The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1883-11-24

The Experience of a Successful Organi-
za9on from which we may get good

xa9on from which we may get good
HATS.
Ssecial Correspondence Of The Chronicle.
Sf< JOSEPH, Mo, Nov. 2O.-The meth
od ofinducing immigrants to come here
andaf building up the Northwest, of which
you inquire, is simply told
The railroad companies have always, Of
course, been active and efficient agents in
Immigration work here as elsewhere. But
we found ourselves here in Northwest Mis-
souri, In a somewhat peculiar and somewhat
unfortunate situation. In Kansas, Ne
braskA and Iowa, which are all our near
neighb0rs, there was a certain quantity OF
government land and railroad land which
settlers could get possession of for nothing
or Tor almost nothing. On the other hand,
Missouri, being an old settled State, in
many respects not very different.fron the
Southeastern States. was stunned by i'm
migrants because all the land had private
yswncrs, and stranger had to incur great
,ly expense in securing home. We had
Is. pain, therefore, to see the very class Of
xt lwet-ta .;.s< iA;s:asas.. Aa.d No.
brask,-
A company of energetic men several
years ago organized an immigration socie-
ty here. 1t was and is purely private
enterprise, and as private enterprise dif-
fers from the State Immigration Society to
alton and which does its work as part Of
the State Government. This private en-
terprise had no other purpose than the ad-
vertisement OF the opportunities OF this
section for industrious immigrants. The
prominent owners OF property and the
leading merchants in ST. Joseph and in six
or eight of the adjoining counties became
members OF the Society and effected an
organization. They assessed themselves
so much per annum and elected Secreta-
ry to do the business of the Society and to
open An office.
The Secretary collected the assessments,
and one of the first things he did with the
money was, under the direction of the
Executive Committee OF the Society, to
have a neat Handbook of Northwest
Missouri - written. Well informed men
in every adjacent county wrote short
sketches of the agricultural and industrial
condition of the counties. They told what
the land would produce, what kind of en-
terprises wonld probably pay they told
the prices of land, the condition of the
people, school and church facilities and
formation as prOspectors desire. The
pamphlet was neatly printed and contain
ed illustrations. The Secretary sent these
pamphlets to the great centres of emigra-
ton and placed them in the hands of men
everywhere where he thought they might
do good. He inserted advertisements OF
the opportunities which this particular sec
ton affords in several hundred county
newspapers in New England, in New
York and Ohio. The result was that very
soon he had a very large correspondence
to attend to, and many visitors came to
see him.
All visitors are cordially received and
they are sent to men in any particular sec.
ton that they wish to investiSate, who car
and will give them the Indignation they
| seek. Several thousand families (and the
| moseoi them of the most desirable cAass
of settlers that country can have) besides
many hundreds of thousands of dollars
have come into this section within the last
six years as direct result Of the work o.
this Society.
| The Society has no other basis than the
basis of public spirit. The men who have
given the money to have the work pushed
| get no direct return for it, indeed there il
no hope of direct return. But there art
indirect returns sufficient and more thar
sufficient to pay for all the trouble and tht
expense Of the Society. Real estate in al
most every section of this corner Of the
| State has become much more valuable, an(
every new dollar invested here makes al
the other dollars more brisk.
The plan has worked admirably.