The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-09
GETTING PARTICIPANTS.

GETTING IMMIGRANTS.
 Under the heading. Views of Econo- mists About the South," The Manpfac- turers' Record prints the views Of number of prominent men on Southern topics, especially those connected With our industrial pursuits. Among, them is one from T: NJ. Carter. of Harvard Cni- versity, which is interesting to the people of this section, as 1t deals with the prob lems of labor and immigration. He says:
 I wonder if the people of the South fully appreciate the fundamental difficult ty in the way of European immigration to that section? In the first place, the European farmers are not accustomed to growing cotton or corn Consequeniy, they cannot be expected to come ana try their hands at independent farming. In the corn belt of the Northwest they unl- formly serve kind of apprenticeship as farm hands before undertaking to run q farm of their oyEn. They might also 60 this. in the South were 1t not for the pres ence oE the negro laborer. l do not think that they would object to the presence of tine negro lah0Ser per SC, but, 50 far as Iahave been able to learn, the white laborer who hasfo come into competltloa with the negrnA Alaborer and to do the kind of work which the negro ordinarily does: is forced to share some of the social 4egrac4tiorf of the negro. In so far as this is true. it is, and will continue to be. positive bar. to the immigration ot tie kind of labor that Is wanted.
 : im my opinion, therefore, some ar railgement which would give the white farm 1aborer a distinct and honorable place in fie social system would do more to; stimulate the industrial, especially the agrfcuItural development of the South than anything else which I could name. How this arrangement can be brought about no one outside tho South is in d position to say. But unless my analysls of the economic experience of the rest of the world is all wrong; such an arr rangement would be effective if 1t could be brought about.
 Mir! Carter admits that the habits and characters of the negroes cannot be sud- denly changed. or, as he expresses it in another part of His letter, -:'the negso slaborcr cannot tpss the~nature ofrthe case. be made over in one or ten generations. !" Just so, and because of that, and because circumstances may arise which will cause material scarcity of that kind of labor in the South. our people should concern themselves with the best methods of se- placing 1t. So much is being said aEd | written about colonizlng the Southern negroes in Africa or elsewhere, and tine agitation in. that direction is. so con tinual and persistent, that some of the schemes may prove largely successful m the near future, to the serious embal rassment of agricultural operations in this section.
 It is for these reasons that inducements | should be held out to a good class of I foreigners to come South. instead of Eo- | ing to the West and Northwest as many of them now do, impelled thereto by l both social and climatic conditions. These | immigrants, as Mir. Carter says, know little. about the cultivation. of corn or 1 cotton and are thus at disadvantage in this country. In the South they are at double disadvantage. for in the North west much more attention is given to wheat. rye, hay, vegetables and fruits, and for. that reason farm laborers from Europe are not at such a loss for they find oongenial employment at growing most things that they were accustomed
 
 reach the cotton regions of the South and find they must devote themselves almost wholly to corn and cotton, 1t is to be expected that they will find diffi- culty about accommodating themselves to the new and strange conditions sur rounding them.
 All of this, however. is not as great obstacle as is the color problem to which MT. Carter alludes, though he is not fair when ne intimates that white labor m the South ''is forced to share some of the social degradation of the negro" The native Southerner can work with the ne-
 gro in the field or shop without any degradation, and without social ban or
 lowering of his pride of race. They do
 1t on the farms and in the cities. and
 while this association is not of a nature
 that would fit the white man for shining
 in high society it does not degrade him
 or make him any less a self-respecting
 white man.
 We may admit. however. that the for
 elgner may not know this. He may im-
 agiae that if he settles in the South h,
 must put himself down on the level with
 the negro. both as a laborer and in hl,
 social relations This is repugnant tr
 nearly all foreigners. and this, in ou,
 judgment is. one of the reasons why the,
 object to coming here. The white mai
 of the South already has an "honorabl
 place in the social system" as MT. Car
 ter expresses it, but he neither has no
 wants "a distinct place. from othe
 white people, for that would be to buil
 up a system of caste which is neitne
 desired nor desirable The white labor ing man of the South is the equal o any other class and wants no separat and distinct place.
 If those interested in bringing whit
 settlers to the South wish to succee
 they cannot so about 1t in a better wa
 than by satisfying prospective immI
 grants that they can work here withou
 degradation, socially or otherwise an
 that they will not be required to partak