The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-12-30
Free Farms for white Immigrants.

We print this morning report of the
proceedings of a meeting held ut Robertvillc
| i'll THE State, on the 2lst instant, when u
number Of planters agreed to give tracts OF
land, Tree OF charge, TO European farm hands,
upon certain conditions recommended 10y Il
committee ard agreed 10 hy the meeting.
1t is now generally understood, that il will
he difficult to direct to tho seacoast the tide
| OF white immigration which sets toward Vir-
Snia and Georgia, anil towards the urpcr
parts of this State. Other things being
equal, the immigrant will avoid tho low
country, but when ho Is offered land free OF
all Charge. he hns reason for prefcrring the
| cotton and rice of the scabonrd to the corn
and wheat OF the mountains I'm nearly
every Southern State lands can be bought
| Mt fairly low prices, with easy terms of pay
mont, but in no Stale OF which VIC have
| knowledge except South Carolina, do the
landowners propose to give the immigrant
! farm large enough 10 support in comfort
him aud his family,
The general principle of giving away n
part OF a tract of land, in order TO enhance
tho value of the remainder, needs no vindca-
ton here; but it is possible so TO hamper the
grant with conditions and restrictions as TO
destroy its nttractivenoss and make il power
less to accomplish any substantial good.
This is the danger suggested by reading
the "Thrcc Conditions" OF the Robcrtvillc
planters.
The first condition requires the immigrant
10 work for the first six months for the donor
of the land, at the regular wages This is
indirectly exacting price for the land, bat
the chief objection Is that the immigrant is
required to work for others at the very time
when he should be hardest ut work for him
self With fences to repair, with n house
and outbuildings to put up with land TO cul-
tivatc, with q thousand things to do 10 make
vile and children comfortable, he requires
Tor his own active use every hour of daylight.
II The immigrant is starving and cannot
wait until his food comes out OF the
ground, he may win bread by working six
days in the week for the donor OF the land.
while on the seventh day he scrat ches the
soil so rs 10 make in time, q few bushels OF
corn or Il handful oil cotton. But this is not
the class of immigrants VIC want, or that We
expect to obtain.
The second and third conditions arc Who'll
ly impracticablc. We may dismiss the
second with the remark that, unde- il. an
Immigrant could not exchange word with
negro. OF the third. it is enough to say
that the immigrant could not, by any agree
ment, strip himself OF his natural right to
appeal TO the courts for redress, nor uould
he forfeit his land by going into court in di-
ieet 'i.pes;ti".. ~ the t~,,ns mo u,rce-
ment
Theplan OF giving away surplus land to Sc
lcct immigrants is the hest that the low coun-
try can adopt. But the conditions should he
few and simple. The donors might stipu-
late that just proportion Of the lund should
be regularly cultivated that none of the
land should bc sold by tho immigrant until
after the expiration Of o certain number of
years; that the land should not then be sold
except 10 certain class Of immigrants; but
at the bottom OF it all, should be the explicit
declaration that, after a stated time, ten
years for instance, the land should be held
by the immigrant in fec simple, and he, in
fact, rs absolutely his property rs though It
had been bought and paid for with his own
hnrd-carncd money. Unless the immigrant
can sec his way out of the woods, and can
look forward 10 the day when he can do as
ho likes with his own, gift of land will be
rather Stunned than sought hy those whom
we most desire to attract into tho State.