The Atlanta constitution., 1903-09-14


The scarcity of farm labor he attributes
to 1.-The natural tendency Of the laboring
classes to drift to the cities and to the
exodus of white agricultural labor from
the fields to the cotton mills" This refer
ence to white labor seems to justify the
assertion Of Richard H. Edmonds, OF Bal
timore, in recent paper that the Whlte
laborer has become every year more iii
portant and the negro less important as
a factor in the production OF cotton.
"Eyerywhere throughout the SOUTH says
Mr. Edmonds, except III sections similar
to the Yazoo delta, the amount of cotton
raised by negro labor in proportion TO
the whole crop is steadily declining
This being so, the withdrawal OF white
labor from the plantations TO the mlis
and factories is serious matter. 1h
North Carolina according to a sober re-
port by prominent citizen of that state,
nearly 10000 people nave left farms to
go into cotton mills and other manufac-
turing plants" and $4,000 more have left
farms to so into factories, such as cotton
seed oil mills. saw mills, furniture fac
tories" etc This diversion of labor from
the farms he assumes. extends to ether
cotton states, and his assumption is sup
ported by the Georgia farmer we have
quoted.
Both of these writer's reach the corr
clusion that further development of cot
ton production is dependent on hndlnB
a new element to take the place OF the
labor diverted to the factory, but they
differ as to tho element to be sought
and obtained. The Georgia farmer sug-
gests Chinese coolies" Give us the
Chinese" he says. land not only will the
fields they cultivate blossom and bear
fruit. but the value of their industrious
example will be felt by other labor, black
and white" He recognizes that the Chi
nese exclusion law stands in the way,
but he contends that it was made at the
dictation of politicians on the Pacific
slope" and that in the interest of the
south it's prohibition ought to be relaxed
to the extent at least, of "giving us the
right TO engage Chinese labor. even II
there is a limitation to farm labor Open
the door to coolie immigration and the
productive capacity of the southern states,
he predicts. will be multiplied ten, twenty
and in time. fifty fold"
The North CaroIinan takes the ground
the the needed supply must rather re
drawn from European immigration. He
argues, with the facts Of the situation
tending to support him, that "the south
Is by far the most attractive part of the
United states for that class of European
immigration which is made up of farm
crs;" foe with cotton at 10 cents pound
and above, and with increasing factory
poTMlati) )nS making cash markets for per
ishable farm products" The south offers
"a very attractive proposition to the aS-
ricultural foreigners who are coming to
this country to benefit their condition"
This North Carolina suggestion Is de-
serving of n consideration which cannot
be given to the Chinese coolie proposal.
The removal of the ban put on Chinese
immieration is far beyond the range of
probability, if not possibility. at this Pc
,iod when the further restriction of inn
migration generally is beginning to be Sc
riouslv advocated by the labor unions
more specifically. Moreover, to introduce
coolic labor into the south would be to
impose on it a problem likely to prove
even more distressful than is the negro
problem The importation of Chinese
cooIic labor for the southern plantations
is not a feasible proposal and it is not
worth serious discussion.
At the very time when these complaints
of scarcity of agricultural labor come
from the southern states, and after the
fallacy Of the reasoning that the negro is
necessary in the production of cotton has
been demonstrated. there is coming in the
greatest immigration In the history or
this country. 1t is an immigration, too
which is composed largely Of the very
sort OF labor of which the south is so
much in need yet practically none of it is
going to the cotton states. and only a
triding part of the immigration of twenty
millions which has come to us since the
middle OF the last century has gone TO
those states.
Look at this table compiled from the
census of 1909, showing the foreign born
population Of five southern states;