Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1864-02-17


to direct a few stray waves from the allure.
ments Of our great western and northern
sisters, whom our advent among the
States will naturally incite tofstill more
active competition In this arena. The
prejudice against the former apbendage
ofths Old Dominion must frsi 81 eradi-
Gated wher ever Il obtains, rbfys 4 1enlous
i and Intelligent advocacy In 6uri behalf,
sustained by the eloqueRee OF nucontro,
vertible facts and figures. We must show
our ueW political face 70 the y6tld, and
| upon its merits improve our acqnAintance
abroad. While our libernlity and public
spirit, our elevation aud honesty of pur.
pose should be placed above suspicion, II
10 indispensable to success, thai Dur plans
for the attraction Of emigratioul shnnld ex-
tend 70 Its very fountain heads n Europe.
An eforts Ia this liue eonhGed u tbe land
iag ports IN this country, hay tigually
failed In nine cases out of ten The Emil
grant has 6xed upon a locality g. America
long before he leaves his native hgtne. In
bis choice Of the same he is gelera iyRuitled
| by neigbbors aud friends who lave pre-.
eeded him here, or by informatl derived
rom 6okSfaudI papGEzAS O =, - : ae7i9l
agencies directly appointed from this side
of the Atlantic. The two later channels
of Influence are open TO US; tte only ques-
tion lie, whether they should b abandoued
entirely to private enterprise. This
again and unhesitatingly ajsWer in the
negative. In my humble opHion 1t would
not be good policy in . new State, whose
land titles. though iu liquidation, are yet
far from being entirely clefr, and where
enlightened public spirit is not yet sufi-
cieutly developed to retain private specu-
lAtion within legitimate bouids.
Nothing Is 50 we'll calculsted to win the
7eon6deuce Of the foreign ehigrAnt as the
assurance oi that official patronage, which,
though frequently associated with oppres.
sion in his native land his piloted him
from the cradle up; and ia Is by liberal
and sAgacious legislation ipon this sub
jeot that the State Of New York has we'll
nigh secured the monopoly " foreign Arri-
walls TO her metropolitan seaport, aud the
emiHraut transit towards tie far West to
her own railways, rivers and canals.
Nor does the Empire Stale stand alone
IN this respect. Michigan, Wisconsin, Min.
nesota, Iowa, aud Illinois have enacted
many successful laws with a similar OBJ.
ject, and under liberal appropriations del
egsted agents and commissioners to Eu-
rope to solicit aud organize emigration to
their respective territories. As late as last
year the comparatively old and populous
State Of Ohio, has resorted again to that
measure, to supply the formidable def
cisnsy OF manual labor consequent upon
the demands of the army. Even the ma
tional government has not deemed It de-
rogatory to avail itself of the example
and experience of those States by lately
sending to.Europe Prof. Ruggles, of New
York, as q special agent for the purpose
OF tamiltaFiGipR the people abroad kith-
eae yass resourees Of the Western country,
endl n
maps, &c.i 70 Asslst him III his miasib .5 - z
Mich e1Eious aud ihs stFuetive ifnfotdik-f
ton may De derived from. the GEddstics
collected and presarRed at the emlgrRnt
depot ID New York, Gs to the origin, desti.s
nation, &C., Of emigfants, which serve to
illustrate the Causes of the unparalleled de-
VeloPment of our euterprisiug sister States.
DuriDg q period Of six years, ending
With 1852, there arrived in the port Of
New York alone, about l,7OO 900 emf
Grautsi the year 1854 being the most pro-
ductive. The European agencies for these
various States were then in the height of
of their activity, aud of le,223 landed
that year at the depot, three. fourths set
tied in the States of New York, Peunsyl-
vania, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa aud
Wisconsin. The proportion Of Virginia
being then only as 1 to 25OI
From 1855 to 1850, inclusive, the num-
ber of emigrants landed at Castle Garden,
New York, was SOC. .225, of which the
State aud City OF New York obtained
4,479; Pennsylvania, 5G,46s; Illinois,
44,965i Wisconsin, 40,6sl; Ohio, sc, ,42s;
Massachusetts,, 80, 1871; New Jersey, l6, l95;
Michigan, 1852; and Virginia, 3,l36.
This increase for Virginia over the frat
period above quoted, and which anured
nhiAAu fo the ha1REF fnF ba- co.
tion Of the State, may be attributed to the
contraction Of railways then progressing
here, aud to the active dissemination Of
printed information concerning Western
Virginia, through central Europe, by per-
sons interested In the matter, myself among
the rest . -
The Repozs of the Commissioners Of
Emigration, show that by far q greater
part Of those emigrants brought with them,
not only more than the means of reaching
their respective destinations in our couu-
try, but what is ineomparably more valu-
able, patient Industry and perseverance,,
which constitute the suresI elements of
prosperity everywhere. The vast influx
of foreign capital, skill aud labor, through
this channel, have increased the. wealth
aud groVth, Of the recipient States far
above the appreciation of persons not fa-
miliar with the statistics OF the subject.
lis TO be regretted thai no record has
Osen continued of the cash means brought
into this country by emigration. So far
as 1t was kept, It showed In the year 1856
"a average Of $6s per head for every man,
woman and child of the deck class alone
which, at the rate OF l4l, 525 heads for, that
year, amounts TO the handsome addition OF
So, ,6l3 200 10 our wealth, over one-half of
which in coin. Considering that the most
destitute class of emigranrs generally re-
main in the seaports and largo cities Of the
East, in the capacity OF jourueymen me-
chanics, laborers aud seryants,-the aver
age sum of means taken into the interior is
necessarily much larger than the avetAge
recorded at the landing. A computation
made some years ago, for fifty families
taken at random, in two or three back
counties, gave mo an average of Sl2h nar