The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1870-01-21

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In journeying through Aroostook, this line
| from the Old Latin Reader Constantly re-
| curing to us: "RomuluS had buIit the toI In OF
| u city, Iatuer tnan Il city; inhabitants were
| wautDg; and tae want Ut old Holne is the
Que great want of youthful Maine to-day,
| Men are the wealth OF State; aud with nat
ural tacilities unsurpassed, Maine is poor for
The iack OF men.
| 10 Earope we must turn for
| immigrants. Which nation Will furnish US
| with the best class of citizens? We have pau
perS enough already. IL is men We seek.
| The testimony of historians and travellers
| concurs in this: that no people are more hon
| est, truthful and economical lhan The ScaLdi-
| Davians; and by this term we mean co include
| the Sw.des, Norwesians aad Danes. These
characteristics they bear with them into this
| counlrv, and, wherever they settle, they are
| noted for honest thrift
1u Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa, where
| they have mmisrated largely, they make the
| best OF citizens, and are esteemed for their
| sterling worth. In religion they are Protest.
ant.
Aroostook, with its winter, whic,
we think loug and cold, will be IA Southern
| paradise to the Swedish settler.
| Neither are We compelled to start the cur
| rent OF Scandinavian immigration. II flows
already in copiouS streams TO shores.
In 1851 The number OF SwtdeS emlsrating
to The LIted States was about 1000. Now it
| is over 20 900 year. IId-ed, IN the SINGLE
| quarter eudiDg june 30, 1869, there arrived in
our country ~, l69, Scandinavian immigrants.
| The emigration from Ireland-that great res
| ervoir Ut emigration-for the same period be-
ing but 26, 13S, or less than 5000 greater. The
stream, then Is already flowing We have but
| to tap 1t.
1t is estimated that every able bodied immi-
grant who settles aud remains amoug Us, is
| worth 81, ,000 to the State. Ii this be true, we
ace standiDg W tu hands folded while $40 OOO-
| COO OF wealth is flowing BY US in quarler of
year, to enrich other States. Anu not only
I,1f hnff fol.
OF Scandiuayians are brought by European
steamships TO Portland and pass through our
State to the West.
| Last year some hundreds of Swedes ard
| NorwegIans arrived at Portland by single
steamer One OF yOur commissioners met
them strolllng about the streets IN little squads.
! Entering into conversation with them in their
native tongue, he found they were willing
| to remain Portland if they could obtain
| work, otherwise they were going West, because
their friends acre there. Your commissioner
! gave them what Information Was at his COM
| mand, and som promised to remain two days
| tt Portland, seeking employ ment.
| A little over month ago, in November,
your commissioner was SURPRISED at seeing two
ot these very immigrants enter his Office. Il
| appeared that they had obtained odd jobs OF
work during the summer, ahd had engaged 10
| work all winter in loading aud discharsing
Eoglish steamships. They had also heard of
| this commission and its Objects and called on
| your commissioner TO ascertain what terms
| they could take up farms in Aroostook, next
| spilng. They expressed the Lselves much
gratited with the liberal terms of the State,
and declared their intention to proceed to
| Aroostook and Settle as soon as their winters
| work was done.
The Scandinavians are an agricultural peo-
| pc; they want farms of their own, and a chief
| reason why they all go West is because the
| Western States for long time have persist
| emily advertised, in every way, that good farms
| could be had there for a mere song.
| rha Stat.c ,l,o,. ~
to Europe: they distribute pamphlets, extoll-
| ing ,hs beauty and fertility or their States,
| Dioaecast tnrousLsat- Old World; and
they send additional agents TO our great sea-
| ports, TO meet the immigrants on landing.
Minnesota invests $4,000 year, in this way
| and The harvest briggs forth an hundred iod
Iowa expends $4,000 year in the publca-
| ton and distribution OF immigration docu-
ments, and keeps agents at Milwaukee and Chi
cago.
To the North of us, the Dominion of Cana
| da has had in operation for several years an
extensive system OF immigration and colonizl-
tion.
Canada maintains a chief immigration Of
| ice at London, and minor ones at Quebec,
1 Montreal, Kingston. Toronto, Hamilton, Or
tawa. Halifax, st. John and Mramichi: and
also supports travelling agent in Europe,
| In 1867 the gross expenditures of tbs differ
ent agencies amounted to $35 ,727 SO in coin.
Number Of immigrants arriving, II ,448, being
$4,000 more than the year previous,-lhe first
| year OF the operation of this system for pro-
noting immigration.
While the South, the West and the North
are actively at work securing the we 18th Of im-
migration for themselves, it seems almost sui
cidal tor Maine to continue longer idle.
We have seen that the Scaudnayians are
the best class of immigrants; that they are nat
urally adapted to our soil and climate; that the
stream OF Scandinavian immigration Is flow
| lbg by and through us, and that it is only ne c.
| essary for US 10 tapit. How shall this be doue? ?
| Simply by making known to the Scandnavi-
aus, in the most effective way, the advantages
we offer them.
| What Swede or Norwegian landing on our
shores has not heard of the rich prairles of the
West? But who among them knows that he
may obtain farm of 200 acres of fertile land in
Aroostook for fifty cents per acre; and that
This fifty cents per acre can be paid within
three years by work on the road leading past
| his own door?
To make this widely known is to secure i'm
migration. How shall this be made known.
ibere are many ways; the following we deem
| best:
First.-Priht circular in Swedish aud Nor
| weg'an, setting forth the simple fac.s in regard
| to our State, principal reference being made
to Aroostook, ITS geology, mineral wealth, fer
| tillIy OF SOIL and abundant crops; its advanta-
| ges for stock growing; its timber lands, la m
| bering operations, and the market for hay and
| produce among the lumbermen; its mauufac-
1 turing and commercial facilities; its schools
cost of necessaries, price of labor, and expeose
| OF clearing farm, together with the liberal
| terms offered by the State to settlers; not for
| getting to mention the Eeallhfulness of the
| country, its freedom from fever AMI acute dis
| eases, and the longevity of its Inhabitants
| Se7ond.-Employ an Agent at Portland, to
| meet The immigrants on the arrival OF every
| steamer; distribute among them all necessary
| documents; tell them of the advantages OF
| Aroostook; point out the way thither; see them
| rightly started, or perhaps accompany them 10
| the State lands.
Third.-Send an agent to Scandinavia, to
| disseminate information there, and bring over
| the nucleus of q colony.
Any or all of these methods could be tried,
| and would be followed with success Pre- por-
| tionate 10 the effort.
But the measures which your commission
| would recommend the State TO adopt are
| combination of these three.
| 1t will always be ,fficult to induce iudivid-
| ual ScandInavlans to settle 10 Aioostook as
long as none of their race and tongue are ihe,e
| before them.
We would meet this difficulty by planting
colony OF some twenty five families Of Scandi-
naviaus in Aroostook at the outset.
To accomplish this. the State should send an
| agent 10 Sweden or Norway ea:ly next spring.
| This agent should there seltct twenty-five stall
| wart young men with thrifty wives and iani-
lies, and, by proper representation, induce
them to return with him to Aroostook. This
will be an easy task for any suitable agent
| who understands the Scaudinavians, their hab-
its of thought and desires.
A Protestant minister of their own faith and
| tongue should accompany the immigrants.
This colony of carefully picked families
should be brought to Aroostook before the end
| OF August next and as the Swedes and the
| Norwesians are all used to the axe, every fam
lily could have comfortable shelter before
winter sets in.
The agent should accompany them to Aroos-
took and not leave the, till every family is
comfortably housed.
What would be the expense of bringing over
and establishing such colopy?
Simply the salary and expenses Of the agent
| sent out to bring it over
Your commission would in no event recon-
mend the State to advance a single cent of the
passage money of the Immigrants either as
! gift or loan. The man, even in Sweden, who
has not laid by enough to pay his passage
across the ocean, has pretty strong prfraa
fdcie case against him, and nine times out of
| ten will make an inferior citizen to the man
who can pay his own way.
Your commission have no donbt that a suit
able agent could procure a sufficient number
| of picked coo1ists, who would be able and
willing to pay their own transportation TO
| Aroostook, aud would only require to be Shown
| the way thilher
Were the State to advance $50 head, pas
sage money, TO the colonists 10 be repa in
| any way or at any time, each coionist would
| have Just twenty dollars inducement 10 run
| away from Maine and settle some where else.
| In fact, nearly all the abortive immigration
| schemes owe their failure to the injndlclous