Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1873-04-10


AS the subject of immigration is excit-
ing some interest in the minds of our peo-
pie, we copy from the correspondence of
the Baltimore San, the following, which
will serve to throw some light upon this
important subject:
CENTREvILLE, April 1, 1878.
Eleven years have passed since the abo-
lition of slave lobor, and the farmers of
this section are just beginning to realize
that the loss of that slave labor necessarily
entails complete revolution in the man
agement of their farms, and that the freed
colored element cannot yet be depended
on for systematic and paying work. At
the close OF the war many of these latter,
indeed large proportion, left the Eastern
Shore and f1ocked to the cities, to t'new
fields and pastures green" Such emigra-
ton of course tended to raise the price of
labor also served to demoralize what there
raising dissatisfaction with the manner of
life on ''the Eastern Shore"
With such system it was found next
to impossible to till the large tracts into
which the land is divided here. and grad
ually the yield Of crops decreased, farmers
fell into debt, and the lands deteriorated,
until to-day large proportion of the once
richest plantations are mortgaged. The
colored population retired into log cabins,
and became producing the laboring
white class was insufficient to till the land,
and the landowners, rather than work,
lived like paupers, except in name Last
fall the people suddenly awoke to the facts,
in measure, and the introduction of the
Germans was resolved upon. During jan
uray last, probably the most unfavorable
season in the whole year, the tide of immi-
grafton set regularly in. A gentleman of
Queen Anne's county, Mr.. Clarence Holly
day, who had travelled extensively in Ger
many and throughout Europe, established
an agency in New York, and personally
selected tie
struction given by employers in the coun-
ty, from the arrivals in that city, charging
$40 commission per head for his services.
The persons employing such labor paid
all expenses oftrayel, subsequently deduct
ing the sum paid from the wages of the
employees. In this way, up to the middle
of March. about one hundred and fifty were
"imported" into Queen Anne's county,
two hundred and fifty into Kent county,
and considerable numbers into several of
the lower counties, especially Talbot and
Dorchester. Of these immigrants, who
thus arrived in the most dismal season of
the year, only about 10 per cent. have so
far left Mr.. Samuel T. Earle, of Corsica
Creek, Queen Anne's county, employed
four, who, after time, became dissatisfied,
and left for the West. They had scarcely
gotten to Baltimore, however, when they
concluded that the Eastern Shore was the
best place after all, and returned to Mr..
Earle the day after they had left him, ask
ing to be taken back. Hon. Jas. T. Earle,
State Senator from Queen Anne's employs
several and expresses entire satisfaction
with them, as do all who have thus far
employed them. The rates of wages are
moderate, with which they seem to be am
ply satisfied. An impeachment to perma-
nent improvement, however, still remains
in the aversion of large landowners to cut
ting up their plantations into small farms,
such as can be worked by family. The
large majority of the Germans who come
to this country come with the idea and
hope of having farms of their own and
working for themselves, and until such
system is pursued here as prevails in the
West immigration must necessarily be in
a measure deferred. Time and experience
are still needed to eradicate this clinging
to the retention of old family estates in
their entirety which is still prevalent here.