The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1904-04-13
MIR. WATSON TALKS.
The Commissioner Of immigration
Tells New York Paper
OF NEW STATE DEPARTMENT
Watson Makes State
Ment Of What He Hopes to
Accomplish INFRINGING
White Labor Here.

RaenC or what ne hopes to
Accomplish INFRINGING
White Labor Here.
By an act of the South Carolina
legislature which went into effect on
Feb. 26 there was created inbhe State
~ department Of agriculture, COM
inerce and immigration. E. j. Wat
3son of Columbia, representative OF
j the new generation Of energetic young
4 business men who are the impelling
4 force back of the recent awakening OF
southern industries and commercial
activity, has been selected by Gov.
Hayward as the first commissioner or
4 the new department..
Mr.. Watson has been in New York
for several days on business connected
with his Office. This summer he will
1 make a trip to Denmark, Norway,
Sweden and Germany, with a view
to presenting the advantages of South
Carolina as q field for the desirable
class of immigrants who come from
those countries. Speaking Wednes-
day of bis visit to New York and Of
the circumstances which led to the
creation of the department Of which
he is the head Mr.. Watson said:
s'My presence in New York at this
time is due to the new conditions that
have arisen in the middle south, and
it is no unmeaning errand considered
in the light of the DEVELOPMENT of the
country. The rapid development OF
southern manufacturing and the con-
sequent robbing Of the fields Of the
white tenant farmer class, the demon
stration given to the world last fall OF
the dependency Of it's cotton manu-
featuring interests on the south for
raw material not alone in this coun-
Y but abroad-these and the ten
'dency Of the negro to move to the
centres of population and thence to
the east are the three essentials to be
considered.
st is perhaps strange and yet not
unexpected condition that the very
rapid development Of the manufac-
turing industry of the south-particu-
larly in my State-Should result in in
jury to agricultural interests. The
explanation, however, is easy. When
we went ahead 'and put nearly S4O,-
900, 900 into cotton mills, which could
only be operated with white labor for
reasons it is not necessary to discuss,
we simply robbed our fields of the
white tenant farmer class and left
the agricultural interests in such a
condition as to demand the attention
ot-ahe State government. Then came
a move Of Sully and Brown which has
revealed to the whole cotton manu-
featuring world its dependency upon
the cotton growing states Of this
,country, accentuating the acuteness
Sbof situation already seen and realiz-
He'd. The farmers Jared well and they
$ha9e profited. Now they realize
a their power and their opportunity,
4 but they find themselves without the
necessary labor, and intelligent labor
they must have. They consequently
want something and want it quickly.
Another phase Of this situation Is
the negro question. Our farmers have
always had plenty Of negro labor on
their places. Today they are crying
for labor with which to work their
crops. Having lost the white tenant
q farmer for the reasons assigned, they
have suffered the additional partial
loss of the negro farm laborer. This is
due to the fact that the negro'S ten
dency, in our State at least, in the
last few years has been, first, to seek
the larger centres Of population and
commerce. In the cities he finds him
self poorly clad, irregularly and i'll fed
and a natural victim of, immortality
the consequent sufferer from diseases
which tend to balance the death and
birth rate. Again, his tendency is to
seek railroad construction camps and
to move north and east. The exempli-
,-6cation Of this can be most strikingly
found in Washington and Baltimore,
land even here in New York, the in
crease in the negro population in the
two first name cities having been
reached in the last two or three years.
IAN Of these things have combined,
together with the appearance of the
boil weevill in Texas, to awaken the
agricultural interests Of the South to a
realization of the fact that something
must be done. The great need IS white
settlers from this country and abroad.
My State has seen the situation, and
that is why I am here. Our farmers
know that the boil weeyil unless an
insect to destroy him is discovered, is
likely to cross the Mississippi at any
moment and do what Sully had done
this year, with the additional feature
that the effect on prices will be per-
manent. They know that If the weevil
does come prices will remain high, and
:, that the danger of the pest is an ele-
! ment in the situation. They realize
! that they want diversified and inten-
sifed farming, and, knowing this,
they have succeeded in establishing,
-aear the heart of the State, diversiti
a.