The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-01-17
THE SCARCITY OF LABOR.
BY Inducing immigration it Will Prove
a Blessinu.


a Blessing.
10 the Editor: For the first time IN
the history of the South there is a CRY
Tor laborers. From every section of the
cotton belt comes the statement that sllf
ficlent labor cannot be had to cultivate
and harvest a full crop. About two
nCnths ago representative agricultural
body IN Nrth Carolina took steps toward
securing additions to our farming Don.
rlauon, and only a few days later a
meeting was held in South Carolina for
inc same purpose. A prominent Georgia
farmer, who IS also an influential member
oI Congress, told me within the past ter
days that he had directed his overseer
to arrange to plant more cotton next
year, but the overseer. wrote him that it
vas impossible because help could not
be had at any price or upon any terms.
The farmers of Texas are so wrought
UP over the scarcity of labor that they
have had representatives here asking that
the immigration laws be construed so as
to allow them to go to Mexico and hire
farm hands. OF course under the present
laws no such thing can be done These.
instances are mentioned simply to SHOW
how acute the labor situation is regarded
by Southern farmers.
This situation, at first thought, seems
to be very distressing and deplora Bile
one, but | believe it is a blessing-a very
God-send. We of the South have always
boasted that in the negro we have the
best farm labor in the world. We have
had fits whenever any one suggested that
we should strive to obtain our propor-
ton OF the thousands of foreigners who
annually come to this country We said
that we were satisfied with the negro
and that the other sections of the coun-
try could have all the foreigners and be
very welcome to them. The truth is the
negro is the very poorest labor in the
world and always has Deen He is the
most ignorant and the most unreliable of
all mankind, so far as my observation
has gone. There are plenty of negro loaf
ers around our cities and towns to supply
all the present needs of our farmers. if
they could be induced to work. 1t seems
like the irony of fate that Southern men
who heretofore dreaded foreigners as a
scourge should now actually beg for per-
MISSION to employ Mexican "greasers,"
the most undesirable of all white men
on the face of the earth. The Texans
arc going at it in the wrong way. but
1t Will lead to the right way. Hired
hands are not what the Southern farmers
need. They need immigrants to purchase
their surplus lands and become good.
thrifty independent citizens
This scarcity of labor will prove a bless
ing in that it will at last bring our people
to realize the desrabilitv and the neces-
sfy OF inducing home-seekers to come
among u.s. it will bless us in solving the
negro problem, and it will bless us i'll
bringing an intensive system of farming
that has been found so profitable wher-
ever it has been tried.
Among the most prosperous and neacn.
able communities in the United States
are those that are largely peopled by
foreign-born citizens. They came here
trained in the hard school of economy
that Old World conditions forced upon
them. Practicing that frugality in which
they were trained in their old homes they
easily became prosperous in this land of
lavish production. Certainly there is no
more inviting field for the thrifty home
seeker than in the South. Lands are
fertile and cheap, and every other 70
qulfement tor happy homes is found here
as in few other sections If we will Law
aside our prejudcos and invite these neo
pie to come among us they will soon
make us the richest agricultural com
munlty IN the world. 1t is not necessary
to discuss methods of obtaining them Of
this time, but 1 may do so in the near
future.
l said that in this APPARENTLY distress
ing condition is the solution of tho naoro
problem. Now | am not going to saw
much about the negro He has had ON.
tirely too much attention of late IF ha
must be written about and talked abo,+
will leave that for those who 1-nou,
nothing about the subject. Tho, l;l,a i
Il do not. But to my point. when tbe
negro understands that he must ,,.or1,
and that he must be punctual +, b;s ~
legations before he can have the ras,,,or
and confidence of his neighbors he ,,,;1I
then take his position as a good ci+iao,
With plenty OF white labor no ,.i,, -
forced to take new step. Thai no,,.
step VII either be towrad hei ~, 80,
dition or else toward another 49, -
live in idleness. In other words ~ ~,
be placed upon exactly the same No. -
the South that he occupies elle luhe -