The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1905-02-03
1Mm1aRAT1oN To rHE souTH.

The Philadelphia Ledger is EN-
phatie in its views, and announce
that it will support and Legislation
necessary to bring before the new
ly arrived immigrants the advan
tages of the South for their settle
ment. The Ledger says:
1.-The Department Of Commerce
and Labor at Washington has uu
dertaken a work, under the direc
ton of Frank 2. Sargent, Com
missioner of Labor, for the distri
button Of immigrants through
the South, which promises th,
most beneficial results to the i'm
migrants and the whole country
Commissioner Sargent, at a meet
inc held the other day to discuss
the project with the passenger
agents of the various Southern
railroads, outlined a plan which
requires an enactment by Congress
creating an information bureau at
the chief port of entry, or several
bureaus at the important ports.
The officials of these bureaus are
to collect all possible information
about the various sections of the
South which offer opportunities in
agriculture and other industries
for enterprislng workers. These
bureaus, working in co operation
with the railroads, with the en-
pIoyers of labor and with boards
of trade and State immigration So
cieties, are to attempt by moral
suasion to distribute worthy inn
migrants in parts of the country
where their labor is needed, and
thus prevent them from remain
ing in the great cities, where they
gravitate into the slums and
haunts of crime, or at last over
burden the labor market"
The movement the Ledger de-
clares, is not only an industrial
undertaking, but probably the
most valuable .of all charity en-
deavors Of recent years, for it
promises to correct the present
evil condition of city life, due to
congestion of population in the
sIums.
The Providence Journal, speak
ing for New England, promises
equal support to any Legislation
that may be necessary to carry
this project into effect.
There is a real scarcity OF
labor in the South" says the
Journal, mot only on the planta-
tons but in the manufacturing
towns, and it is scarcity that can
never be fully satisfactorily sup
piled by negroes. If the thousands
Of aliens who now hubble in pow
erty in the cities of the North and
East can be diverted thither very
desirable economic results can be
Experiments on a small
scale have already shown that
Italian farmers, for example, are
exceedingly well adapted for work
n the cotton fields; other aliens
could doubtless be employed with
equal success in other Southern
and to the ultimate in
crease of the national wealth.
1t may be reasonably expected,
that a considerable pro-
portion of the foreign immigrants
anding upon our shores will in
uture be turned towards the
south, assuring a better supply of
abor and leaving us no longer SO
argely dependent on unreliable
Iegro labor. 1t is probable that
he South and Southwest will re-
GIVE the full quantum of white
immigration promised by the rail
Dads last year, but which did not
wholly materialize.
AT the same time, however, that
We are bidding for this white i'm
migration from Europe, let rs
lot lose sight of a similar immi- {
ration from the North and West.
There could be no more valuable
edition to our population than
he thousands of Northern and
Western farmers who would like
o move South because of its eli