The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1875-06-10
COEUM7BI.A.S.C.
Thursday Morning, June 10, 1875.

AhofOor4D WdobESALEt EM1GRATION TO
LmER1A.-A pamphlet has been Slatelys
published by Mr.. Alexander G.. Murray,
of Georgia, advocating the removal of the
whole body of the negroes Of the United
States to Africa. The writer, who is q
prominent lawyer and m ardent sup
porter of General Grant, takes the ground
that the negroes are burthen to the
country, being totally deficient in
energy, foresight, economy and intel
lectual capacity. He asserts that the
best workers among the old negroes will
do no moro than sixty per cent. Of the
work they did as slaves, and the young
men not more than forty per cent. Of
what they ought to do. The losses by
stealing before the fruits of the earth or
animals can be brought to maturity aro
so great thnt it discourages the raising of
vegetables, fowls or stock. Mr.. Murray
apprehends the abject impoverishmcnt
of both whites and blacks whenever the
latter equals or nearly equals the former.
To remedy this state of things, he pro-
poses that all the negroes should be
shipped off to Africa, country which
+'God made to suit the negro" where the
spontaneous productions of the earth
supply him with food, and where the
climate is so warm the year round that
the transported freedmen will have no
need to buy clothes. A more impraoti-
cable suggestion was never made. Con-
ceding the desirability of removing the
negroes in the United States to Africn,
will Mr.. Murray inform us, pertinently
inquiries the Baltimore Sun, how it is to
be effected2 Let us suppose, in the first
place, that they decline to go, which is
very reasonable supposition. How does
Mr. Murray propose to deal with them in
that even9 Is there any power in Con-
gress toiorder and compel the departure
from the country of any class of its in
habitants, not to say citizens. not con-
victed of crime? We have had the expe-
rience Of the long existing colonization
societies of the country to prove to us
that but limited number of the colored
race born and reared on this continent
are disposed to make the venture of
emigration to Africa, either for their own
or the good Of the race in general. Why,
then, should it be expected that the
negro in this Wholesale way would want
to 60 to Afrita?i What opening is there
for such numbers? What business could
they engage in? Supposing, however,
that there were inducements in Africa
for the emigration of the black race from
this country, how would they 90, Mt
whose expense, and how long would it
be before they were oil gone? There are
100000 of them at least in the United
States, In the last fifty years 1900, 600
of Europeans have come to this country.
This is an enormous influx, but it has
been stimulated by the unheard-of de-
mand for labor here, the vastness and
variety of our natural resource, the
penury OF the European masses, the at
fractions of free government, and the
indomitablc enterprise of the European
races. They came, too, mt their own ex-
pense, spread over a great length of time
No Government on the face Of the earth
could, in limited period, have paid the
cost of such IN exodus, even if it had
been willing to do so. The negroes of
the United States have no means of theft
own to emigrate, and the immense ex-
pense of the wholesale emigration would
have to be borne by the General Govern
ment. Does Mr.. Murray think this
practicable, especially with such na-
tional debt rs we now have? If they are
burden to the country now, when they
produce by their labor the most valuable
OF its exports, what would they be if the
country had to pay their way to Africa,
especially if their place as laborers is
not properly supplied? Making all ren-
sonable allowance for what is stolen, it
is bnt drop in the bucket comnnred
with the national wealth which they pro-
duce, even with their labor in disor-
gonized condition MS Mt present. There
is no country in the world which has
labor better adapted to it's section or pro-
ducts, if properly regulated. than the
South has in its negro population. While
the North and West are ransacking the
earth for workingmen, the South has
them in abundance for the cultivation of
its leading staples. What would become
of this cultivation if the negro laborers
could be suddenly shipped of at once to
Africa? Where would the men come
from to SuOp1y their ,,locouo Wa Ioo1