The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-06-25
A DIsinteeratlne Process.

A Disintegrating Process.
"The only possible solution, therefore.
must lie in the diminishing of the relative
numbers of the blacks, and in the in
creasing of the relative numbers of the
whites, in the diffusion of education
throughout the mass of the blacks so as
to produce within the body of this mass
a dlsintegrating process of discomfort with
present conditions These forces, acting in
connection with the increasing for 8 of
white competition will, it seems to me-
necessarily tend to mobilize and scatter
| them. To redistribute them by sending
larger and larger bodies of them north
ward and thus to bring about a condi-
ton of things where the negro, as a race
will become less and less factor, and
will be more and more forced to stand
upon his merits as an individual
1.-THE south is on the verge of the
greatest industrial movement in her his
tory, and Alabama will share in 1t by
reason of her vast natural resources Al
ready the captains of industry are ex-
plotting those resources TO an extent never
known before. Great lines of railroad
penetrate the state and are opening up
all it sterritory to the markets of the
world. Our vast mineral wealth is be-
ing rapidly developed. Factories, furnaces,
mills mines are multiplying everywhere
The people are awakening to the need of
diversified agriculture, and to the real
ization of the possibilities of our soil
The demand for labor and for a higher
class of labor is increasing beyond our
capacity to supply it, and other states
and other countries are being looked to
as sources of the new supply. At the
same time, many influences are at work
to divert to us some part of the currents
of immigration which heretofore have
passed us by.
The farmers n the west and MORT n " eef
are becoming interested in our abun-
Ydant cheap lands. The subject of immi-
grafton is stirring the blood of the entire
south; the long lines of southern rail-
road which must derive their main profits
from the development of the territory
tributary to them are organizing with
the view of assisting In the planting of
farm colonies In the south, and the bring
ing in of labor with which to construct
and operate tho new enterprises and
works of internal Improvement now un-
der way or in contemplation throughout
the south. The United States government
is becoming profoundly interested In the
question of the distribution throughout
the country of the vast tides of immi-
grants yearly sweeping upon our shores,
and at least one of the foreign govern
ments whose people are rushing hither-
wards in increasing numbers, is officially
examining into conditions here with
the view of encouraging the settlement
by these people upon the soil of the
south where the climate is more nearly
akin to the climate of their native land
Every citizen should interest himself
deeply in this matter. 1t is a practical
matter, of farreaching Importance, and
offers the main opportunity for the solu-
ton of the race problem. The state has
population now Of a little less than
two million. Is it extravagant to hope
that the next few generations will see
great part of Alabama's waste lands oc-
cupied and the deficiencies of her labor
system supplied by thrifty, hardy. indus
trious, iawabiding white men and wo-
men? Alabama was a slave state for
only forty-two years. In that short pc
Rod the system became an anachronism
and went to pieces amidst the smoke and
carnage of war. 1t has only been forty
years since the slave was emancipated
and the south adjusted itself to the sys-
tenn of free negro labor, and yet in that
time the system has been clearly DEM
onstrated to be an economic failure and
an obstruction to our free development
What changes may not the next half
century bring? Why may not Alabama
be peopled by teeming millions of busy
whites distributed throughout her length
and breadth, owners of her soil, builders
of her homes. patrons of her schools and
educational institutions. the support of
her multiplied churches, full sharers in
the work of her government and peers in
her social structure?
No Negro immigration.
There is no negro immigration into
this country. The multiplication of his
race depends entirely on natural propa-
cation. Steadily the percentage of ne
groes of the whole population must neces-
sarily continue to decrease. There is no
negro immigration from other states into
Alabama. and conditions do not and will
not furnish occasion for such immigra-
tion. The tendency is all the other way.
This tendency must be encouraged. II
we keep the bulk of the negroes fasten-
ed in Ignorance and semi-savagery to the