The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1922-12-01
THE SCARCITY OF LABOR

A 2OOQ MANY Ao1 ~
planning that their tenants and snare
cropoers are leaving and that the
farms are without tenants. This has
been the history of every section
where the boil weevil has gone. Al
ter a crop failure OF two the ne
groes grow discouraged and look for
places where they can the more easi-
ly secure the necessities OF life. The
whites, too, in many cases leave the
farms and go to the towns, seeking
other employment. In doing so most
of them are obeying the first law OF
nature-looking out for ones self.
But this is not the sole cause OF
the exodus from the farms. The in
dustrial plants of the North, and the
activities in other centres demand
chap labor. Heretofore, this cheap
labor has come from Europe for the
most part. But now the European la
borer cannot find his way to Amer
lea on account of the stringent i'm
migration laws. Only certain per-
centage of the present foreign pop
ulation of the country is admitted
into this country each year. The re-
suit is that other sections, not being
able to obtain the cheap labor de-
sired from this source, turn to the
South and are bidding for the ne
groes on the farms, the only other
source from which cheap labor may
be obtained.
And the scarcity of labor in the
North and elsewhere is having ten
dency to make the prices demanded
by all classes of laborers very high.
The wages now being paid the farm
negroes of the South who have found
their way to Philadelphia, Evanston
and other centres for the congrega-
tion Of these people, are very attrac-
tive. Perhaps if the laborers took in
to account the amount Of rent and
other expenses demanded, the wages
would not seem so large, but this
they often fail to take into account.
Nobody can blame these negroes
who have been at the point Of star
vaton for two years for seeking a
better way of living, just as nobody
bfames the white farmer who leaves
the farm and comes to town where
he can secure employment on better
terms. But at the same time it is
evident that something must be done
to keep the farms going, because af-
ter all the people must live from the
products of the farm and the whole
salvation Of this country depends up
on the yields from our fields.
And there is no way by which the
laborers and tenants on the farms
can be kept there, there is no way
by which the white farmer may be
induced to farm on, except to find a
way to make the farms at least tol-
cradle places on which to live. The
landowners must cooperate with
the laborers, with the share-croppers
and with his tenants to see that
these people get the necessities of
life. He must, looking to this end,
study a better means of tilling the
Soil, teach it to those who till the
soil for him, instruct them in crop
dWersifcation and soillbuilding,
and enable them to see that the
promise of better days on. the farms
is not made up of empty words, but
that there is something of reality in
it.
There will be a better day for far
ming and for farmers. But it will
not come of itself. 1t must come
from the efforts Of those who work.
Men who own lands cannot expect
the laborers. share-croppers and ten
ants to do all the suffering, and all
the work looking to better conditions.
The real farmer must get out a.
monst the people who make his
farm prosperous and work with them.
He must give them a living chance
and be willing to give a little here