The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1918-12-21
The Labor Problem
in The South
Commissioner Summers Re-
views Situation Resulting
From War Conditions.

The following discussion of labor
conditions in the South and its con-
seauent effect uron industrial life par
ticularly during the war period is
taken from the annual report OF A.
C. Summers, commissioner of agrlcul-
ture, commerce and industries:
The industrial life of the country
was metamorphosed during the period
of the war. It appears to have peen
the policy of the government not to
establish new industries, but to con-
vert the non essentials" to war pur-
poses, and to enlarge existing plants.
For that reason there was not great
amount of industrial expansion in the
South
Certain sections of the country
which rallied at the administration at
Washington because military camps
were established i'm the South appear
to have been unmindful Of the fact
that the government was very gener-
Gus to the industries of other sections
of the country, and that the South Duo
not murmur because Of any apparent
sectional favoritisrn thereby shown.
Had the administration been partial
to the South, new industries of great
ma agnitude would have been located
here
AS it is, the building of military
camps has greatly upset labor condi-
tions in the South. The South's main
industry is agriculture, and removing
thn11c9
workers and giving them undreamed
Of wages as artisans and mechanics
not only interfered with crop making
and crop gathering for the present,
but also has given to portion, of that
class a distaste for farm work in the
future.
This was the fortune of war and
we accept he result as gracefully els
we may, yet it is fact that is well
known and a condition which must
be faced, particularly here in South
Carolina This is indeed a crisis in
the agricultural history Of the State.
While all branches Of trade and IN
dustry are naturally apprehensive, all
waiting for a strong hand, a strong
head, a strong heart to give them dl-
retcing, yet the conditions in the ag-
riculture of our State are peculiarly
sensitive at this moment.
For this reason, it was particularly
cruel and unjust that at this moment
the government should have been
hoodwinked by designing persons who
sought to manipulate the cotton mar
ket for personal speculation and prl-
vate aggrandizement. There was at
stake more than the mere price of
the crop Of 1918. The farreaching ef-
fects Of this dastardly attack upon
the South may be observed at glance
when it is understood that cotton is
the South's industry as well as the
South's crop. If the South should
be beaten down and disheartened in
this attack, the South would suffer
continuously. The South's main IN
dustrial life would be discredited. The
Gsht which leaders of Southern
thought have been waging would Ee
doomed TO fai,ure and the South IN
stead Of enjoying industrial freedom
would revert to a condition OF feuda!-
ism and great estates. The effort Oh
the state OGpdI IlllSIlI VI =
and of other progressive agencies LOT
the last Is years has been to arouse
the people Of the South, to cause
them to get out Of the rut and to
show them that agriculture can be
made profitable and enjoyable. The
rural South has been the truest type
of Americanism To destroy the op-
portunities for developing the. South
by bringing failure as the reward OF
service would be very cruel indeed,
and yet to those who try to look. into
the future this is the sole conclusion
that can be reached. The South in
lighting to preserve the price of the
product of her industry is striving
to save that industry rather than to
get rich hurriedly because of any for
tuitous circumstances.