The weekly clarion., 1882-01-18


MEssRs EDI9oEs The subject Of irnmigrs-
ton Is attracting great deal Of attention in
Mississippi ii present aud various are the
schemes and measures that are being urged 10
promote it, / hope some liheral and compre-
hensive system viii be adopted that Will bring
population and wealth to our borders: but,
while much is being said of immigration.
hear not word, hear of no bill being pre-
sented in the Legislature 10 stop the eRigra-
ton of native born Mississippians to Ar
kansas Louisiana, Texas, etc. lt does look 10
me that while we are so anxious to bring
foreigners here, vi ought to give some attention
to the subject Of keeping what population VI
have already IN Mississippi. as well a. adding
TO it from her States and foreign countries.
Il is a notorious fact that good many people
are moving away. not so many, | believe, as
in former years, however, aud they are not
moving, in all cases, because they are leaving
poor lands, orTiehsr, for these they could get if
Mississippi without going very lar, bat they
are moving because they are lsaUisg no land Of
their 0HH behind them, the same having been
swept away from them under the operations
of the Agricultural Lien Law. FOR SUPPLIES,
aye supplies which before the war and during
the war were made on the plantation IN AiSsis-
sippi. We all know that millions OF pounds
Of bacon and bushels of wheat aud corn were
State OF Mississippi during the war, when
nearly all her able-b0died white male popuia-
tion were away from their 5arms-these sup
plies being made by white women and children
and the slave population, very little cotton
being cultivated in all those years, why can
not the same Be done again, plenty OF cotton
being made, too, now with male popula-
ton all at home2 l. can be done If our farm
ers will diversity their crops and the lien law
is swept away from our Code completely. A
conversation / had with al old man, whom
met by chance in one of the best sections Of
East Mississippi, viii give The key TO the So
luton OF the problem Of tue future pros rlty
of Mississippi.
asked the old man what force he worked
in his family-he replied three thai he cul-
tivated good land aud made thirteen heavy
bales Of cotton Well, said l. how much corn
did you make? Il hardly made any corn,
replied he, Il was compelled to plant nearly
all cotton to pay my merchant and 20 get sup
plies another year. he woutd not haze corn, lrdnt-
ed nothing but cotton. Now any law OF system
thai compeis The agriculturst to make money
crops to the detrIment Of food crops for the
sustenance of his own family and stock is q
bad law and should be reoeaied, say TO take
effect the 1st of January, ls83.-A State with
out 70 ID oil its own make IS too dependent aud
can never prosper without this changed.
Vow what is the remedy? Lend every
coUragement to manufactures possible; ex-
merry of every company or firm which Will III.
vest as low as ten thousand dollars and up
wards in manufacturing IN MlssIsslppI--ht up
a EechanIcal department. to the State college
at Starkyille, wHere our boys can learn the
mechanical arts as we'll as get an agric ItuFal
education, ALLOW men wi, families and
owning no homes 10 homestead eighty acres cfthe
tar lands Of the State just Is done with
United Sates lands; protect and encourage
diversified agriculture by every means; but
above all repeal the lien law, and Mississippi
will enter upon new era.
With her immense undeYeloped resourc $,
with railroads penetrating every portion o
herrleh domain, there will be employment at
home for all and soon there will be no sup
ply business to the destTucli ion OF the farmer,
AMI in many cases Of the merchant, alike.
Our young men who do not want o follow the
plow viii fiud opportunities TO work in shops
and factories located near them, aud b. com
fort to their old parents inS trad of grating
to Texas and leading wild and reckless lives,
away from parental advice and disc pline.
Farmers will find a market at home for aii the
products of the farm. Cotton being tHe sur
plus crop, what il brings will always H. about
that much clear cash-meat aud bread having
been maie on the plantation. money viii
be more plentiful among us, and tue cry OF
hard times be no longer heard everywhere in
tae State.
Every man with two thousand dollars cApi
tai Will not undertake ~ twenty-five
thousand dollars mercantile busiuess, just be-
cause under the lien law he thought taere was
a bonanza in merchandising, and Le would
spread and spread until he frequently bursts,
bat not without bringing down drstross and des-
true ion also upon al his customers wAo
owned lands and upon whom he had deeds Of
trusts for supplies. The State supplied with
io0d crops OF lis own production viii offer in
ducement5 to people from abroad to immigrate
here which it does not now, for an invitation
to move to s.issippi, with the pres III sys-
tenn prevailing, is also an invitation for the
Immigrant to bring his rat ons along or run
the risk of being ground to powder between
The upper and neither mill stone Of the lien
law.
In conclusion. / indorse some of the views
of Rev. } I. Freeman in a recent issue of THE
CLARION, as TO the danger of communistic snd
nihilistie views entertained by some foreign
ers, but do not believe IN discarding foreign
immi grafton altogether, some would prove
As good an accession to our populat on as we
could desire, though Western people from Ohio,
Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, etc, with their pro
gressiye spirit, their push and energy, is what
we want in Mississippi to Leauea our whole Gem
EHunity
Let the exodus Of the poQr blacks from South (
Carolina and which is creating much con !
sternatiou here, be a warning 10 he Legisia-
.ure of Mississippi, as to the effect that exc
lus of he brawny poor aChite men of this State /
would have upon her future prospects