The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1902-11-26
HARSH ON The NEGROES.
Ar. Thomas Dixon MsuId ExpeI
Them From the Country.

tSOAl Fl olls tsl0 GUGssts y.
Mr. Thomas Dixon, Jr., of New
York and Virginia, author Of ssThe
Leopar6,s Spots, y lectured in Balti-
more on Tuesday night on The New
America.
Mr.. Dixon is an extremist ON the
negro question and probably leads
the class of educated Southerners who
give expression publicly to their views.
That the negro must go is the consen-
sus OF his opinions.
- have knownt hem from the first
years ossmy life, y he said to report
er for she Baltimore News on Wednes-
day at the Hotel Rennert. My delib-
crate opinion Of the modern negro In
this country is that he is not worth
room in They will be driven
from the South just as surely as they
swarm that place now. Already in
Alabama there are several counties
where negro cannot set his foot.
This Is the way they viii be driven
ont. County after county will drive
them ont and white labor will be sub
ssituted in their stead. ] make the
statement Chat no farmer in the South
can make his farm pay with negro
labor OF the modern sort. ] have a
farm OF $50 acres, on the border lines
of Gloucester and Matthews coun-
ties, in Virginia, and I employed 100
negroes to work 1t in grain and
other market stuff. stroye and
strove with them, but I could do
nothing. ] discharged them all and
have turned to raising Polled Angus
beef cattle for the English market.
Now I work the farm with two white
men. The farm supported itself last
year, which it had never done before;
and next year, when my herd grows
larger, I expect to make q little
money out OF il. { can ship my cattle
from Newport News at the smallest
possible expense, for the Old Domin-
ION Line has pier upon my lawn,
as have mile of water front on
Mobjack Bay.
IS g There was one young negro with
whom I thought Icould do something
and I sabored with him for six
months, trying TO making good
farm hand out of him. He broke
three moving machines, costing $40
each, IN the space of two hours one
day on surface as level as this floor,
and discharged him. That night he
came back and stole S25 worth OF
harness out OF my harness room. My
neighbor hired him and kept him
three months. I suppose he is still
going the rounds.
There is no hope for the Southern
farmer until the negro is expelled and
white labor substituted. have
travelled recently IN Iowa, the richest
State, agriculturally, In the Union.
Their magnificent farms have been
brought to their high state of perfec-
tion by white labor There is not a
negro in the State employed ss farm
hand. These white men-Teuions and
Scandinavians for the most part-have
made the garden spot of the world out
of a desert. Throw wide open the
doors TO immigration, say I. Foreign
labor? Why, there g no such thing as
q foreigner in this country. We are
all foreigners MY people came here
40 years ago from Scotland: Some
other man came here SIX months ago.
That is all the difference.
ssThat brings me TO the snbiect Of
education, which is, beyond all
things, the cause OF the negro's worth
lessness. He is educated by the State
and then there is no place for him.
The educated negro does not wans TO
be farm hand or TO cook and nurse
and clean floors. BE wants to be a
doctor or lawyer or something of that
sort, at least 8 clerk. The Southern
man ssiH prefers negro as servant.
but il is the old negro he wants, not
the educated one. In % years there
viii be no old negroes !; they will be all
educated and then viii be the time
when there will be no place for them
IN the South. They must go, and go
thew surely will. There is too much
universal education anyhow, even
among the whites of this country. I do
not believe In It. 1t IS narrowing what
is known asi the working class Gown
further and further, and is the nniver-
sal breeder of discomfort. We must
have outside labor, We neee more
Immigrants, the places OF the drones
in the hive ruust be taken by workers.
Mr.. Dixon talked Of his farm and
his life there. We live in house
that was built 200 years ago. The
Mobiack Bay is beautiful sheet OF
water and the land thereabouts lis as
fertile as any in Virginia. ] have a
home in New York, but never go
there any more than can help. We
spend much Of the time on the water,
saking long trips. I am just having
NV Yacht fixed out for six weeks gun
ming trip in Broadway Bay, on the
Eastern Shore of Virginia. We all 60,
INV wife, my two boys, my young
daughter and tutor for the children.
The yacht is large. roomy bugeye
rigged schooner, with six state-rooms,
and was built at Pocomoke City. We
gun each day, according to the tides,
and the balance of the time We put in
inst as We wonld at home, the chill
dren studying with their tutor and l
working. Both of the boys shoot and
am now teaching my little girl to
handle her gun. We have three in the
crew. but sail the boat, and both OF
the boys help. I gun for six weeks
each fall and four weeks each spring.
Two years ago we were caught in that
L,, Il