The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1870-12-01

the sellers have profit. At the end
Of the year his forty acres are more
valuable than they were when he began
to work upon them; they are assessed
at higher rate, and the former owner
Of the tract finds that he is not only re-
leved from the payment Of taxes upon
forty acres of land which were totally
upproductive of value, but the taxes
mon the remainder of his lands and
mon all the farms in the county are re-
duced by the addition to the tax list OF
the improved value of this forty acre
tract.
Now what is true in the single in
stance we have supposed will be also
true in any number of cases. Let two
hundred families be brought into any
of our sparsely settled counties and all
the property in the county will rapidly
appreciate in value. And this increase
in value will not end with the first
year, nor the second, nor the third, but
will continue so long as the work OF
improvement and cultivation goes on.
A market for many articles of farm
produce will be brought to the door,
and no freight or other charges will be
deducted from the profit OF the pro-
Queer. Manufactures will spring up;
the splendid water power OF our noun
tain streams will he utilized mines will
he opened and the mineral wealth OF
our hills brought forth, and all the
varied employments of busy life pushed
successfully forward All parties will
reap an advantage. The new settlers
have made a good investment and are
rapidly growing in wealth, while the
former residents of the county, who
may, perhaps, have merely sat still and
looked on as idle spectators of the IN
dustrv around them. will wake up TO
find the value Of their own property
largely enhanced, their income greater
and their taxes less.
These vast tracts Of unimproved land
in West Virginia are not only a serious
drawback to the prosperity Of the State,
but they are Of no earthly advantage to
their owners. A man must have an
almost princely income from other
sources to enable him to pay the taxes
that annually accrue, while he is wait
ing for his land to become valuable. II
all the holders of these lands continue
to wait, they will, ere long, have paid so
much in nursing their investment that
thew cannot afford to sell at prices
which buyers can afford to pay. Would
il not be better for them to either donate
small tracts to actual settlers, or sell at
low prices and upon long credit, so that
the value oftheir other lands in the neigh
borhood might be improved, than to hold
on to these wastes which ought 10 be
Welding subsistence and wealth to thou,
sands of families ? To obtain the i'm
migration necessary to people our waste
lands and increase the wealth of the
State, there must be action by the PEG,
pie, the owners Of the lands, as well as
by the State. Legislation alone will
not accomplish the object we have in
view. The State has no public domain
which it can offer to immigrants. The
owners of lands, the present farmers,
merchants and manufacturers OF West
Virginia must aid in the work. 1t is
for the advantage of all, and all our peo-
pie should join heartily in the effort to
bring immigrants here, and make it not
only our advantage but theirs also to
settle among us.
In future articles upon this subject
we will endeavor to present some ac'
ccptable plan for individual action, as
well as some suggestions as to the leg
islation necessary to promote the end in
view. We trust that members of the
Legislature and the citizens Of the
State generally will give the subject
some thought. And, in this connection,
we present below an extract from re-
cent letter from Colonel DAVID II.
SrRoTmER, of Berkeley Springs, in re,
terence to this subject:
IL fully recognize the Importance OF
the subject, and wonder that the State
government does not give itmore liberal
and extended attention.
have for some time been convinced
that advertising on grand scale in books,
maps, geological reports, lectures, newS-
paper articles and ptctorsdLS, literally and
persistently, is the true means of draw
ing into West Virginia the enterprise
and money needed to develop her i'm
mense natural resources, and securing
to her her just proportion of that invig-
Grating emigration which has built up
20 many States elsewhere, whose natu-
raj advantages do not compare with
hers. | firmly believe that ten thou,
sand dollars annually spent in that
direction would bring an annual il
crease OF ten million to the aggregate
wealth of the State, as has been proved
elsewhere.
| hope that the party coming into
power at State headquarters will view
this matter more intelligently and liber-
ally than its predecessors have done,
and that the press will use its united in
Hunnce IN that end