Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1872-01-17
WHERE TO LOOK FOR IMMIGRATION,

Commodore Maury has lately given the
subject of emigration considerable atten-
tentiop. He has suggested through the
press that convention of those persons
interested in the subject in the Southern
States he held soon, to consider what
means can be adopted to inaugurate active
efforts to bring into the South labor and
capital. The suggestion is good one and
we are glad to see that it meets with favor
in most every section of the South. o
We beg however, to make some sugges-
tions upon which the Commodore, as we
! think, is mistaken. He says the remark
! able growth of the Northern States in
wealth and population, comes from its
European emmigration. The excess OF
emigration to the North over that to the
South, in his Judgment, is the secret of it's
excess in wealth and prosperity.
| His plan of action, therefore, is to
! look to Europe for the population
we need We do not know that any one
has higher appreciation of the great inn
petus given to the remarkable growth and
| prosperity of the West, by foreigners, than
| we have, and yet we are very far from
willing to concede the truth of Mr.. Maury' 8
assertion. The foundation for the rapid
/ growth of the West, its railroads, its canals,
| its lakes aud its rivers, its liberal progress
| i've legislation, Its system of popular edu-
cation and its immense industrial enter
| prises have been to a very great extent the
product of American enterprise and CAPT
/ tai. This element had the advantage over
the foreign element, in being the most
numerous, the most wealthy and the best
suited to project the vast enterprises we
have enumerated.~ The honesty, the in
dusty and the intelligent support of the
foreign population assured the complete
success achieved, but even without, that
4 the West and Fast would still, by the very
organization and constitution of its forces,
have taken the lead of the South.
| But all such considerations aside, the
policy proposed by Commodore Maury is
not the wisest for theSouth to pursue. She
il not in q situation to compete with the
West for foreign emigration. The best
section for the South to work in for more
population and capital is the NortIter7
States. The population coming to Ameri'
| en- from Europe as n class, comes without
much ,copitdI. 1t drifts naturally and inc
vitably to localities where land is CHEAP
and labor in great demand. Emigrant'
want very fertile and cheap lands such as
they find in the far West, or they want
Il constant and immediate employment sucl
, as they find in the large cities and manu-
featuring districts of the North. Until the
south can offer them these ind"ce9aentt
, the stream of emigration that can pc oil
verted here will be the result of diigen'
! EFFORT anu Only Ill buCh tOlNS w ffNPpte
fmnhediate demands But it may be sait
, does not the South need labor and have
: we not idle land enough for thousands o
, them p We certainly have, but we are no
vet in a condition TO supply their wants
! for our lands and labor are not such al
they seek. Our lands are too high for The
:, great mass of emigrants to buy and our Ia
I Dor not in the quantity or kind Offers
: North,
, The class of population We most neet
nov is the kind that can bring some capt
/ tai either to take our lands andtill them, o
E to aid in developing our industries. We can
1 | find this class to some extent in our forelgl
\ emigration and we should seek it earnestl,
r there, bHteur main-hope we believe is u
the large and growing class in the Nortl
q who want to come here with capital AM
p energy, for the sake of our climate, or 70
1.-The peciaI inducements we afford In otlie
a \ particulars When this class come AM
4 buy part of our large idle farms, give u
n two or three cultivated farms where W
!. now have one; aid MS in increasing on
lproduets; building up Gour manufacture
. aud make demand for labor, then we vii
F, naturally draw share of foreign emigr'
!, ton.
! To secure the class we arc wantin
q we ought not TO look alone to Europe
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