Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1874-01-23
Stats affairs.
SENATOR EARLE ON IMMIGRATION


Senator Earle has long been one of
the most prominent champions of i'm
migration. He knows and appreciates
the necessity of breaking up the large
estates. 50 common in Maryland, into
smaller farm-holdings to be worked by
industrious families of immigrants
who bring with them Il small capital
and seek to found a new home in u
new land. He also knows, few better,
the thriftless, indolent nature of the
free negroes, and the vital importance
of obtaining trustworthy white labor
ers to take their places. He would
draw these small farmers. and these
tillers of the soil, from the overcrowd-
ed population of Europe. 1t is we'll
worth IN effort, and if that effort be
properly directed We see no reason why
it should not succeed. The process
might be slow ut first. But every small
body of immigrants established in the
State. would serve as nucleus around
which other immigrants would clus-
ter. Over forty thousand persons of
German extraction have settled by de-
grees in and around Baltimore. In the
city proper they are engaged in trade
and commerce, in the exercise of their
professions. or in the several branches
Of skilled industry. In the suburbs.
they are either market gardeners, or
florists. or dairymen. OF German
farmers there are very few in the State
Immigrants Of this class have sought
for themselves homes in the Western
States. They were attracted Westward,
in the first instance, by the cheapness
of the land and the fertility of the soil.
and afterwards, not only BY these in
ducemcuts. but also by the gratifica-
ton of Joining communities speaking
the same tongue and clinging to the
habits. mauncrs and customs Of the
mother country-fragmcnts in point
of fact, Of old Germany transplanted
into new soil. Taken as Il whole, no
better class OF emigrauts ever quilted
their birthplace 10 settle in remote re-
gions. and if they have been slower
than any other 10 aSsimilate with the
native population, tLsZ- have Mt least
proven theGselvel HrderlS,and
Iaw-abiding citize' 20 posSN, to
a remarkable dcgrcE the virtues of
thrift and industry. But We are dis
posed 10 believe that there will, here
after. be steady decline in German
emigration; not because the people
don't want Ia come. but because the
Imperial Government. in various WAYS.
ha, taken measures to check their leav-
Ing. MANY will come, nevertheless
The channels may be narrowed, but
the outflow will 90 on in lesSened
volume. Leaving out Germany, the
next most promising field is England.
The time Is opportune. The senti-
mcnt of local attachment. once singu-
LARRY strong. has been greatly weaken
cd there Of late. There have been pro-
tractcd strikes for higher wages, and
much suffering. with but few conces-
sions on the part of the farmers. Ag-
ricultural Unions have been formed
which are composed of farm laborers
seeking hy combination To improve
their condition. They have been told,
by Joseph Arch and others, that the
only sovereign remedy for their trou-
blcs, the only cure for their chronic
poverty, is emigration. SO the thought
has latterly become familiar. and if the
way were made clear, thousands ofthese
men would be glad 10 come over TO us.
But how are they to do it? They live
from hand To mouth. They have new
er been able TO save shilling in their
lives, and TO tell them they would be
made better of in Maryland when they
get here is simply to mock their mise
~. In all our efforts TO attract emf
grants To this State we have begun at
the wrong end. 70 meet steamers in
the harbor and cndeavor to persuade
us, thencw corners to cast their lot with
is breath wasted and money and labor
thrown away. The destination of these
immigrants was fixed before they left
home. They come to join friends al
ready settled somewhere in the interi-
or, or they have adopted the counsel
of the emigrant agent whom they have
met at Bremen, or at their old homes.
" hat We ought to do is very different.
We must work by a we'll defined sys-
TEN and not by haphazard. Pamphlets
must be written and published, giving,
in the simplest possible language, a
PLAN and truthful account Of the eli
mate, soil. and resources Of our State
the price at which land can be bought,
the inducements we can offer to farm
laborers, and the reason why our nat
urally fertile but partially exhausted
lands are in reality cheaper than the
virgin soils of the Western States.-
Such pamphlets should give a table of
prices obtained here for farm products,
as compared with the West, an esti-
mate of the yield of the cereals here,
as we'll as there, and should note the
fact that with "a smaller yield per acre
the profit of our farmers is greater, be-
cause of their nearness to market on
the seaboard, and the smaller cost of
transportation. They should also show
how much cheaper with us, for the