The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1907-02-16

Az 10 dSscEldtC 0OAtOII piO1uCLlOii
with the idea OF negro labor as
it sole dependence This is true to
such an extent that most people are
under the impression that practically
9hc entire American cotton crop is
1he product of negro toll As mat
ter OF fact, more than half is raised
by the white man. The inability OF
the negro, thus far, to hold his own
with the Northern white man has
been demonstrated SO often, and in
so many ways, that it is no longer a
debatable question. The fault is di-
vided between the labor union,
Northern economic race prejudice,
and negro inefficiency-in what pro-
portions I shall not attempt to say.
As cotton grower, however, his
supremacy remains unquestioned in
the popular mind. In investigating
fhis popular fallacy some Is years
ago 7 reached the conclusion that,
although the native Southern white
man had always, even during the
slavery regime, produced a much
larger proportion Of the cotton crop
than was commonly believed, it was
not he who was destined seriously
10 threaten the negro's hold on this
branch Of industry. I believed then,
as I believe now, that it is through
immigration that the South is to
-a,r;-. 4f, .,It;,,ota davaIoor,ep+ of
her almost untouched resources. [
believe that it is merely a question OF
time when the story OF the West is
to find its counterpart in the South
tihcially retarded or accelerated, &C
cording to the sentiment of the native
white man in different parts of the
South: but it can no more be pre-
vented than can the final working out
OF any other economic law.
1t is now more than a quarter of
a century since Frederick Douglas
Tisked his reputation as prophet on
dependence of the South upon the
negro In an address on the kansas
Exodus" he declared that:
Only a few years of non-tillage
and fruitful South to the bats and
owls of desolate wilderness. From
this condition. shocking for a South
ern man to contemplate, it is now
seen that nothing less powerful than
the naked iroa arm of the negro can
save her For him as a Southern Ia
borer there is no competitor or sub
stitute Thethought of filling his
place by any other variety of the hui
man fsmhy will be found delusivc
and utterly impractible. Neither
Cinnamon, German, Norwegian, nor
Swede can drive him from the sugar
and cotton fields of Louisiana and
Mississippi. They would certainly
perish in the black bottoms of those
States if they could be induced, which
they can not. to try the experiment.
Hence it is seen that the dependence
of the planters, land owners, and old
mastcr-class of the South upon the
negro IS nearly complete and perfect.
He stands today the admitted author
eof whatever prosperity, beauty, and
civilization arc now possessed by the
South and the admitted arbiter of
her destiny.
The Ita11an as the Negroes Com
petitor
1t is rather singular that in his
enunlefatio OF races incapable OF
competing with the negro Frederick
Douglas should have overlooked the
Italian. though his words are wholly
without foundation as to those he
mentioned 1t is very largely the
italian that has deprived the negro OF
50 many occupations in Northern
cities, and it is the hardy. thrifty,
tireless peasant OF the same race who
IS today in the sugar and cotton fields
of Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississip-
pi furnishing proof that Douglas was
= bet'er orator 49,, r-oehet VIII
1eresting to turn to the dull and pro-
sale pages Of an Industrial Commos-
sion report of a later day, and read
there the mattcr-of-fact statement
that 'the Italians OF Mississippi and
Louisiana sre rapidly dislodging the
negroes from the sugarcane planta
lions" The FIVE parishes of Louisi-
ana " 1ich an 1899. tliee yea; previous
to tie last CENSUS. had more than
20. 600 acres each in cane were St.
Mary, | afourche, Assumption. Ter
rebonne, and ST. James. This group
contained 81 per cent of the total
cane area Of the State. In 1890 these
parishes contained goo Italians. and
in 1900. 5oo7 During the same 10
year period the percentage OF negroes
The Colony at Sunnysidee.
But it is the Italian cotton grower
TO whom wish TO call attention here
sand to what is probably the most i'm
nortant colony of these people now