The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1908-08-26
COMMISSIONER WATSON WAKES
FROM HIS DREAM.

'ou" C"rOhha Immigration Expert
Hoped He Had Solved Domestic
| servant PrOblem-SOcial System Tn
South Carolina Makes No Provision
For White Servants.
| Columbia. S. c., Aug. 18.-Com-
missioner Watson SAYS he has walad
up from his dream Of solving the do
mestic servant problem in 4his Sec
tion' which is steadily growing more
acute by substituting foreign white
servants for the negroes.
I'm done with the job" said Mr.
watson with a sigh. 'There,s no
ues. I will make no more attemnts
at least for the present to bring white
servants to any part Of the state. Con.
ditions will not warrant further at
tempts along this line. There are
some instances in which both sides
continued satisfied, but these, are few
and far between. The chief trouble
Is the matter Of pay. People in this
state are unwilling to pay the increas-
ed price for white help. THEY'LL start
OUT With a thorough understanding Of
what they are to pay, and begin right
away Dragging on the relief they are
getting, and everything will work love-
~ Till pay day, when there Is a grand
split up and the jig is all up"
1t Is not merely an idle dream that
Mr.. Watson has been having, for che
mas been working with the energy
characteristic Of him for several years
trying to bring relief to the long suf-
fering public, but every experiment
he has made has been a Gisappoint-
ment SO far as the general plan he
inaugurated was concerned, and he
mas become gutter only after the
most determined efforts In different
directions and after the most ex-
haustive study Of the situation.
His first attempt failed because of
social conditions, the help he located
leaving after time for the North
and West where it was well treated
and amply paid. These were intelli-
gent people Of some education, whose
lives were made miserable hy the nag
ging OF negro servants In the same
household and who found nobody out
side to coming!e with. And the com.
missioner also soon saw that It would
not do to have young girls working
az servants far away from their friends
and relatives.
The commissioner next devised q
plan of bringing the foreigners in
groups Of families, and he secured
some high class people in this way.
He found places for the parents on
farms near cities. the sons and daugh-
ters working in the cities. Mr.. Wat
son thought he had gotten On the right
track at last Of the solution of the
vexatious problem not only locally, but
throughout the South. People who
got this help told him and told
their friends how satisfactory it was
working, and the domestics wrote
home to friends and relatives to fol-
low their lead. Mr.. Watson went to
work with that boundless enthusiasm
and bouyant optimism that has always
marked his endeavors. The situa-
ton really warranted him, in enter
tanning confident hope of having
found the key to- the situation. But
he has been having some rude awak-
enings lately. So steadily have these
jars been coming in that even the
commissioner with all his good fight
ing qualities acknowledges defeat for
| the time being.
The coming Of the Wittekind people
had a most salutary effect on the ne
| groes not only in Charleston and CO.
lumbia, where the quaint visitors were
seen the most but in nearly every
town in the state. The negro women
| servants, and negro men, thought they
had genuine competition, that would
drive them out of their jobe. Lazy,
ailing, shiftless and impertinent cooks,
| washwomen, nurses and walters took
new leases on life, and became COM
petent, willing. obliging, respectful
helpers with such a suddenness as to
| startle even themselves. But this
neutrality-suspicious. is a thing Of the
past now. At present when a house
wife or her daughter goes out to hunt
up servant, she is met with the reply
on all sides:
you know I doesen't hire out no
mOre,' with an air that indicates
amazement that that white woman"
has not learned before this that "this
colored lady" has reached that stage
in social life.