The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1906-05-23
FOREIGNERS FOR TILE SOUTH.
Husky Folk From Europe Coming to
This Country With a View to
Work.


What the South may expect through
immigration from abroad as a source
of relief from its labor problem was
suggested in the landing one day last
week of more than a thousand Poles,
Russians, Jews, Germans, Bohemians
and other Europeans at Galveston,
most Of them destined for Texas points
and described as a healthy, strong
looking lot Of men, women and chill
dren, ready and willing to hustle for
an honest living. They came by one
of the vessels Of the North German
Lloyd Steamship company, and the
experiment Of establishing a line direct
from Bremen to Galveston has been so
successful that Mr. Frederick Won Pills,
a director Of the company, who has
been studying conditions in the South,
announces that on his return to Ger
many he will recommend the estab
lisment. Of another line to New Or
leans, which he regards as the gate
way to the great agricultural States Of
LOUISIANA, Mississippi, Alabama and
Georgia. In an interview with the New.
York Herald Mr.. Won Pills says that
European Immigrants are beginning
to learn that there is something more
in America than New York, and he
suggests that Southern States in need
of good farmers, of whom hundreds
Of thousands will arrive in this ,coun-
try within the next few years, coop.
crate with his. company in bringing
the South to theS attention. He ex-
presses the belief thai while Italy will
continue to send Immigrants here and
Russia will continue to pour Jews into
the cities, the next flood Of immigra-
ton will come from the German dis
tricts Of Southern Russia, Roumania,
Bulgaria and Hungary, and that they
will be a type Of the men that the
South needs. He says:
sTne people who are now turning
their eyes to America are agricultu-
ralists, and I fully expect to see
great exodus Of them to your shores.
Some will go to South America, but
the great mass will strike out for
America, and their destination will not
be the centres of population. They
will want to cling to their occupation.
that Of tilling the soil. The German
residents Of the countries I have
named are powerful men, Of exempla-
~ habits, and their idea of success in
life is to have homes of their own and
to rear healthy families.
.aThese people would be boon to
the South. They are accustomed to
temperature and soil much the same,
and would bring about an almost mag
icai development Of the great area
which now lacks proper cultivation.
They are natural farmers and hard
workers. They will start a new race
in the South-will be the real pio-
neers. Twenty years from now con-
fdently predict, America will be. glad
she left her doors open and pointed
the way to the land Of the cotton
fields.
.There need be no fear in America
that Europe is unloading upon her her
undesirable population. It is quite
true that many of the Immigrants,
notably from Italy, are not the best
sort Of citizens, but those who come
from central Europe are the kind of
people that Europe does not wish to
lose. Many of those who come from
Italy spend part Of the year here and
return to their homes with their
American earnings. This is a custom
which should be discouraged. But in
the case Of the people from Hungary.
Bohemia, Roumania, Bulgaria and
other parts Of Europe, they emigrate
for good. They sever all ties abroad
and start out With the determination
to link their fortunes with those of
America and to send for their relatives
as soon as they can scrape together
sufficient money"
Texas can tell the rest Of the South
what the German is in agriculture.
Half a century or more ago many Ger
mans settled in that State, and, like
their fellows in other parts Of the
country, have become substantial ele-
ments and thorough Americans. If
the later comers approach them in
qualities Of industry and thrift, the
South cannot hesitate for moment to
encourage hundreds of thousands Of
them to people that section and to
turn hundreds of thousanrs Of acres
of fertile land now lying idle or to be
hrol,ght into the market as numbering