New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-08-25
THE SOUTH AND NEGRO EMIGRATION,

THE SOUTH AND NEGRO EHIGRAIION.-
1.-The Charleston News and Courier con-
tfnues to urge the practicabity of separating the
white and the black RAJ es saying that the IN
"duced and ncouraged emigration of its tacuVe)
maternal and paternal element would in few
decades result in the extinction of the negro
race in this country. 1t thinks this could ne
secured at reasonable cost without hardship to
the negro. but under conditions which would
promote his prosperity In answer TO the OBJ
lection that the South, in spite of its indict-
ments against the negroes, really would not
wish them 10 go away, it'declares
That tine South would not tolerate wholesale
,lenortation'' is of no consequence, as such de-
portation is not in question. That some lhuuS-
trial interests in the South would OBJECT Sttohg-
" to any degree of negro emigration Is o. niue
more consequence. These interests are not
paramount. and the negro is a free man. lie Is
free to go whittier he pleases.
We DO not find this view shared by some other
leaders of Southern thought, nor corroborated
entirely by Southern law and custom. We
doubt if. in fact the negro lis free to go
whittier he pleases' THE Memphis Scimitar,
commenting on the emigration plan, says:
The white people in the states where the
negroes are most numerous would not let Ihenl
go If Mr. Graves or any other advocate OF de-
portation will visit the cotton, sugar ana rice
regions of the great Mississippi Valley ana seek
( COnfUte
that he has undertaken to settle a heavy recK-
oQing without his host. And If he should go
about amCng the negroes, telling them that they
were to be removed TO distant parts, the only
question then would be whether the negroes or
the white planters would take his scalp
The laws of many, IL not nearly all, of the
Southern States respecting the encouragement
OF emigration lead to the conclusion that our
Memphis rather than our Charleston contem-
porary correctly gauges Southern sentiment.
/ The recent revelations concerning peonage and
the largely practised system by which perfectly
free Iaborers are kept by the rack-rent and
cropping system practically tied TO the soil tend
in the same direction. The negro may not be
the most profitable worker in the world The
South might have been more prosperous with
another supply Of labor. Slavery was waste
full and the negros natural inheritance from
slavery days is ignorance and untruStworthi-
ness. Nevertheless. such as he is the Southern
white cling3 to him. Instead of welcoming
those who would assist the separation Of the
races the Southern States try to exclude them.
a young white man was recently arrested in
Georgia who represented a corporation seeking
TO enlist d company of negroes for work in
distant region. 1t was charged that he had
been caught in the act Of enticing hands from
the turpentiue farm of Mr.. John Greer Ac-
cording TO Professor Du Bots. an employment
agent must pay u tax of $500 for each county
in Georgia in which he purposes TO gather
laborers for work outside the State. Other
States have similar laws designed to keep the
/ negroes ignorant of the distant labor market
and hinder their migration. While they re-
main on the statute books it is idle to talk Of
the readiness of the South i'll general to see the
negro colonized in some other land or to say
that the objection comes only from certain in
dustriaI interests which are not paramount.