Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1910-06-29
WORK FOR CAROLINAS

Poe, Editor OF The Progressive
|, Farmer and Gazette, Raleigh, N.
G., Before the South Carolina Press
Association, Glenn Springs, S. g.,
June IA, 1910.
Both Carolinas need and must have
a larger proportion of white people,
The whole South, in fact, is still too
sparsely settled. Our eleven South
ern States. excluding Texas, support
only 16, 900 900 people of both races:
and only 100000 white people:
while the same area in Europe sup
ports over 1~6O,OOO,OOO white people.
And it must be remembered that up
to a certain point which we shall not
reach for centuries yet, and other
things being equal: prosperity depends
upon density of population. Popula-
ton makes wealth, provided that it
is normally intelligent and efficient.
The Sort of immigration We Need.
Of coure, we do not want the low
e~r-class European immigration. If we
can get immigration from England:
Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Holland,
Sweden, etc.,-the countries whose
blood has gone to make up u vigor-
Gus American stock-it would be Of
great help to us. We r all of us
such immigrants ourselves or descen-
dants of such immigrants. From
some countries of Southern and
Eastern Europe, on the other hand,
immigration is Of a decidedly lower
order and Objectionable because of a
low standard of intelligence and eff
cheney.
On the very san principle, how
ever, immigration of a normal or high
standard of intelligence and efficiency
is desired. Such immigration can be
had, and ought to be had-in some
measure perhaps from our English,
Scotch, Dutch, and Irish kinsfolk
across the sea-but chiefly from our
Northern and Western States. For
years now hundreds Of thousands of
the most enterprising and progressive
farmers IN the Middle West have
been going into Canada with its long
lard winters and bitter climate, not
only giving up American citizenship,
but actually paying two to three times
as much for land in that inhospitable
region as land of the same fertility
commands in the South. We ought
to have brought these men to the
South. They know our institutions,
our language, they are industrious,
thrifty, wide-awake, and many of
them are of Southern ancestry who
should naturally come back home.
Let's bring them back.
immigration to Solve the Race
Problem.
If there were no other reason for
advocating such immigration from
the North and West, l should favor
it as our surest deliverance from u
race problem. The proportion of ne
groes to whites is too large in every
Southern State, and my hope is that
ultimately the tides of migration and
immigration will equalize population
until the proportion of negroes in no
State will exceed 20 per cent. We
must train the negro-the more ignor-
ant he is the greater the burden on
the South-but at best the process
will be slow, and at present it would
probably not be too much to say that
i'll considering our whole population,
including our great constructive lead
ers and captains of industry, the
average negro in the Carolinas in
economic worth and efficiency is only
half as useful as the average white
man. In other words, in rating gen.
eral average of efficiency we should
put the white man at 100 and the
negro at so, so that a county half
white and half negro would have. an
average efficiency of rs, or a handi-
cap of rs per cent as compared with
a county with an exclusive white
population of a normal degree Of
efficiency.
Whether or not the difference is as
much as I have indicated, certain it
is that the larger the proportion of
whites, the higher the average Of eff
fcicncy, the more prosperous will be
our every industry, and the better it
will be for every individual citizen,
including the negroes themselves.
Two Ways to Build Up the Carolinas.
There are just two great ways to
build up the Carolinas. First and Of
paramount Importance is Education
Of all our people; and l should only
supplement this by putting more ear
nest emphasis upon practical eduea-
ton, education that trains for eff
cheney, not education suited to the
great urban centers Of Europe and
the North, but education suited to the
needs of a great, awakening agricul-
tural citizenship such as ours is and
must be.
And second only to Education, is
immigration.
5000, 600 Instead of 100000 White
South C%arclinians.
Now let us start rieht-not by
seeking immigrants from Southern
Europe, but by advertising our re-
sources to the thrifty, enterpr;sing
and Progressive farmers Of the North