The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1910-01-09
WHY THE SOUTH
HAS A NEED FOR
THE IMMIGRANT
LACKS BENEFIT OF SUBSTAN-
TIAI LARoRING POPULATION
FOREIGNERS SUPPLY THIS ELE-
MENT IN WEST AND AID THAT
SECTIONS GROWTH.


Hugh MacRae, Of Wilmington, n. c.,
who has studied the immigration
question as it affects the South for
MANY years, takes the view that the
Southern states will never solve the
labor problem or become truly pros
porous until through immigration it
receives large accesions to its popula-
ton. He declares that the immigrant |
is profitable to the region where he |
makes his home and performs his la |
Dor. He holds that the great advance |
ment of the North and the West has |
been in large measure due to the in |
flux of Industrious farmers from Eu- |
rope during the last so years.
Speaking up on the subject before
the recent meeting of the Southern
Commercial congress in washington
Mr.. MacRae said in part:
Among present opportunities none
appears to me to contain greater
: possibilities than that of immigration.
/ This will develop wealth for the
South, with less effort, than will come
from any other source. When the tide
OF immigration sets in toward a coun-
try It proves magical stimulant. 1t
raises values, increases opportunities
and is the source Of the much dis
cussed and much desired 'unearned In
crement of wealth.
South Lacks Benefit.
Cup to the present time the South
has received no benefit from immigra-
ton, for reasons which are easily dis
coverable. For many years the South
had an abundance of common labor,
and the supply of capital was tnsufd-
cient to afford full opportunities for
the ,laborers. This resulted In wage
scale lower than obtained in the North
and West, and the immigrant laborer
reaching America was easily attracted
to the section bidding most for the
labor.
''The first armies of immigrants
spread over the Northern states, and
then moved Westward, adding fuel to
the flame Of progress; industries
sprang up, agricultural values in,
creased, great railroad systems We'd
with each other in carrying the immi-
grant farther and farther West. The
newcomers, after making homes, at
tracted friends and relatives to the
New England and Middle States.
What immigrant Means.
"Perhaps we can imagine what this
means if for a moment we picture the
conditions that would exist if from
these sections we should take the i'm
migrant population and the wealth
which during the past 40 years it has
produced-the wealth created by the
Irish, the Germans, the French Cana
.dians, Swedes, Hollanders, Poles, Hun
garians, and Italians-wave after wave
arriving and lifting the earlier corners
up to higher levels, building railroads,
developing the agricultural and mining
resources of vast territories, supplying
huge Industrial centers with labor, and
causing great cities to be built.
Remove all this; take the Germans
from the territory of Milwaukee and
st. Louis, the Swedes from the region
around St. Paul and Minneapolis, the
Poles and Hungarians from Pittsburg.
and the Greeks, Italians and Slavonic
races from New England, and there
would result general calamity.
These immigrants have been the es-
sentials of growth and progress. Both
as producers and consumers they are
most important. They convert poten-
tial wealth, opportunities, into angi-
Bile, disable wealth.
South and the Immigrant.
From this immeasurable force the
South has received no benefit. There
appeared to be no crying need for the
immigrant; his importance was not
recognized, so it happened that the
South was designated as The Country
of the Black Man. a section to be
Stunned by the sturdy, industrious i'm
migrant. This idea was so thorough
ly promulgated in Europe that today
many immigrants expect to find canni
balls in the South and are surprised
when they meet with a kindly and hos
pitable reception.
I'm 1906 the South was made to fee
for the first time, certainly for more
than so years, the great disadvantage
of a shortage of labor. The growth o.
wealth and industry had outrun the
labor supply. The mills and mine:
robbed the farms of their needed hell
and the pursuit of agriculture became
extremely difficult to the planter whC
was dependent upon hired help, We
the mills could only run part of theil
machinery.
With returning prosperity, thu
South will again face a labor famine
and the question of immigration mus
be recognized as one of paramount
Importance"