The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-26
DRIFTING APART
The Black Belt Landlords Beginning to Realize
 Need of White Immigrants.
BY WILL R. HAMILTON.

Gradually--slowly. but surely--the Black Belt planter and the Black Belt negro are separating. Gradually the disgust of the Black Belt planter with the Black Belt negro is being mani- fested as he becomes to realize what hasn't been done with his great in- heritance of fertile land, and what can be done. Gradually the conviction of the Black Belt planter that the foreign CT can do what the Black Belt negro hasn't done Is deepening. He now sees that there is something in the immi- grafton movement. and he Is watching 1t with interest.
 A third party doesn't have to stay a lifetime in the Black Belt to see that. He needn't go far out of Dallas County to get a fair consensus of Black Belt opinion about the possibilities of immi- grafton into the Black Belt He can get 1t in Selma, where there is already one immigration bureau. or he can get 1t in some of the rural districts where already few Immigrants are on trial.
 It has been a comparatively short time since immigrants from the North and from foreign countries began to settle promiscuously in the South, and a very short time since the movement became general in Alabama to bring settlers to this State. The first wholly successful venture was made in Bald win County about one year ago.
 The immigrants in Baldwin County have prospered and Baldwin County has fiourished. Since then there has been d more decided movement. Other coun- ties are following in the footsteps of plucky Baldwin. Other counties have succeeded in attracting foreigners into their borders and now many are experi- menting with what Baldwin has appa- rently made a success.
 The Black Belt has caught the drift. It has had its ears to the ground and what it has heard has made a marked impression. It Is falling into line. Ex- tensive owners of undeveloped land in that great area of agriculture have orr ganized- stock companies for the pur- pose of bringing Northerners and for eigners here to cultivate 1t. They have sent representatives not only to Man. haitian and immigration stations on the | Atlantic coast. but to Europe
 ] Some of these companies are said to be composed of schemers with illegiti- | mate purpose. The greater number arc made up of men who have helped tc make the Black Belt what 1t is today They are not only anxious to have un. developed land owned by them devel oped by skilled labor. but they have tn, interest of the Black Belt at heart ant what they propose to do is to improv, the Black Belt They are the ones wh, have been thinking. Now they ar, gro who, by his, own folly and stupid ity. is every day lowering himself II l the estimation of his benefactor.
 So 1t is that the cry for immigration is becoming manifest in the Black Belt There is more available labor in tn, Black Belt, the richest agricultural sec
 ton In the world, than anywhere els
 in the world. but it is not the kind O labor that the Black Belt is going t, tolerate much longer.
 Patiently the Black Belt has weighe, It's negro labor. It has been found de
 plorably wanting. The Black Bel
 knows 1t. is the richest in agriculture
 likewise 1t knows that 1t Is not deriv
 ing all the benefits of its inheritance
 NOW It Is going to apply the remedy.
 Applying the remedy will take a Ions
 time. 1t will require capital, and earn
 est, persistent, consistent, painstakin
 effort. The Black Belt knows it. Tn, Influx of immigrants is coming. Tn, result is inevitable. 70 | In Lowndes County there are a few settlers and in nearly every County 1T the Black Belt there are smaIl--yer, small--bands So far the result of ina, scant immigration has been gratifying --so gratifying that those counties art calling for more. New companies ar, | sending out new agents to bring home. seekers to this great agricultural dis trict.
 Is there room for both foreign labo, and negro labor in the Black Belt? When foreign labor shows what fl can do in the Black Belt will there long be competition?
 Those questions can't be answered Iyet. It stands to reason that igno- rant, Incompetent labor cannot com pete long with educated and efficient Elabor. It stands to reason that the | latter is what the Black Belt wants. It also stands to reason that there is not