The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-16
PROSPERITY Ar rRE SOUTH.
The Great Part in II which WIN be Played
by immigrants.

The Great Part in II which WIN be Played
by Immigrants.
To THE EDITOR OF THE sUN-Siv: Tho
origin OF many English industries. back to
1855, Ia traceabls to the revocation OF the
Edict Of Nantes. when more than quarter
of million Of skilled artisans emigrated from
France to Great Britain. In our country
the great weaving industries In and about
Kensington. Philadelphia, date their inosp-
tion to the time when few Catholic Irish
men set up weaving beams on the outskirts
OF Quaker settlement
Much Of our commercial supremacy and
many OF our specific industries date their
origin from the time Of the coming of immi-
grants thither. 1t is not q matter OF hearsay.
but fact that foreign labor has done much
toward giving a fresh impetus to old and In
developing new industries. thus fulfilling the
prediction of Representative Lawrence. who,
in debating the question OF immigration ID
Congress in February. I7sO said: III the
immigrant bring an able body, his labor will
be productive OF national wealth: an addition
to our domestic strength" This was GER
tainly true In the case OF the GaGman and
Scotch-Irish redemptioners, who were OIL
fered at the docks of Philadelphia for sale
at from $50 to $50 each as late as 1881.
From this class OF people came many in
fluential families, renowned, IN after years.
Simon Snyder. one OF the Governors OF the
great keystone State. was the son Of
German Palatine. and his father came into
this country as a redemptioner In 1888. Gov
ernors Hester, Shultz, Ritner and Wolf were
all sons of redemptiOners The wealth. edu-
cation and influence which these German
immigrants achieved may be estimated from
the fact that in 1903 and for thirty consecutive
years thereafter the Governors OF the Conn
monwea!th Of Pennsylvania were sons OF
German peasants, Gen. Sullivan. one OF
George Washingto ablest aides-de-camp.
was the son of an Irish immigrant; and az
late as 1855 it was common practice for
men to follow the trade Of soul driver. y
that Ia, to make II a business to purchase
human cargoes In lots Of fifty or more from
the aptains of the ships which brought them
over Then the dealer would drive these re-
demptoners through the country and dis
pose of them to farmers. The soul driver. :
whose business it was 10 buy and sell re-
demptoners. disappeared in 1885. but re-
demptoners arrived as late ns 1881. The
conflict between free" labor and slave was
now on
Suppose now the tide OF the incoming free
immigration were turned Southwark: would
complications arise due to the presence OK
negro labor of the South? II is said that
because of the abundance and cheapness
of negro labor foreign immi grants cannot
compete with Southern negro labor and that
ton South in any considerable numbers.
But cannot the European immigrants live
ms chcaply AS the negro? The negro does
farming. aside from water melons,, and the
negro Farmer does not keep the live stock
which would enable him to make bis own
g.. 81 l,.,I t.n. ~ Hnn
ali these He is decidedly more thrifty,
energetic and provdent than his oolored
brother; his humble means would be Increased
by the raising of vegetables for his own use
economist tells us that the negro farmer does
not keep sheep or swine, due 20 his love for
dogs. Not so would it be with the imml-
grant.
Some complicatiops might arise in domes-
tic service. The old colored nanny. is
hss 81 sySy 7eh fs '
and more diversified the mills, factories
and yatious shops would give employment I 9ynse5
popna ed cities, where negro labor is cheap
and abundant. would there be anything like
serious competition.
The foreign Immigrants would soon overcome
the economic inequalities incident TO the first
as did the two OF three thousand Alsatian i'm
migrants who In So We're INVITED by the
While building their homes they dwelled in
caves and rude huts, says one historian.
1t is proyerbal that the farms of those new
home seekers are the very finest to be found
In any State, So by degrees the European
peasant would be able TO overcome any com
peasant labor Of Europe which is now coming
to this country is not uncertain like the nesro
agricultural labor and migratory; i would
Ri r na Inclined to beooe s Of
soil, but does the "rack-rent" business. The
new home seeker would seek to become
welded to the soil and to improve and Gull
tivate it the more. increasing its produce
tiveness,
Il Is assured that the negroes and foEeiEners
will work in harmony togetheri WIENER
levees OF the Mississippi negroes and foreign
immigrants can be found together. working
peacea ably shoulder TO shoulder. Here again
common necessity makes hungry men brothers
indeed In the provinces OF New York and
Pennsylvania, when the states we're UNDER.
sonf the so . Wh s Sm farm.
ran high and white men mobhed other white
men because. then. they did not understand
one another When Frederick Douglass
siSty-Nve years ago, white labor would not
compete with negro slave lnboT, nut now
white and black w,orkmen work hand in
hand in the shipvards of the Newport News
Shipbuildng Company
1'RE Sun informed us few days ago that
there is scarcity Of laborers IN the cotton
picking districts. and the present immigrants
ought certainly TO make success Of lie there
Tho South too, is becoming Of more and
more commercial Importance the demands
on raw material are greater; the output Of
the ores and Goa 6c must be increased
the employment of more labor, which the
Immigrant classes can well supply.
Furthermore. the Roman Catholic Church is
now growing in favor in the South, and as a
Protestant am free to say that wherever that
Church establishes herself the lines which
separate the people socially are not SO warped
as they are in distinctively Protestant com
munites. Many OF the peasants are Catho-
lies and Fathnr Sattery and st. Joseph S
Seminary Baltimore, are establishing mis-
sIons in the South. Under the Roman Oatho-
lie religion black and white peasants are
united in the Church. A white Catholic in
the south never has the same feeling against
the negro Catholic that the white Protestant
has against the black Protestant. The
Catholic Church is gradually overcoming
another phase of the seeming complication.
What, then, are the nsuperable compiled
tions caused by the negro labor of the South
Practically they are SO small. so insi gnificant.
that they do not warrant consideration
Troy, y Y. Sept, "a. j. NJ. r.