The Russellville Democrat., 1877-01-11
THE USES OF A STATE IMMIGRATION

FUND.
 l The immediate objects of ex- pcndIture of such a fund would be, the diffusion, at proper points, of information respecting the in- ducements offered by the state to the immigrant, the provision ot easy, cheap, and safe transit, and especially, assistance in provid ing those projections for his per son, upon his entry to strange land, those Hospital aceommoda- tions ip case of illness upon arriv- al, and .nose means of informa- ton to guide his course until final settlement, which expert epce has shown to be not only important to the interests of the community which he joins, but to afford that security and satlslac- tion for the immigrant himself, which first encourages him to come, and eventually induces him to use his cxertions, by cores poadence, to secure the coming of the friends and acquaintances he has left behind him in his native land.
 IMMIGRATION INTERESTS OF THE STATES OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. Third. It is obvious that the present practically exclusive di- rection of European immigration to the Eastern ports of the coun- try, is not to the interest of the states of the Mississippi Valley. In the first place, the cost of transportation is needlessly en- hanced; in the second, a consider able proportion of the immigra- tion is absorbed before it reaches the West. In advancing these views, we desire distinctly to re pudiate any political sentiment of sectionaiism. It is in honorable business rivalry that the states of the Mississippi are more than justified in looking to their own interests in this regard. Our sister states of the East have shown no particular hesitation in consulting theirs. Although the pa;h marked out by nature for the influx of immigration to the the West is manitestly by the port of New Orleans and the course of the Mississippi river, although transportation by this route can be afforded for cer- tainly some sixteen dollars per head less than by the ports of the Atlantic, to say nothing of the superior convenience and safety afforded the immigrant, the wise legislation of New York and the capita, and energy of her great lines of railroad, have succeeded, to her and thelr profit, in draw ing the path of immigrant travel, upon the continent, at right an gles to the course marked out by nature. If we are to pay an equally just regard to our own interests, we have to meet their wisdom and libcrality of lcgisla- tion by our own, their energy by ours, and their capital by our own capital. If we are too sloth ful or too indifferent for this, it is meet and right that we should continue to pay tribute to those who will have proved themselves our commercial masters.
 HOW SHALL IMMIGRATION BE DI-
 VERIFIED TO THE VALLEY OF THE
 MISSISSIPPI.
 What is needed in order to di- vert the tide of immigration to its ughtrul channel, that of the Mississippi? The jetties con structed by Capt. Eads at the mouth of the river, will have opened it once more to the com merce of the world, and have 1 practically given to the West more than two thousand miles of sea coast. In any event, modern science will not fail in the end to secure the opening of the mouth of the Mississippi. If, as is be lieyed by some, it be practicable to navigate the oceans in vessels adapted, at the same time, to the navigation of the Mississippi, such vessels will be constructed; :; and the immigrant, embarkIng at Hamburg, at Liverpool, or Queenstown, can land at any port of the Mississippi without a change. In any case, q single transfer, at New Orleans, from the deck of the vessel to that of a steamer, will constitute the sole inconvenience, if such it can he called, to the traveller. All that is required is, that the advsntag es of the Mississippi route shall be made known in Europe, that the attention of shipping eompa- nies be called to the subject and lines of emigrant vessels estab- lished, and finally, and above all, that we should avail ourselves of the experience which has taught the City of New York how to be come, and thus far to remain, the great immigrant depot of America.
 THE "cAsTLE GARDEN" SYSTEM. 1 At New Yo:k, the immigrant, upon his landing, is instructed in the means of redress afforded him for insufficient accommoda tion, for bad or insufficient food