The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-10-16

ton producer and he is farmer by in- clination and instinct and the hottest field in the Mississippi bottoms would hold out no terror for him. There is no question of the industry Of the Chinese. they are easily taught and their memory is better than that of the average negro and that they are capable of higher de- velopment in almost every respect than the negro Is indisputable fact The southern planter wants to raise his cotton crop just as cheaply as possible and every one that invests in the manufactured articles wants It at the lowest price ob- tainable. Chinese labor is cheap, cheap CT than negro labor and much less trou- ble because 1t is moro reliable and of late years there is but little dependence to be placed in the word or contract of the farm hands of the south. It is equal ly true that all of the fault of the pres ent situation does not lie at the door of the negro. the recent application of the federal statutes regarding the peonage question and the convictions had under this statute brought out the facts show ing a deplorable state of affairs, but for tunately the situation is not universal one
 The cases havs been isolated ones con- fined to sections of the south where. among the whites as well as the blacks, there is more or less room for mental and moral improvement, and the enforcement of tho law on certain questions Is neither | rigid nor equitable This Is feature or the situation that the public sentiment Of the south will remedy without interfer- ence or suggestion from any other section and the system will gradually disappear, | but rabid utterances In the press of an- | other section is not calculated to bring
 about this result any sooner.
 Between the white people of the south TI ha rsraf4 | question, the Chinaman does not seek
 any~sort of social recognition, he prefers the society of his fellows and does his
 work In the fields quietly and honestly. The Chinaman has another qualification
 that renders him peculiarly adapted Tor
 the situation in the south and that is | his law abiding tendencies It Is not so
 be understood that any one credits the | Chinaman with any marvellous quaifiea- 1 lions as a citizen, but in his offences he | does not go outside his own race. This 1 is true fin every large city where they | have gathered fin any numbers and when | they are brought before the courts their /; offence is generally gambling, 1t Is rare | that they are before the court on any
 more serious charge.
 | Next to the cotton crop in the south, | the greatest industry in similar lines IS
 the fruit crop that has been increasing
 so rapidly in the past ten years. In cal | ifornia the Chinese command better l wages than any other class of labor en- gagged in the fruit industry. As packers they have no equal, in this particular
 line the negro is little less than valueless
 and the greater portion of the packers
 employed on the fruit farms of the
 south are brought from the middle west.
 The Chinese would be glad to come, they
 would not consider the work asked or
 them unreasonable, they could stand the
 climate and the negro could then work
 out his own salvation in other lines and Tn other sections The time has passed for the raising of the cry against the Chinese 3 cheap labor, a substitute for the negro will be needed. why not give the China T man a chance?