The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-11-11

. few days ago on the status of the boycott. This department, said Coio- ney Wiley, ''sent out a few clerks from Washington to a few ports of the Em- pire and in short time they reported back that everything was lovely, the goose was hanging high and the whole business was without backbone" He declared that this is far from true and repeated that the boycott is on with 1 unabated fury.
 His belief was expressed by Colonel Wiley that the effective boycott in China was the chief cause of cotton being reduced from 1s to less than cents a pound. He said that. thanks ] to the efforts of the Southern Cotton Association, the price has been lifted again to nearly Ii cents. He con- graduated the farmers for this concert of action and his remarks were greeted with applause. There was review of the history of the United States excluding the Chinese after this and the speaker told of how the first exclusion act was dictated twenty years ago to a rather unso- phistocated Congress at that tin1e This act, acordfng to Colonel Wiley. offen- sively designated the Chinese laborers i, as coolies and virtually declared that they were unworthy of setting foot on our shore. Some time later followed what is known as the General Alien Exclusion Act" which put up the bars of the United States against all aliens who wished to come to America under contract and who would likely become public charges. This was calculated to keep away the refuse of the Euro- pean continent and the Asiatics of a criminal or undesirable class.
 A penalty was inflicted on all those who held out inducements to such per sons as were prohibited from coming ashore under the act. This was too strict an exclusion and the States of the West. some of them. evade the law or legally get around it by estab- fishing immigration bureaus abroad. There are men in charge of these bureaus who solicit labor, but do It only in verbal manner. No written contracts are used, but the laborers who are desired are picked out and per suaded by promises to come to this country.
 The speaker took advantage here of denying the report that he Is in favor of coolie labor being imported to this country. He said that it is inaccurate and untrue to say that he is in favor of bringing the coolies to the South. His position on any question he is always careful to take and express. All he has done, he said, and all he intends
  his countrymen some of the qua1ifica- tions of the Chinese laborer and the Japanese laborer and other foreign classes of labor. He would, after do- ing this let his constituents judge for themselves as to which laborer Is the best to displace the loose, vasabond workers that are now infecting the South. Later on in his address he set out the respective qualities of the cooiie and Japanese 1aborer.
 The speaker hinted that anything new and of a broad compass such as a general immigration of foreign labor to the South is usually given the cold shoulder. He told of how when he was a member of the General Assem- by his constituents to get law passed that would protect the landlords against worthless tenants He in troduced the law, but 1t was defeated by just four votes. All the time he was the object of scorching abuse from certain directions. His proposed law was called the wiley Convict Act" but 1t only provided moderate penalty for those tenants who entered into con tracts for twelve months received their | supplies for some of the period and then | jumped their contracts before the ex- | piration of the same. He said this in1- | position of negro tenants on the white | lana owners was then prevalent ana IS | now practived and remedy was need | ed Afterwards he said another law | was passed which seemed for while to be very effective, but there came along | the peenage crusade and 1t went up in | smoke.
 Negro as q Laborer.
 One essential weakness of the negro | as pointed out by the speaker. Is his aversion to work for wages. They have been misled by some people into 1t a disgrace to work for wages and they try to become tenants. This is one of the causes of such wide- spread idleness among the negroes. The speaker said he could cite his hearers to hundreds of negroes on the streets of Montgomery who are dependents of the deepest dye. being supported in many instances by negro w6men who perhaps engage in honest labor.
 "The negro is here to stay" said Colo nel Wiley He recited instances of a