it be born of self-interest, we also feel the added responsibility which the coming of these people places upon us. We begin to see that we of the South owe these people a certain duty. The best interests of the Nation, as well as those of the South, demand that as they come to make their homes among us, we meet them with kindness, with fairness, and with an appreciative understanding of their needs.
We must make Americans of our immigrants in the South and not allow them to be the assimilating forces. We must meet them with an unprejudiced mind, an honest purpose, and a welcoming hand in order to lead them into the close union of our national life. This is a duty which the future places upon us and from which the patriotic manhood of the South can not shrink.
As the Slavs have already demonstrated their ability on southern farms, and have won recognition as desirable agricultural settlers, why then should we not encourage as well as welcome their coming! Can anyone deny that the vacant acres of the South do not need these people? If not, then why should our encouragement of their coming among us remain passive, almost childish in its impotency?
Whether the South will put forth an effort to properly people her vacant, man-hungry acres or not, sooner or later she must face the consequences of an alien immigration if she would fully attain that industrial and commercial supremacy for which our leaders are clamoring and which destiny seems to have ordained. A greater industrial development of the South is coming as surely as the day follows the night. Effects of its coming are already being felt in our social life, and the time for useless protestations against the changing order of things has passed. Intelligent action is now needed.
Let us assure ourselves, then, that there will be no “immigration problem” in the South, for it is within our power to avoid these so-called dangers if we will only face the situation squarely and properly. We know the kind of people who have demonstrated their acceptableness in the South, and, with an intelligent understanding of their needs, we can easily fit them into our economic and social organization. It thus becomes the duty of the South to bend our new citizens to American civilization in the mold of southern ideals and to wisely utilize their brawn and their intelligence in the building of our future economic and political estate.
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