The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-30
nr VIII T. shsehan.

 and the negro has been the unwelcome old Man of the Sea. The South is still sinbad and the negro is still the Sail or's burden, the black Old Man of the Sea.
 IL is not the fault of the negro. nor did he willingly take on the role of the burden maker. And like the adventur- ous sailor. the South is not Willingly carving the heavy burden. The two were brought together in their unwel- come roles through the mighty moving of a fate over whih perhaps neither could have had control
 The negro Is not to be blamed He is a burden, a drawback because of his deficiency. The negro is always Tn the passive mood. He has never lifted his hand to do things for his own saliva tion He has never wrought for his own good. He has never caught cir cumstance by the troat and made it stand and deliver what 1t had In At- rica or In America he is content to sit in the sun and let fate trample upon him.
 Needed the Labor. The South took him when he was brought to her doors because there was work for him in the cotton fields and she needed labor in her cotton and in her tobacco fields. There was none other to be had. Those who took the negro from his native barbarlsm ana brought him, an ignorant and gihhering slave to the new country are the peo- pie who earned the condemnation Tor the regro's wrongs. if he had any, ana who earned the blame for the white mans misfortunes, Which ne mas as suredly undergone.
 It had been far better If the south . ern white man had met at the ports or the South or Mason and Dixons ilne the men who were bringing in negro slaves whether they were English slave traders or whether they were New Bedford Yankees. turning a thrI . ty penny. met them with shot guns and driven them back. One might under take to say that the South would have two dollars where 1t has one now 1T her farms had not been turned over to the negro. If the negro had never been brought over.
 The negro. the helpless pawn of fate would have had no ground to charge that he had been wronged; the white man of the South would have had no rosary of misfortunes to tell over. the misfortunes which came With the ne gro.
 And if the negro has borne the wrongs which his friends from a dis tance charge. right royalty has he re- venged himself upon the men who own cd him as a slave. The man in this bad business, who has not paid the debt he owes is the man who took the negro and made money out of his flesh and blood.
 Pushing the stone.
 The South is struggling. always struggling with the negro, and his det- ciencies Today the South is industri- ally a Sisyphus of ancient mythology pushing a big stone up the hill which he cannot let go but must needs keep behind it pushing, pushing and push ing. This was sisyphus's fate fin hades If he relaxed his strength, but for a moment the huge stone would have rushed back upon him and crushed him to the earth. The negro question is the heavy stone behind which the South must gather her strength and push always. f
 In matters of government. in poli- tics. in education and In industrial af- fairs the negro rises ever and demands consideration. Nothing is to be done without figuring on what part the ne- gro Is going to play in it. He does not take a helpful part. It is not ex- pected of him now, except by those who do not know him.
 Now comes to Alabama in the good year 1906. the great question of inn migration. The negro is the greatest factor in that question. He is today the greatest obstacle so far as Ala bama is concerned.
 View of Governor JeIks.
 The same thought or relatively the same thought was given by Governor Jelks in a brief interview on the sub ject of immigration, a subject to which he has given deep thought and deep consideration.
 "The one room dilapidated negro cab in is the greatest obstacle Alabama has to successful immigration said Gov ernor Jelks thoughtfully. Along the railroad these cabins form a canal that carries the tide of immigration right on through every section of Alabama where the negro is numerous The possible immigrant looks out the pas senger car and sees the hopeless ne- gro cabin and it's dilapidated surround ings. He thinks that the cabin is the home of man who labors every day in the fields. He thinks that some thing must be wrong with a country which gives no better home and no bet ter living to the man that works every day on his farm. He thinks that there is no opportunity for a man where the negro farmer makes no better show ing. Thinking this he moves on.
 50 the negro cabins that arc seen from the windows of the passenger coaches form a canal through which the tide of white immigration ebbs and flows"
 The Immigrant Problem.
 The Governor is earnestly and ener- getically trying to work out the im- migration question to the good advan- tase of Alabama. He was lately an ac- tive participant in the big immigra- tion conference which met in New York and where he made 2 personal study of the open door of European immigration. The Governor does not stand for indiscrimnate immigration. He is not willing that all immigrants who come through Castle Garden should come into Alabama in sort of sight unseen way. No trouble breeders are wanted in his idea Of what immigration should be. Men to tin the soil are the men who are wanted, men who will win the rich rewards that the soil of Alabama SO freely offers. Of this sort are many of those who come from Europe through Ellis Island. It is this sort. the soil tillers, the thrifty and the industrious to whom the State Is ready now to- lend helping hand to get them fixed on Alabama soil.
 Help of the Governor.
 In pursuance of this policy of his ad- minfstration the Governor has extend ad a hand to tba organized State SO-