
COLUMBIA, s. G.
Saturday Morning, Sept. a, 1869.
The Subject OF White Immigration to
tho Cotton States c"nsideresl-An Inn

RoEtAhk NAc"s f' 'ff-'
Labor and immigration are the two
great questions now agitating the public
mind at the South. The local capital of
the South being fnr in excess of its pre-
sent supply Of labor, the want has to be
supplied either from the North and from
Europe or from China. In this article,
we propose to consider the chances of
Northern and European immigration to
the cotton States. And first, let us con-
slider what light history throws upon the
subject. What hitherto has been the
course of Immigration in these United
States? Wequote from the special cor
respondent Of the New York World
This well-informed writer says:
t'It is matter of record that the set
tiers of New England did not set out for
the wilderness of Plymouth Rock, but
meant q more Southerly course, and
would never have landed where they did
but for the rascally devices of faithess
sea captain. Even ut that early day
enough was known of the New World to
know that the Virginia shore was better
than the Mcinage of Cape Cod, and
4AOLA UAuu tlLu0 UP Ou6 bIhCCS VI u ike
preference are quite distinct. When the
one could not claim priority over the
other on the score of slavery, and slavery
consequently had no deterrihg influences
on the course of immigration. That
course was then Southwark, along the
line of the Atlantic coast. The Indian
power was unbroken in the North west,
and few dared to face it. With the In
dian, then, thus repelling from the West.
and a peaceful country inviting to the
South, it is NOT surprising that the Eu-
ropean or Northern immigrant bent his
way in the only safe and pleasant direc-
ton that seemed open to him. In the
debates OF the convention which ratified
the Federal Constitution on behalf of
the State of Massachusetts,, there are re-
ferences to this course Of immigration
at that early day, aud in the convention
debates of Pennsylvania some like allu-
sions. Still the immigration was but
light, the country was not over-inviting,
and but little was known about it. In
about tho second decade of the republic
the whole course of immigration was
changed. The Indian power was broken
in the West. and the cotton gin invented
in the South. These almost contempo-
raneous events at once put immigration
under reversed conditions. BY the over
throw of the Indians the West became
safe place to go to, and not that dark
and bloody ground Kentucky had been
made ut first. By the invention of the
cotton gin, and the consequent invigora-
ton of slavery and rise of the big planta-
ton system, the South became an unde-
sirabie place for men of limited means;
whereas the West had heretofore re-
PEELED, it now invited; whereas the South
had invited, it now repellea. The course
of immigration changed in accordance
with these new conditions, and for more
than half century tho tide has been
steadily to the West"
He then goes on to suggest the rea-
sons why the tide may now change to-
wards the South, and remarks:
''The absorption of the public lands
by swiudling monopoles, which hold
them ut enormous figures, the crowding
of the Indians. by aggression from the
Pacific coast Eastward, and from the
borders West, into narrow limits where,
from scarcity OF provision, they must
necessarily become very troublesome,
the increasing difficulties of transporta-
tion to o market, whereby cereal crops
are not unlrequentiy great loss, are
some of these considerations which may
perhaps tell unfavorably on the West.
Concurrent with their appearance is the
restoration OF the old revolutionary in
ducement in immigration in much of the
South-good wheat and corn land in
small farms and reasonable rates, a coun-
try undisturbed by any possibilities of
savage warfare, about the most whole
some climate in the Union, and good
proximity to market"
1t does not, however, he thinks, fol-
low that these advantages are to be en-
joyed by the cotton States, to the same
extent, as by the border States. For this
opinion, the following reason is given:
'In the first place. tho signs are that
the great bulk of the agricultural labor
in the cotton regions is destined to be,
for many years, as exclusively negro as
ever before. 1t is all stuff to soy that
the negro is dying out. The birth rate
is not as high with the race as it was in
slavery, but it reaches figure that for
bids any idea of speedy extinction. 1t
may be even question whether, like the