ters along in an aimless, hopeless life, until his old aching bones are gathered up and dropped into a hole in the ground in some obscure, weedcovered, desolate graveyard. His skin is black, his ideas of life are crude; yet, no man, who spends a life of toil and devotion, fighting the wolf of poverty continually to keep his wife and little ones together in the little hut in the lane, provided for him by his master, is destitute of ambition; is not without a desire to achieve something, if an opportunity to do so would present itself in a tangible manner. Be man cultured or uncultured, civilized or savage, black or white, he has an inborn desire to achieve something. This poor Negro farmer saw an opportunity to leave, and he left the old plantation behind-the land of the oppressed-and now greater slavery threatens his children— moral and physical degeneracy.

A CRY FOR MORE EFFICIENT LABOR.-At present a cry for more efficient labor is often heard in different sections of the South, especially in the rural districts, which the Negro is leaving.

The planter cannot afford to pay high wages for incompetent labor and make it pay. It has been said that if ten million Italians and other foreigners could displace the Negro population of the South, this country would soon blossom like

And the poor mortal totters along in an aimless, hopeless life until his old aching bones are gathered up and dropped into a hole in the ground in some obscure, weed-covered, desolate graveyard. Taken from life.

a rose so far exceeding present prosperity that no comparison could be made. Here, it is claimed, are the natural resources-lumber, coal, iron, and shipping facilities by rail and water; agricultural possibilities, climate, etc.—to make it great. But we believe that the dream of populating the South with European labor will never be fully realized. We have it from personal investigation, and from men greatly interested in the material progress of this country, that experiments made with Italians have proven destructive to the highest social, moral and political interests of the country. They relieve the labor market where placed, it is true; but is this the only interest, prompted by the avarice of the large planters and others, that we should deem worthy of consideration? We would far rather live in an exclusively colored settlement than one exclusively Italian, and we have our

reasons.

All that we have seen of the Italian settlements points to nothing conducive to a higher mode of living, and more self-pride in the beautifying and building up of their surroundings, than what we find among the lower class of Negroes. We have also noticed that they and the Negroes often mix, and it does not produce a very desirable progeny. This country needs more Germans, French, Swiss, English and Scotch; first,

to take advantage of the agricultural possibilities; and, secondly, to fill this country with a reliable, thrifty stock.

FOREIGN

IMMIGRATION WILL PROVE A BLESSING TO THE NEGRO. -A far-sighted editorial appeared in the Odd Fellows Journal (colored) of Philadelphia, in June, 14, 1906, which inculcates a hope as well as a prophetic truth, well worth repeating here. It is as follows: "An attempt is made to turn the tide of foreign immigration southward. We hope it will succeed. Many persons seem to see in it disaster for the Negro; we see in it the greatest hope. There is no reason why all of our race should live in one section of the country any more than another. We admit that in factories and in the skilled mechanical trades, colored men cannot find employment in the North. While this is true, it is also true that the great majority of our people in the South are farm hands, and there is no locality in the North or West where a colored farm hand cannot get larger wages than he gets anywhere in the South. There is not a colored loafer in New York, Philadelphia, Boston or Chicago, who could not find plenty of farm work to do at good wages if he would only consent to do it. It must be admitted by all who have made any study of the matter that the more American any locality

is the greater the color prejudice that exists. The South is the most American section of our country, because but few foreigners have settled there in more than a hundred years.

So long as the direct descendants of the present southerner control the South the colored man will have a hard time. If the great tide of foreign immigration shall be turned southward, in another generation, by reason of the mixture of blood, there will be a new southern man to all intents and purposes. The foreign laborer will not put up with the treatment which the colored laborer receives. They will not be cheated out of the crops by dishonest landlords and country store keepers. They will be saving and buying land. The lazy southern white man will not be able to withstand their industrious competition, and will have to move out or disappear as a result of intermarriage. All this will produce a new southern white man. In this is the black man's only hope. Mr. Ogden and the members of the Southern Educational Board think that a new man can be created out of the poor white man of the South by education. We do not believe it. Let the foreigners come in large numbers, buy farms and plant industries, and the white man who lives for the purpose of 'keeping the Negro down,' will gradually disappear."