The Portland daily press., 1866-12-10
Maine must Advertise.


of the State OF Minnesota and endorsed by It's
chief officials, setting forth the claims OF that
region as field for immigration lt was not
well executed in point OF style OF diSesuoh OF
facts, vet its influence upon my NINA was such,
that ;f tbara had been any agricultural capacity
| IN mo counled with desire for change of place.
very likely should have struck out for Min
| nesota The document was widely circulated
~ indicated in the fact that copy reached
one so little known as myself.
| 1t cannot OF course be proved, but it is GER
tainly not improbable, that quite an important
part of the growth of that remote northern re-
gion, is due to the influence of this State ADDER
tiSenaent-a growth during the decade 1S5O-6O
of not far from 100000 dollars in the valua-
ton of the State, or one-fourth of our total
(Nlaine) valuation; and that consequently the
expense and trouble incident to the publica-
ton and diffusion of the document, have been
repaid a thousand fold
Not the same but the equivalent thing has
| been done for Illinois by the advertisements of
her great Central Railway, that for SO many
years have occupied a prominent place in al
most every paper and publication in the coun-
/ Wy, w SolIft sCttiHS
the advantages offered the settler in that fertile
region and especially on the line of the Road.
| Accordingly Q do not venture to say conse-
quently) the valuation of the State, during the
decennium above referred to, went up from
$50 to $40 million dollars, and its population
from $4,000 to 100000.
| Examples to the foregoing effect might be cit
ed to considerable extent
We tried advertising a few years ago in ref
| erence to our Aroostook lands. The mastery
reports of the Secretary of our State Board of
| Agriculture and the press of the whole State
engaged together to celebrate the capabilities
of thisnew agricultural Ell Dorado. The effect
was quite perceptible. immigration set decid-
eddy into the region, and the Aroostook was
the only purely agricultural part of our do
main, that made any noticeable increase in its
population during the last census decade.
The results, however, as a whole, fell far
short of our hopes. The impression seems TO
| be by no means confined to a few, but to be
very widespread, that the inducements to
agricultural settlers in Maine, are quite limit
| ed as compared with those offering in other
accessible and extensive distrcts an impress
sion persistent to a miracle, unless it be found
ed in fact and corroborated by experience. The
| impression, moreover, see ms to prevail in very
high quarters, since that accomplished statis
tcian, the Superintendent of the late census,
declares the New England States, Maine in
cluded of course, TO be already peopled be-
yond their capacity for support by their own
tllage, at least in the present state Of agricul-
tural science, and in fact, to have passed the
point of selt-support long since. The impress
sion, moreover, is justified in quite disagree
able manner by the indications Of the last CEN
sus oy which it appears that our increase ofpop-
ulation in the last decade was only per cent,
nearly ali Of which is referable to manufac-
turing and kindred industries and not to ag-
riculture justified, further, in the well-known
fact that we import very important part of
even the staples Of our food, for which our ex-
ports of agricultural produce in other forms,
are by 10 means an equivalent. SO that the
conclusion seems hardly avOidabe that were
we reduced to the tllage OF our land alone for
employment, our progress, ii not decidedly
retrograde, would be for long time and until
the more favored agricultural regions should
have been occupied, tardy if not absolutely NIL
In other words, our population appears to he
stationary SO far respects any increment
from agriculture readily attainable for the
present, and our advertising enterprise, there
fore, nearly nugatory because not in the right
line.
But, Sir, our lcdter power remains. This, il
anything, is to be to US what her coal mines are
to Pennsylvania, her praries to Illinois, her
sea-islands and rice swmps to South Carolina
This is the thing to adoerttse. But befor eve at
tempt to herald our capab ilities to the world,
we must know better what and where they are.
What we need, then, is thorough Hydro
graphic Surrey of the interior waters of the
State: a survey undertaken at the States ex-
pense, conducted by the most skiful attainable
engineers that shall ascertain the volume, We
locity, slope, consistency, lacustrine connections
rapids, falls, channel and riparian conditions
where dams would have to be built, the album
ance and accessibility of building material, and
all other features of our fiuviatile waters and
their territory, of importance in manufacture
ing point Of view. The survey should embrace
not only the great rivers but also their princi-
pal affiuents, and in particular all those iribu-
taries by which they are connected with lakes
and ponds which latter, SO, in all their di-
mansions, should be comprehended in the field
of the investigation.
The materials thus acquired having been care
fully digested, should be published by the State;
published just as they are, with none of the
vagueness or extravaganza OF statement which
deform and destroy the efficiency of so many
similar publications. Information of such pre-
else character, given to the world under such
auspices, and in such form, could not fail to
be in the highest degree influential and If duly
circulated, as it should be determined to be by
a suitable commission, could hardly fail to at
tract capital into the State, for the appropra-
ton and utilization of our grand staple, water
power.
To some extent and in particular localities
the work above referred to has been done, and
| if well done would not need to be done over.
But the results of such desultory efforts are
not before the public in combined, authentic
form, and exert but little infiuence all the less
because complicated with individual and some
times speculative interests.
There may be difficulties in the way OF, or
objections to such an undertaking, which your
correspondent, with his limited knowledge of
| business and of forms does not see. But as at
present advised, he can see no such difficulties
and no reasonable ground for experimenting
any other than remunerative results from the
enterprise.
| One word mole. The appropriation of Con-
gress, which in our State has been devoted to
the establishment of an Agricultural College,
was given for the furtherance OF mechanical
art az well as agricultural. Whether ANYTHING
tIp 1Oripulfurol 20 bn OF Cd 70
with the means at command, do not know.
But it would seem to promise well to establish
short course of study on Practical Mechanics,
in which, in particular, attention shall be Civ
en- to all the methods now in use and approved,
for the use and economical expenditure of wa
ter power The mechanics studied in colleges