The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1903-10-14
An IMPORTANT MATTER.
Western Methods as Suggestive
for Southern immigration.

for Southern immigration.
Discussing the vitality important
question Of immigration to the South
the Manufacturers Record of Balti-
more in this weeks issue says:
Referring to the facts presented
last week showing the trend of immi-
grafton to the South, the Macon Tele-
graph says:
While the Manufacturers Record
makes out case for encouragement
and hope which We all welcome, it
does not compare with the tide of
homeseekers that for forty years and
more has been flowing in great waves
to the West. The fact that the pres
ence in the South of the negro has
turned to the West this tide can be no
more obscured or blotted out than the
Manufacturers Record can level the
Rocky Mountains by proclamation.
The Telegraph misapprehends the
situation The tide of immigration
to the West was not due to the negro
in the South. immigration to the
West was due to many causes, with
which the negro is in no way connect
ed. The vast territory of the west,
with its virgin prairie lands, the cheap
ness of these lands, the freedom Of a
new country from social barriers and
restrictions of a settled community.
with every man judged not by his
family connections but by his ability
to do things, made the West most
attractive for men who wanted to
work and to carve out a destiny for
themselves. But greater than all
these was the fact that the enormous
land grants, aggregating hundreds Of
millions of acres of fertile lands, given
by the government to railroad build
ers, could only be made profitable by
developing immigration. The great
financial powers Of Europe and Ameri-
ca we've united in the ownership of
these roads and Of these millions Of
acres Of land. If settled up these
lands meant enormous fortunes to the
railroads or their owners, and hence
these financial forces were concentrat
ed in the mightiest immigration cam
paign the world ever saw. Millions
on tops of millions were spent in Eu-
rope and America to picture the glow
ing promise of the Western Ell Dorado.
Every hamlet in Europe had a paid
working agent in connection with
Western railroads and European
steamer lines for immigrants, and the
man who decided to come to America
was furnished at a low cost with a
ticket direct from his home direct to
his intended destination in the West.
In all of this vast work the negro
question was an inconsequental ele-
ment, except as it was magnifed un-
seemly agitation, for the railroads and
the steamship lines were working for
the development of their own lands in
the West and the direct development
of their own traffic. The South, by
reason of the war and the wreck and
ruin following it, by reason of the fact
that except in Texas there were no
enormous acres of land to be given as
bonus for railroad building, could
not secure the attention Of the forces
which absolutely dominated the move
ment OF population from Europe to
America.
This was one great factor against
the South. Others affecting imni-
grafton from the North and West were
the exaggerated fear Of social ostra-
cism, the dread of living in an old COM
munity of settled social caste and po.
litical views contrary to the free spirit
of the West, the long years Of south
ern poverty contrastsd with the
abounding activity and prosperity Of
the mighty western empire after the
war, the high price Of land in the
South as compared with the virgin
land Of the West, where, under the
homestead law, every settler could Sc
cure 100 acres Of good land, and then
every settler in the West was con-
stantly working to bring his friends
and kinfolks to his section-all these
factors united to keep the tide Of i'm
migration moving westward. During
the early days one western road is said
to have spent over 81, 600, coo a year in
advertising; states advertised heavily,
and kept up splendidly equipped immi-
grafton boards; counties, towns and
trade organizations advertised and
worked night and day for settlers. In
these facts are found the reasons why
immigration has for forty years poured
into the West. Now the tide is turn
ing South, and if States and munici-
palities and railroads will for five
years spend freely and as wisely as did
the West in working for immigration,
the negro question will cut but little
figure in holding back the tide which
will sweep over our land, but spas
modic work and expenditures with the
expectation of immediate results,
whether put forth by railroads, by
states or by individuals will be energy
and money wasted -
A .o W., CT: .f,n1 Q