The Governor of one state in the heart of the industrial South, who reports his state as being in great need of labor, favors the
exclusion of aliens of poor physique, and a head-tax of $25.

He writes as follows:--

"While we are inviting such people as we can use in our industrial
districts and farms, I, as Governor of the State, am particularly
anxious to avoid a too great influx of people whom it will be
impossible to assimilate. We prefer very greatly the northern
Europeans, but could use handsomely to their profit and to the profit of our people, some from northern Italy, say those raised on farms and desirous of a similar life here....I am certain that we do not want and we should insist that we do not get, people from the southern parts of Italy and the southern and eastern parts of Europe."

From "Immigration and the South" by Robert DeCourcy Ward