The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-11-27
rMNTcDATT0N. Economic, Political and Social 1NlNllUNAllVlVt Phases of the Question Dis
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 Following is the text of the address of Col. Robert Gates, Special Industrial and Immigration Agent for Tennessee of the Louisville and Nashville Rail- road delivered before the Southern Conference on Immigration and Guar antIne, at its recent meeting Tn Nasn- vile:
 MT. President: The subject of immi- grafton to the Southern States presents a serious problem for solution. touches or involves more or less every question, economic, political ana so cial, that is under discussion. MS takes are imminent and serious mls- take would be perilous to the "noie structure of Southern life.
 Tn dealing with it we should keep m mind the fact that makeshifts are al ways dangerous, in that the reiel ar forded is temporary, while the eVli ms separable is more or less permanent. We must not forget for moment tnat the chief peril to the South today: ana ! may add, to American civilizatlon' is the result of a mistake made py our Colonial ancestors, North as well as South, of importing African slaves to meet a labor necessity, or want then existing. This horrible blunder-may not say crime-for which New Eng- land is as much or more respohsiple than the South, bred fanatictsm, alien ation, civil war, political prostitution and corruption, and race issue tnat threatens another brood of evils more or less dreadful as those alreaoy expe rienced. With this preface, proceed to discuss the question of immigration briefly under three general neads' Economic, Political, Social.
 T-FcreuOmfc.
 The labor system in the South IS growing more and more unsatisfactory' while the demand is increasing rom year to year The situation is alreaoy serious, and threatens to become more aggravated before any remedy IS ap piled. Several causes have produced this result Education among the ne- groes, the South's main reliance TOT labor, for the present at least, suggest ing vain hopes and perilous dreams, swelling the number of agitators ana the idle dissatisfied sowing wider ana wider the seed of unrest, and inspiring the dire spirit of revenge instead or the wholesome spirit of emulation
 But we need not hope to modify this educational phase soon at least, Tor It amounts to a craze and must run It's course, intensifying the evils It WouIo remove Misdirected philanthropy, ra- cial perverts, religious fanatics and battalions of cranks and knaves, South as well as North, but mostly North will not let common sense and the teachings of history prevail in this mat ter. Holding education to be the sov- ereign cure-all for political, racial, moral and social ills, and the one miraculous power on earth to equalize the inherently unequal. they will con time to exploit 1t without discrimina- au1 gn daf7aY1Ca 0F axDaFience. until the inevitable climax of conflict comes; and then, reaction on sane lines, let us hope.
 Another cause lies in the inherent weakness of the negro race manifested in the disregard of obligations, the prevalence of immortality and grow ing tendency to abandon the farms and herd in the larger towns and cities.
 Another cause lies in their crude ef- forts at organization, the formation of socities to regulate employment, which have resulted in the promotion of idle ness, with agitation on impracticable and often vicious lines.
 Another case, but not a general one, may be found in the policy of few land owners here and there who them selves too often overlook, or ignore, the obligations of previous contracts In the rivalry to secure needed labor CTS This last is the baneful result of the other causes set out.
 The general result is insufficiency and lneflciency, with consequent embar- rassment, demoralization and loss. Such, briefly, is the economic phase
 secOnd--The Political Phase.
 After a period of more or less quiet under the operation of laws or policies that practically eliminated the negro from the political field, we are getting e., Ill kn of the negro in politics. The public schools. and especially the many en- dowed negro colleges throughout the South, are beginning to bear the in- evitable fruit of agitation and asSer- tion. The craze of office, with it's fierce personal and factional rivalries among the whites, is contributing it's share to the impending peril. The exigencies, or rather the interruptions ness of party politics, may be relied on to do whatever else may be lacking to intensity the peril. It is only a question of time--not very long-when we shall have annther period of the negro in politics. The evils this makes probable can better be imagined than described. There will be a reign-not long, perhaps-but a reign of corrup- tion and conflict. Of course, there will be reaction back of sane and self-pre- serving put lnO ptOGS0S VIII be through fire and blood. The negro, the inflated weakling in the tragedy, will be the chief victim. Upon his per- verted head, horrors will accumulate" !" The operation of the remorseless prin- ciple of survival of the Attest or strong est will be hastened as well as intensi- fled And such, briefly will be the story of the negro in politics-if again attempted-as seems inevitable-for it cannot be for one moment doubted but that the white race will keep what it has and rule what 1t keeps at any cost, peacefully, if possible, forcibly, if nec- essary.
 Socially the question involves the ne- gro's dream of social equality-a mad, an impossible dream, which threatens to be a fatal one to the negro race.
 We know what temporary political equality did in the dark days of recon struction We may readily recall the horrors of the brief period when the negro was the political ruler in the South. We know well the character of the struggle the white man made to | recover the mastery and save Anglo Saxon civilization in America, and the complete success achieved despite a hostile and powerful Government di rected by sectional hate andsupported by a maudlin and perverted sentimen- talism-to give it no worse name-in the populOus Northern States. drunk on the blood of their own race. And we can imagine the character of social struggle for the equality denied by nature and cursed of God
 History teaches by example. It teaches that the political dream of "black heels on white necks" was Wiped ont in blood to be buried deeper