The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-02-10
G H A r T. E S TON
WEDNESDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 1o 1869
immigration.

| The immigration returns of the port OF
New York for the year 1868 show the
and Industrious Europeans is pouring inte
the country, giving it the means Of develop
ment, and changing by their toll the plains
and forests of the West into bustling cities
and fields of golden grain. During the
year 2l3,696 emigrants arrived at New
York, the number being somewhat less than
in previous years. Nearly one-half Of the en-
| igrants were from Germany, about fourth
from Ireland, over $4,000 thousand from
| England and Il, 900 from Sweden. Accord
ing to register kept at Castle Garden, the
| destination Of these immigrants was chiefly
to the West. Thirty-four thousand went
to Illinois, sixteen thousand to Wisconsin
and eleven thousand to Ohio; but with the
exception of few families, none came to
the South.
And it is to this point that we desire
again to call earnest public attention. There
is no part of the United States where there
are better opportunities than in the South
OF obtaining good wages. There is no eli
mate superior to that of many parts Of our
own State and nowhere has the hard ork-
ing Immigrant o better chance of acquiring
property and steadily growing rich. Land
we have in abundance, suitable for every
cereal, for every fruit and vegetable crop,
as well as our great staples, rice and cot
ton This land is offered for sale at trivial
prices, and the work of one year would
give the newcomer as much land of his own
as would make him independent in the old
country. For agricultural laborers for
herdsmen, for dairymen, there is an abun-
dance of employment at high wages; for we
know that nothing can be done with the
freedmen unless they have the guidance
and assistance of the white race And yet
with all our advantages. with State com
paratively free from debt, and with pro-
found peace throughout the country, no
considerable number Of European immi-
grants find their way within our borders.
Great Britain and Ireland, and of the con-
tinent, arc prejudiced against us. They
know not whether red Indians, or negroes,
perhaps, are most numerous in the Caro-
linas; they look upon rattlesnakes as our
daily food, and fear that every Southerner
may carry murderous palmetto in his
pocket. These things may make US smile,
but they are truths nevertheless. People
abroad know scarcely anything about US,
and what they do know is to our disadvan-
tage. They have seen the agents of the
Western States, have heard their glowing
tales, have read their graphic pamphlets,
and have become convinced that the West,
and not the South, is the proper place for
them.
Now, if we want these intending immi-
grants to know what the South is, and what
are the Southern people, we must have our
agents amongst them. The South must be
represented as the West has been and is.
AT first, this will be costly; but it will pay
we'll as soon as the tide turns, and our
steamships trading between Liverpool and
Charleston bring out on each trip hundreds
Of immigrant passengers. -
We do not expect the present State gov
ernment to take this matter in charge. It
must be done by the people themselves,
through their local organizations. There
should be no difficulty in having an agri-
cultural and immigrant society in every
county, Of which a central club at Colum-
bia might be the head. The details Of or
ganization would not be troublesome, nor
need the money contributions be large. All
that is wanted is to make beginning, to
show that we are alive, and be ready to
work upon larger scale, when it can be
done under the auspices Of the government
of the State. We need more white men in
the South. We can have them if we exert
ourselves as the people Of the West have
done; and with the first considerable arri-
val Of European immigrants, the neck Of
the difficulty will be broken.