The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1874-12-31

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yet palpably, useless and injurious feature
of our present system is the so-cal!eo
Department Of INN grafton and
Agriculture as at present constituted.
leave out of view the fragrant violation Of
the constitution which was perpetuated
by the joint convention Of the two houses
selecting one of their own body to fill
an office which, and the salary of which
they
HAD THEMSELVES CREATED.
leave out of view the equally fragrant
act of defiance to the constitution of which
the commissioner was guilty when he APP
pointed another member of the same body
to fill the office and draw the salary OF
Secretary to that Department. leave
out Of view the fact that a certain Circuit
Judge has given judicial appreciation to
these unconstitutional proceedings, and
that the Supreme Court of the State has
for political purposes lodged decision
upon them. / let all these notorious facts
pass for the present, and come directly
to the matter in hand; and that is the
useless and worse than useless, the utter
ly injurious and pernicious expenditure
of many thousands of dollars every
year merely to keep two or three almost
entirely uElettered colored men set up in
one of the rooms of this Capitol under
the false but exceedingly thin and trans
parant pretenSe that they are engaged in
immigration and agricultural enterprises
Far be it from me to detract aught from
the unpretending and inoffensive colored
man who for nearly two years past has
borne the title and drawn the pay of
Commissioner, or from any of the corps
of salaried attaches of his exalted ''de
partment. Much less, sir, would [ say
one word to the prejudice or disparage-
ment Of that worthy, patient and useful
race whose four hundred years of en-
slavement has but recently terminated on
this continent, and of whom our Com
missioner" is only an average and full
blooded specimen. But, sir, it is patent
to every man possessing even a grain of
common sense, and cannot be denied by
any one claiming the least modicum of
candor, that if any office has been or can
be created for which a man of color is
less fitted than for all others, that office
is the
HEAD OF THE IMMIGRATION BUREAU.
Let it be conceded, if YOU please, that
it is desirable to still increase the already
great disproportion between the white
and colored races in the State, and that
for this purpose the immigration Of blacks
to this State would be wise and beneficial
to all concerned Still, sir, it is self
evident fact that an illiterate colored man
cannot obtain or induce the immigration
of even his own race to this or to any
State with one hundredth part of the
success and facility that would attend the
efforts in that direction of competent
and capable citizen OF the white race.
But, sir, the migration Of colored people
to Mississippi is not now wise or hui
name policy, as regards that or the white
race, or as regards either immigrants or
the population white and colored already
here; for | believe that the salvation of
the lately emancipated people OF the
South depends and will continue to de
pend upon that people being scattered
and difused over the vast area of this en-
tire nation, so that they may become eye
witnesses and partakers Of the govern
m mt, the ant the rel gion and the civil
z ttiop of the Anglo-Saxon race. l would
not, with the lights before me, get clear
of any portion of our colored population,
nor discourage s, single individual Of that
race proposing to settle here. On the
contrary, | have always felt that the
whites of the South and of the whole
country owe to that unhappy people.
DEBT OF FRIENDSHIP,
protection and encouragement which
should be acknowledged aud paid to the
remotest generation. But, sir, it cannot
be doubted that what Mississippi now
needs more than all else is the pouring
into her borders of the intelligence, in
dustry, enterprise and capital of white
men, women and children from the -four
ishing States of the North and of Europe.
Their presence here, with their money
and industry, would do much to soothe
the aspelities and obliterate the bitter
memories which, though even now pass
ing away, still linger in the minds and
feelings of some Of the old residents of
both races But it is manifest that the
repulsion of white immigration and the
increase Of the colored has an opposite
effect Happily our first ''Commis-
sioner," now in office, has not endan
gered us in any way, so far as any re-
suits are concerned; for it is not proba
BILE that he has induced, or that if he
were to remain in Office for century,
he ever would induce one hundred per-
sons, white or colored, to turn their faces
in this direction.
But, sir, you and |, and every gentle
man on this floor, and the whole world,
knows that placing all the immigration
interests of the State in the hands of col
ored men alone, as has been done, is no
invitation to white immigration. Indeed,
if it is as much as to say to all the world,
''Stay away from Mississippi We want
no immigration except such as are repre-
sented into the person and department of
our Commissioner !" For these and many
other reasons, sir, submit that our pres
ent 'Immigra ton Department, though
Constitutional and legal, is a needless,
Improbable, and most mischievous ex-
penditure of a vast amount of money
every year; and if it cannot be promptly
and completely regenerated, and placed
upon totally different footing, it should
be promptly and completely abolished
And for this purpose also, the Constitu-
ton should, if necessary, he amended
And in this connection, wish to observe,
en- PEASANT, that the best Bureau of Immi-
grafton any State can have is a system
of sound and wholesome laws, faithfully
and impartially enforced, by honest and
capable public servants.
TO BE CONTINUED.
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