Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1905-04-28
An Important Movement.

For some time there has been
sporadic talk as to substituting Italian
labor for negro labor down south. Up
to this time it has been talk-merely
that and nothing more. At last, how
ever, it is taking definite shape The
Italian ambassador, signor des Plan
ches, has been revolving in his mind
a project to divert the stream o.
Italian immigration pouring into this
country from our northern to our
southern ports and to induce immi-
grants to seek labor rather on south
ern farms than in northern cities, in
northern workshops and on northern
railroads. With such head to the
movement it bids fair to become Of
vast Importance to all concerned.
There can be no question that negro
labor Is becoming more and more I'M
satisfactory at the south and every
where else that It exists in this coun-
try. There are two reasons for this.
First, the ceaseless exploitation Of the
race question BY demagogues who
know nothing Of 1t has tendency TO
make the colored people dissatisfied
with their lot; second. the negroes who
were old enough to learn habits Of In
dustry in antebellum days are rapid
~ disappearing, and their descendants
do not take to manual labor with any
considerable degree Of enthusiasm,
especially to farm labor, which, when
the long day is considered, may not
improperly be regarded as the hardest
of all labor. They are the most gre
garious Of peoples and love to congre-
gate in the towns and cities, where
they lead a very precarious life. But
they prefer an opportunity to see the
passing show, even from the curb
stone, to the more solid comforts OBJ
tainable on the farm. This downward
movement Of our population generally
has been much deplored by various
philosophers, but It seems never to
have occurred to them that 1t Is much
more marked among the colored folks
than among the whites.
Northern newspapers with one &C.
cord hail the project Of Signor des
Planches with delight because, as they
say, it will relieve the congestion OF
population in the great cities. But
query: Are they not congratulattng
themselves prematurely? 1t is safe to
say that where three Italians displace
three negroes down south, at least two
and perhaps three negroes will betake
themselves to the great cities Of the
north, and the last condition Of both the
cities and the negroes will be worse
than their first. Another query: VIII
the whites down south be willing to
do the very desirable thing of substi-
tuting white for negro labor II they
must use Italians for that purpose?
For 1t is well known that Italians are
not assimilated with ease or rapidity.
They remain separate people wher-
ever they 80, to a large extent. So
that from any standpoint Signor des
Planches' project IL much better In
theory than In practice. English, Ger
man, Irish, Scotch, Scandinavian and
even French immigrants mingle read
lily with the descendants Of the original
settlers by intermarriage, and after a
generation or two their children are
really American citizens, but the Ital-
lans prefer or are forced to herd by
themselves. All these matters will
have effect in helping along or hinder
Ing the Italian colonization scheme for
southern farms,