The Bolivar County Democrat., 1906-09-22
PROSPERITY OF
PLAIN PEOPLE
Will Make Nation Great==Hon. Chas.
Scott as Lc oor Day Orator.
Pays Glowing Tribute to the Workingman
and the Workingman' Helpmeet in
Speech at MCComb City--Mr.
Bryan's Tribute.

, because dividends as rule nave peeh
reasonable and satisfactory during a
considerable part of this period, and the
nation at large on the whole has been
prosperous beyond our most sanguine ex-
pectations.
| wish lust here to call attention to
the fact that the white la5oring classes
of the South, and especially those In
Mississippi, are in many respects to be
congratulated on their environment. The
climate is mild and salubrious, work is
plentiful, and the cost of living Is fairly
reasonable As against this, however,
the scale of wages for many workmen
is less here than it is in the Northern
and Eastern States. Another thing
Perhaps the dignity of labor is not as
broadly and thoroughly appreciated here
in all respects as it deserves to be. In
nv opinion. both of these conditions
are caused by the fact that here the
white labor comes in competition, more
or less. in many cases with negro labor.
1t is an axiom. as YOU well know, that
where any considerable number of men
work on a low scale OF wages, it tends
to lower wages generally along all cog
nate lines. even though the cheap labor
is inferior labor.
In this connection | call your atten-
ton to the fact that the bricklayers i'll
New York receive 65 cents per hour, in
Chicago 60 cents, while in Mississippi he
gets only 80 cents per hour.
Carpenters in New York get SO cents,
in Chicago so cents, and here 2S1a cents.
Painters in New York receive 46R
cents per hour, in Chicago 45 cents, in
New Orleans 301a cents.
Firemen in New York get $2.33 per
day, in Chicago S2.39, and i'll New Or
leans $2.09.
These figures are taken from the report
OF the interstate commerce commission,
and there may have been some changes
since the report was made. but if so
the differences would probably remain
the same.
The number of immigrants coming
into the United States of all nationali
ties for the year ended June 30, 1905,
aggregated 1,026, 400, of which only 1,342
come to Mississippi, vast majority OF
these immigrants remaining in the
North and East. Notwithstanding this
fact, wages in great many occupations
are higher there, as already stated, than
they are in the South. Such being the
case, we cannot account for it except on
the theory just mentioned, that here the
white labor comes in competition with
the inefficient negro labor, and so the
scale OF wages is reduced.
This competition with negro labor will
be removed, my friends in the course of
time by the proper kind of immigration,
OF which the State stands greatly in
need. The negro, while here, should be
kindly and humanely treated and pro-
tected in life, liberty and property.
Nothing should be done to hasten his de-
parture, because sudden revolutions of
any kind are always harmful. 1t is GER
tain. however, that, as our talented and
eloquent Governor, James X Nardaman,
who has given this subject great thought,
points out, he is growing more and more
inefficient all the while, and it is equally
certain that he will gradually leave the
Southern States in great numbers, to
be scattered throughout the country at
large. His place will be supplied from
time to time with white immigrants OF
desirable kind, industrious and law
abiding people who will help to develop
our vast and valuable resources Their
coming will also help the laboring men
OF the State by raising the scale of
wages and the dignity of labor at one
and the same time. 1t will benefit the
employers, too, by giving them an ample
supply of labor, and they will make
money by the change. 1t is true they
will pay higher wages, but it is also
true that they will get better work. The
coming of these immigrants will benefit
the commonwealth at large by giving it
an industrious and lawabiding class of
white citizens, who. as stated. will assist
in the rapid development of our lands
and other resources now lying idle and
unproductive, partly for the want of cap
ital, but more especially for the want OF
men.
Mississippi has a radiant future before
her, and you, my fellow -citiz<es, will
share in her good fortune. Meanwhile,
| congratulate you on the good things
OF the present, and wish You Godspeed
in the important and honorable work
that you faithfully perform from day to
day. am pleased to meet you here to-
day and | am especially pleased, let me
say, to see your wives with you on this
joyous occasion, for you know, as | do.
how much of your success and how much
of your happiness you owe them.
20 woman, in your homes of ease
Uncertain coy and hard to please
And variable as the shade
By the light, quivering aspen made,
When pain and anguish ring the brow
An ministering angel thou"
These lines are true to life. When
we are prosperous and happy, my
friends, these dear wives of ours have
a will and way of their own. and
will help us spend our money with a
light heart and light hand. But let
adversity come to the husband or the
father Let bankruptcy or disgrace con-
front him. Let his income or his wages
stop. Let the crops fail or prices unex-
cusably decline. Let the whole world
desert him. Instantly there is change.
she then becomes a ministering angel in
word and deed She hovers about him
with all the tenderness of a mother for
an infant. Indeed, she is then wife and
mother and sister and comrade and
friend, all at one and the same time.
Forgetting herself and all the world. she
opens her loving arms as she would to
a little child and bids him
Come rest in this bosom, my own
stricken dear,
Though the herd have fled from thee. tby
home is still here;
Here still is the smile that no cloud can
o'ercast
And heart and hand all thy own to