The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-16

In some degree the same remark ap plies, mutatis mutandis. to other irol
 making centers of the South. If 1 wer'
 seeking an investment TOT my enildrel
 or myself, If had been a young man
 I think I would vary Horace Greeley
 injunction and Co South
 'T have now taken nasty survey O the marvellous resources and potential ities of the South. How are they to b'
 more fully developed? The answer Is
 we need more skilled white farmers and more skilled white mechanics. Il
 we can attract these, capital will fol
 low. And 1t will follow as fast ns f
 is needed. Capital win not go wher' there is a chronic scarcity of labor.
 Negro Is a Curse.
 What of the negro as a farm laborei and a mechanic? We have 8.Q00,000 ol these in the South. Is not that sufi' ! cient labor supply? In the opinion Oi the writer, the negro has been the in dustrial curse of the South. The insti- tuition of slavery directed the energies of the old South into one channel. Thai | was agriculture as. carried on at the large plantations. It made the small farmer Impossible. and the mechanical l trades were neglected, except as prac- ticed by the blacks. The Institution oi slavery left all the other great re- sources undeveloped la the North where agriculture went hand in hand with manufacturing, the end of the war between the States found the peo- pie prosperous and labor in great de- mand at high wages. Here, in our sec tion of the United States, industries had to be created; the, beginnings were small aud capital was cautious in coming. The t!liiug of the soil had to be turned over to the liberated negroes under a system of tenantcy which does 4oIl Rg .v.f cious system still prevails to a large extent. It is a wasteruI one.
 The yearly negro cropper, ever changing, moving from plantation to plantation, with no interests at stake. except to make a crop that will cover his advances, robbing the soil and re- turning nothing to it, Is a great draw bach to agriculture. He knows little about diversified farming and as a rule he is too indolent to engage in 1t. If the 166.06 square miles now unde. cultivation were in the exclusive pos session of white farmersy the yield would be doubled, the South would not have to draw on the West for so many kinds of agricultural products and our farm lands would be worth three times as much as they are worth now.
 Black Man Dependent.
 These people, North and South, who expect that the negro will in time make a trained mechanic. that he will become an efficient worker in the mine the furnace and the factory. will be sorely disappointed. The negro can nev- CT equal the white man in the indus trial field. He lacks the habit of in- dustry. he is by nature and constitu- tionality wanting in steady appiica- tion, mentally he cannot be developed beyond a certain point. ne is devoid of the inventive genius, ne -2r self-reliant. depending on the Caucasian for guid- ance and direction. He rarely saves his earnings ahn very seldom becomes the owner of home in the city or town. He never remains loHg a. one job He iaIs no fixed babitatiGn and is hut lit Ie aid in the huildinE up of q com luuity.
 But, it may be claimed that this iS only "ansitory and that the negro will in time show to better advantage, with better opportunities. According to lthc last Federal census there were, in the year 1900. 3l,974 negroes in the State of Massachusetts. For more than one hundred years the negro has been free in that State. fettered Dy no laws or social conditions discriminating against him. He has there attended school and church with his white nelghbors. Now, what has he accomplished in the State Of Massachusetts? His grandfather fences and did odd jobs for the white man. The negro in Massa- chusetts today has not risen above