New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-01-05
THE TR0UBLE TIE SOUTH.

Certain contested elections from SOutncln
States will presently come before Congress.
At the same time, hundreds OF Southern jour
mails, noticing the very large immigration OF
the past year, and many other facts which the
annual statistics disclose, will lift up their
voices to bewail the lack of immigration to the
South. 1t may not appear to them that the
statistics and the political contests have any
connection. But they have, nevertheless.
Immigrants come to this country by the hun
dred thousand yearly. But they do not settle
at the South. For loEg time we were told this
was because Of slavery, and III part 1t was.
Then slavery was removed but we were told
that carpct-bag misgovenment and excessive
taxation did the mischief. Possibly that was
also true to some extent But the local govern
ments so intensely hated by the dominant class
at the South have been swept away. Govern
ments established by white Democrats have
reduced taxation so far that scarcely single
Soutern State pretends to pay the whole OF its
debts Reasons are given, it is true, for
scaling" and compromising Indebtedness, or
for refusing to pay; it is not to the present pur-
pose TO inquire whether they are sufficient
The fact remains that enormous debts have
been put aside, not TO be paid, and interest has
been reduced, rightly or wrongly and taxes
have been cut down until the average rate at
the South is far below that of the least pOpulous
and wealthy Northern States. And still, immi-
grafton does not come. The latest census shows
that ont of 6,677, 800 inhabitants of foreign
birth. only 334 09j are found in all the thirteen
States south Of the Ohio and Potomac line, and
more than One-third of these, l14,5l6, are
found in one far Southwestern State, Texas.
Even that State had larger proportion of for
cign- born residents thirty years ago than II has
now As for the rest, less than 100000 in
twelve of the farest and most fertile States of
the Union they constitute less than J. per cent
of the population.
The impulsive SOutherner does not lack
reason. He asks himself the cause of this
strangely persistent avoidance of the Southern
States. Is it because those States are M
lealthyY Not at ALL for immigrants settle in
vast numbers in parts of the Northern States
where the death rate is highest. Some portions
of the South are sought for recovery of health
by invalids from all over the country, and
many portions are notably healthy. Is it be-
cause the soil is poor, or the natural resources
scanty No one knows better than the South
ern citizen that this cannot be the cause. In
fertility unsurpassed ny any land in the coun-
try, vast tracts at the South lie unOccupied, or
are offered almost as gift. Is it because there
is not opportunity for diversificatiOn of indus
try On the contrary, vast quantities of the
very best coal and iron in the land may be
found in many parts of the South, and the facil-
tiles for many kinds of manufacture, particu-
larly of cotton, are unsurpassed. Is 1t because
capital is lacking to develop the resources of
this region? SO it was said ten years ago.
But decade Of enormous prosperity to agri-
culture, IN nearly all its branches, has now
passed. The producers of the South have rev.
elled in the greatest crops ever known, and
the census will show that they have accumu-
lated a vast amount of wealth. Still the re-
sources remain undeyeloped, and the westward
march of the great army of immigrants turns
never toward the Southern States.
No, brethren of the South, the cause is pre-
cIsely that which sends host of Southern cases
to the Committee on Contested Elections. The
difficulty is in yourselves. You have not