The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1870-01-27
ADVANTAGES FOR THE EMIGRANT
THE MEETING VOTES UNANMoUsLY IN
FAVOR OF THE MOVEMENT.


/ dfscourSes on the State of Mississippi, ue-
! liyered with n view of encouraging emigra-
/ ton TO that state. Inc hiall was cto"ueu W
Mr.. w. C. Mcclure moved that Mr.. John
NJ Hitchcock, Superintendent Of the Labor
Bureau Of the Young Mems Association,
/ take the chair
Mr.. Hitchcock took the chair, and thanked
/ the meeting for the honor done him. The
\ room they were in was dedicated to the
Lord, and was for the purpose OF puDilc
meetings. 1t was intended for the public
and the public should be as careful of IL as
/ their own, and be proud of its neat and tidy
| appearance. He therefore would gently
suggest that nuts be not thrown upon the
/ fiooa and tobacco juice be not eXpectorated
thereupon. With that prelude he would
remind the audience that they had been
/ Sending men and women TO the South tor
/ the past four weeks, that they might find
work and homes. IL what they were doing
was right, they should 20 on with the good
work, and III not, the emigration should
cease. There were gentlemen present who
/ could give information regarding the coun-
1 try, its soil, climate. school, manners, GUS
| toms, and society. He would Introduce
Col. George, of Mississippi who would adj
dress them.
REMARKS OF COLONEL GEORGE.
Col. George said he was reared in Missis-
/ sippi. one ofthose States which were called
in this part of the country rebel States he
| came to Chicago for the purpose of Inducing
the surplus labor population of this part OF
the country to remove TO a wider and better
/ field. Mississippi was one Of the Gull
States, bounded on the north by Tennessee,
on the South by the gulf on the west by the
great river after which she was called, and
1 on the east by Alabama. The Mississippi
bottom ran 300 miles north and south and
4 80 to go miles wide. It contained six mil
lion acres of the finest cotton land Ia the
world. Ii that land was confined by levees
and saved from the foundations of the Mis-
sissippi river,it would produce bale of cot
ton TO the acre. But that country was sub
ject To the overflows of the river, and only
one acre In one hundred was capable Of cul-
| tivation. Lands in that bottom, which be-
fore the war was worth from $50 TO SEQ an
acre. were sold since the war for ten cents
an acre Unfortunately the war destroyed
the levees, and now that magnificent domain
was returning TO the statesof primeval for
est. He did not know what the government
would do for the State. IL was not yet re-
stored to its former relations ITO the general
government.
He believed. however, that the govern
ment was i'm the hands of n far-seeng pco-
! pie, and that something would be done TO
reclaim that splendid domain. But II the
government would DO nothing for them.
/ they hoped to be able to do IL themselves. as
| they were able before the war. The district
of the Tornbigbee River was next IN inpor-
| lance to the bottom land. It produced grain,
corn. and everything IN abundance. The
centre of the State, above the sandy lands OF
/ the seacoast, was the hill country. some Of
/ it very poor, the large majority of IL toler-
\ ably rich and much of IL very rich. The
soil was mostly alluvial, an( the river and
\ creek bottoms were peculiarly fertile, being
considered the best lands in the country, out
/ side the great river bottom. lie was from
| that district and, considered Ii the best place
for emigrants 10 90 TO. The river bottom
was the best place for capitalists who could
afford to wait for a return of their money,
| but for the man Who wanted TO find a home
! for his family. the hilly country was the best
and mos; profitable. There were there some
/ of the finest farms In the State. Two acres
of the land produced two bales of cotton.
and one acre. from twenty 10 twenty-five
bushels of corn. They could not grow corn
there as they could i'm Illinois, as that was a
cotton country. From fifteen 10 twenty
bushels of oats TO the acre was an average
crop. They did not raise much wheat there.
They were slip-shod farmers there. and did
not know how to raise wheat. They pro-
duced from five to fifteen bushels. very rare
ly the last quantity. [Laughter.l They grew
Irish potatoes there the same as he ate when
he was prisoner on Johnson's Island dur
ing the war. They took from one hundred
and fifty to two hundred bushels Of sweet
potatoes out of an acre. They had vans GA
abundance, and plenty OF peaches when the
frost did not destroy them. They "made''
apples there, too, but they would not keep
over the winter. The same was true Of
pears. Inc frost very rarely lntcFtcfeN
with the apples or pears. They "madem
plums there, too. Every man had his or
chard. They Experimental with grapes.
which were generally successful. He was
not a teetotaler; had tasted the wine, and
found it good. Ia reply TO question pro-
pounded by the audience, he said the land
had no market value. Last May he bought
a plantation of l,2S0 acres, with five-roOm-
ed frame house, nice shrubbery, all within
one mile of the town of Walden, for So $50. !
lSpnGatinn. L tnnTmOmetgr rarely
higher than 90 deg. and never fell lower
than 30 deg. They did not know down there
what zero meant. The ice came once In
while, as thin as pane of glass. The snow
melted as IL fell. They had lots of RAIN
June, July and August were pretty hot. He
felt hotter days in Washington than he ever
felt in Mississippi. The nights In summer
were cool, In That way cOmpensating for the
hot days. White men could work In SUM
mer there. The only white men who could
not work there were very lazy men,
[Laughter.l IL was not too hot for men
with vim and energy in. them. They knew
what that meant and the South knew what
it meant after the war was over.
AS To the political con lition OF the coun-
try. they were nearly reconstructed; they
had ratified the Fifteenth Amendment and
elected a Radical Governor, though lac took
no part in IL. They would soon be rid OF the
military trials by General Ames' courts
martial, and the hdbedS corpus and trial By
jury would be soon restored. Peace and
order reigned I'm Warsaw now. No man In
his part of the country was ever disturbed
for his political opinions. They would have
common schools, AS the constitution appro-
priated the liquor licenses to common
schools, and that was a large item. The
common schools also were supported NV
fines on offenders against the law, By "A
township appropriation, and poll tax
They had State University at Oxford
Those who went to the State need have no
fear that their children would not have
4r1I IL. a
every kind of a church there. There were
some pious people there, and others who !
were not pious. He thought the people had |
a due regard for God, for Gods laws, and !
for the people who professed TO be His fol- |
lowers. They had honest men and rascals. |
He would call the community In which he |
lived an honorable and highly religious
people. Southern honor was eulOgized.- |
They never told lies, or went back on their |
honor. There was no standard Of wages IN |
the South. They always gave portion of |
the crop, so that there might be an addition |
al stimulus 10 the laborer and III the laborer |
was inefficient or indolent ruin might not /
come entirely on the employer. The labor /
was continuous, from the time Of planting /
until the time of reaping. Ii was, there |
fore, necessary Tor the laborer TO stay from i
the beginning of the season until the end or 1
the crop could not be properly cultivated
Iflaborers left they could not employ 9TH Il
ers, and would lose the crop. The laborer /
In Mississippi, II In no other place IN the |
world, was master of the situation. He
dominated over capital. He could get for /
his services all that capital could afford to
pay. That was not SO In any other place In
the world. In other places the laborer got
what capital wished; butin Mississippi thew
got all that capital could afford TO pay. Be-
fore the war the negroes were, right ar
wrong slaves. Men and women worked IA
the fields. All the black race, before the war.
were active, constant Agricultural Iaborers,
Since the war he had an idea that there had
been, from some cause or other, a arpe dirni-
mutton of the black race. Some al them fol-