The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1907-08-07

Handwriting on the Wall.
From the Southern Farm Magazine.
Arguments in behalf of negroes
cultivating habits Of industry and
dependabilify are being uttered with
greater and greater frequency in the
south, where negroes have heretofore
had their best chance in history and
where many of them seem to be de-
iberately throwing it away. One was
recently made upon the occasion of
the closing for the summer os the
negro schools at Columbus, 'is..,
when Mr.. G. Gunby Jordan. president
of the school board and also president
Of the Georgia Immigration Associa-
ton. pointed to the fact that the TIDE
of immigration was turning south
ward, and with the coming in that
way Of whites it would be a case of
the negro filing the industrial bill
much more satisfactorily than at pres
ent or of being compelled to look
elsewhere for the haphaZard, desul-
tory kind of employment that seems
to satisfy him. The south has been
exceedingly patient with the negroes,
especially those who have come un-
der the curse of the school education
that has robbed them Of all sense Of
responsibility and has trained them
to expect to live without exertion on
their part. But patience has its lin
its, and what may happen when it is
exhausted is indicated in the talk Of
Mr.. Jordan, and also in the speech of
President L. E. Johnson of the Nor
folk & Western Railway before the
Petersburg (va.) Chamber of Com
merce, in which he said:
ct have naught to say against that
class Of labor upon which this State
and otner States Of the south have
been dependent for so many years,
but the handwriting is onthe wall, and
in tho fo-c;5le language o The 6az
is i,.sv.rahie ehat. unless the negro
makes gea tire day q o ais ena2loy-
nle1at as tfe ef1isf faeter ~ the iaoor
osestion Of this section IS drawing -
a close From my own observation,
it does not appear to me
that it is the desire of the
white people of Virginia that the ne
gro shall be excluded from the oppor-
tunity of earning an honest and hon
rable living in those vocations Of life
to which his character, training and
habits are best suited, or in any call
ing in which his efficiency is made
plain, but it is fact that our people
are no longer satisfied with inefficient
ana unfaithful labcrers, and unless
The race, who have for SO many years
had the monopoly of the labor situa-
ton in the south shall prove more
satisfactory and reliable than has
been the condition during the past
years, it must be realized that modern
progress demands that the work shall
oe done-by the negro, if he will Go
1t; by others, if he will not. I have
come sufficiently in contact With the
agricultural Interests OF this section to
-ealize that the farmers OF this and
other :::tares similarly situated must
secure help from some source. and
immigration seems the only source
from which this aid can be hoped for.
In those words are reflected the
frien..iv attitude of the south general
ly toward negroes. But at the same
time they are a positive int;nation of
what is TO happen unless the negroes
are brought back TO their senses. AS
matter Of fact 10 better way OF re-
storing them 70 sanity could De de
vised than to confront them With the
competition of foreign immigrants.
ready and willing TO DO the work at
hand. Hence. it is difficult to under
stand why White farmers in the south
caa have the least objection to che
coming in Of capable and desirable
foreigners OF the laboring class.
Beware Of oinmcnts for Cafarrh