Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1904-04-20
DOWN TO WORK
immigration Commissioner GIyss interesting
Outline Of Plans,

Vbtfhto W ftEtts
: BY an act of the South Carolina Legis-
latnre, which went into effect on Feb
ruay &c, :hosss vas created in the State o
Department. of Agriculturs, Commerce
and Immigration. K. j. Watson, OF Co
lumbia, representative Of the new
generation of energetic young business
men, who are the inipelling force back
Of the recent awakening Of Southern in.
dustries and commercial activity, has
been selected by Governor Hayward as
the first commissioner of the new depart.
ment.
Mr.. Watson has been In New York for
several days on business connected with
his office. This summer he will make d
trip to Den mark, Norway, Sweden and
Germany, with view to presenting the
advantages of South Carolina as field
for the desirable class of immigrants
who come from those countries Speak
Ing of his 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:
"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 coun-
try. The rapid development of Southern
manufacturing and the consequent OBJ
bing of the fields of the white tenant
farmer class, the demonstration given
last fall of the dependency Of the cotton
manufacturing interests on the South for
raw material, not alone in this country,
but abroad-these and the tendency of
the negro to move to the centers of popu,
lation and thence to the East are the
three essentials to be considered.
ut is perhaps q strange, and yet not
unexpected, condition that the very rapid
development of the manufacturing in
dustry in the South-particularly in my
State-should result in injury to agricul-
tural interests. The explanation, how
ever, is easy. When we went ahead and
put nearly $40, 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 GLASS and left
the agricultural interests in such con-
dition as to demand the attention of the
State government. Then came a move
Of Sully and Brown, which has revealed
10 the whole cotton manufacturing world
its dependency upon the cotton growing
States of this country, accentuating the
acutenesss of a situation already seen
and realized. The farmers Jared well
and they have profited. Now they real
ize their power and their opportunity,
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 al
ways had plenty of negro labor on their
places. To-day they are crying for labor
with which to work their crops. Having
lost the white tenant 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 tendency, in our State at least, in
the last few years has been, first, to seek
the larger centres Of population and com.
merce. In the cities he finds himself
poorly clad, irregularly and i'll fed and a
quent sufferer from diseases which tend
to balance the death and birth rate.
Again, this tendency is to seek railroad
construction camps and to move North
and East. The exemplification of this
can be most strikingly found in Wash
ington and Baltimore and even here in
New York, the increase in the negro
population in the first two cities having
been reached in the last two or three
years.
"All of these things have combined
weevil in Texas to awaken the agrioul-
tural interests of the South to rcaliza-
ton of the fact that something must be
done. The great t'need is white settlers
from this country and abroad. My State
has seen the situation, and that is why l
am here. Our farmers know that the
boil wevil, unless an insect to destroy
him is discovered, is likely to GROSS the
Mississippi river at any moment and do
uyho Ill Ia 4, -, ~.
additional feature that the effect on
prices will be permanent. They know
that if the weevil does come prices will
remain high, and that the danger of the
pest is an element in the situation. They
realize that they want diversified and
intensified farming, and, knowing this,
they have succeeded in establishing, near
the heart of the State, diversifcation
farm No. l, by the Federal government,
under the boil weevil appropriation.
Further, knowing the need Of intelli-
gent labor, the State has established its
Department of Agriculture, Commerce
and Immigration, at the head of which
have been placed for four years, with tho
view of inducing desirable Investments
and settlers from North European and
American points to come to South Caro-
lina-the real garden spot of the world,
possessing soil and climate producing
some crop the year round. We have
thousands of acres of land lying idle at
this time, and it is the province of the
new department to bring about their
Development.
"The department has been fashioned
upon the best features of national and
State departments of like nature, and
the scope is broad enough to admit of it's
handling any conditions that may arise
affecting industrial development.
II am here now to set the ball in mo-
tion toward getting that which we so
greatly heed-intelligent white labor of
Saxon origin. The work, so far, is of
constructive character, but trust it will
be prolific of genuine results. l am
dealing with all having any interest in
the situation that is attracting attention
to the Middle South-the Southern
France Of America-and thus far effec-
lively. am trying to see all who are
Interested in any way, for I feel that
those who invest or settle in South Caro-
lima have bright future awaiting them.
When the waste places have been popu-
lated the act under which we are operat-
ing is so constructed that we can turn
our attention to other plans of develop
ment as the necessity for them arises."-
New York Sun.
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