The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-16
WILL IMPORT LABOR
vIRGINIA-CAROLINA COMPANY DIs-
 BUSTED WITH NEGROES.
Dissatisned With Annoynnces and Inef-
 nciency of Black Laborers-One
 Hundred European Immigrants To Take Their Places.

| VIII durtng the month or January pus
 100 white immigrants to work In their
 big fertilizer plant in North Montgom- | cry, in places which have heretofore been filled by negro laborers, | The contracts for the delivery or these immigrants in Montgomery have
 been signed and preparations nave been made for their care when they ar rive here. The first lot of the immi- grants will reach Montgomery on Jan uary i. There will be twenty-five of them. The others will De brought in
 soon as arrangements are made to care | for them.
 | The Montgomery plant will not be manned entirely by the white men.
 Many of the negroes now employed Will
 be retained by the company. It is
 start a step forward, towards the so- lution of the inevitable labor question | in the South.
 | Superintendent S. O. Izler. of the l Manufacturing Department is respon- | sible for the inauguration of this im- | portant movement. MT. Izler whose l headquarters are in Montgomery, mas ] more than any one else had to do with I the harassing annoyances of managing l negro labor Hs came to Alabama I from South Careeina and there, too. he | had encountered the same deficiencies, | the same annoyances. The very difii- | culties encountered in the operation or | its manufacturing plants by the Vir- 1 ginia- Carolina Chemical Company has Il bampered the company more than any | other circumstance or condition. MT. | Izler sought a way out of these dif- | faculties. He has had the matter in his | mind some time and during recent | visit to New York. MT. Izler executed i a contract whereby he is to receive 100 i European immigrants To work in the l Montgomery plant. To these laborers i F. s~ tn ~xfx Anxy an ha employ them for three months.
 l It is an important step, one which may have far reaching effects. For should this movement which is obvi- ously an experiment at this time prove successful immigrant labor will be in-
 stalled in other plants of the Virginia Carolina Company at Mobile, Blrming- ] ham and Memphis all of which are un- 1 der the supervision of Mir Izler. The success of the movement in no small way effects the future of other manu- | featuring plants in all Southern cities. | They have had the same labor ob-
 stac1es, the same labor problems, which | the Virginia Carolina Chemical Com pany have been forced to encounter. Nor can it be doubted that the officials | of these concerns entertain the same opinion as entertained by the Virginia Carolina people that negro labor Is too | uncertain, too unreliable to have to de- peud upon it for the conduct of manu- featuring plant.
 The movement Is tantamount to the | declaration that negro labor has failed as a workman in factories And the | success of the plan, 1t is believed en- l tails the return of the negroes to the | farm, under the conviction that as | workers they are most successful in 1 the agricultural districts, that their | place is on the farm and not in the fac- tories. This solution, if 1t should prove | successful, works two ways, for then | negroes who have come to town to l work in manufacturing plants would l gravitate back to the depleted farms. |. In his office in the First National Bank, Superintendent Izler spoke with earnestness upon the movement. He is l young man us age goes in such a po- sition, and he Is a. sSoutherner.
 we have been forced into it." he said. we have been compelled to make an effort for white labor in our faeto- ries. Our Montgomery plant for in- stance, requires force of, 800 men. We have had that many men on our books and pay rolls during the year, that is we employ and are supposed to have that many men. But they are negro laborers and dare say that during the entire year we did not average 200 men a day. In fact, there were QRys when our plant was practically shut down. Yes. when we were prattieaily shut down. So many negro labnrers were laying off that we hardly had men enough to keep the machinery going, and they were laying off for no other reason than they did not feel like work. s&
 Tt is not a question of money. The more money that we pay. the negro workmen, the less work we get out of
 them. Now, that statement is not
 founded on theory. It Is founded on practical and costly experience. We have learned to our loss that many ne- groes will not work when they have | money enough for a bare living. We have found that the only thing that will force them to work Is the need of
 money.
 TWO or three years ago. we were | getting negro labor for 50 cents a day. | I have no hesitancy in saying that we | got more work out of thom, that their 1 labor was more satisfactory than when
 we oaJd them as nigh as $1.50 day as
 we have done recently. Why? Be-
 cause when a negro workman was re- | ceiving $1.50 a day he had more time
 to loaf. He could work one day and | then leaf three or four days on the
 money he had and 1t seemed the gen eral idea among them to do this very
 thing.
 have had with them. Our foremen can 1 not get them to do the tHinS tHey want
 done The foreman will say to negro
 workman, take that pick and tear down that fertilizer pile
 The negro will reply, I don't believe
 I want to work on the fertilizer pile today If can't roll a wheeibarrow
 don't believe I'll work today
 Now. what is the foreman to do
 Nothing except give the negro wheel
 barrow. There Is nothing else for him
 to do. except to do without the negro's
 work. when he is needing men so badly
 This shiftlessness. this ,irresponsi'
 bility, has forced us into securing white
 labor We have found no difficulty ir
 getting white immigrants. It was oul
 preference that the labor sent us should
 be swedish. German, or Irish. We have not stipulated that the laborets should
 not be Italians. In fact 1t is probable that some of the men will be Italian la
 borers. It depends upon what vessels
 have recently come into New Yorl
 when our orders are received by tho
 New York agents for them to send th' laborers We propose to pay these mer
 x.5O a day and it IS our purpose tC
 keep permanently thirty or thirty five | ~ inc hest of the Workmen. For threC