The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1883-11-14
i. G. WALL, Commissioner.

Major E. G. Wall-Commissione Jackson,
ISIS:
DEAR SIR: Have your esteemed favor
of the 9th, and hasten to mail you bills
of Southern Land Excursion No. 2, that
will arrive in your city November 18th,
at 1890 p. N. / appreciate your kind
offer to have excursion met by commit
tees, and no people under the sun enjoy
such compliments more than we of the
North. At same time it would be ask
ing too much TO have anything in the
way OF reception at that time of night
Now, my dear sir. as have put in about
eight months of the hardest kind OF
work in the interest of the Southern
States traversed by the Illinois Central
Railroad, and have never bored you in
single instance, even in matters that
know you are personally interested, may
not trespass upon your time to recite
some of the methods employed in plac-
ing the resources OF your State before
the people of the great Northwest.
After my appointment January 1st,
1888, as Gen'l Western Passenger Ag't oil
the Illinois Central, began to canvass
in my own mind as to how We might
advance the interests of the country adj
jacent TO our line, and at same time in
crease the earnings of the depart nent
in which l was personally interested
After receiving your Hand-Books and
carefully studying their content, / be-
came fully convinced that the people of
the great Northwest were comparatively
strangers to the advantages and re-
sources of Mississippi, and your sister
State, Tennessee. / began mailing Hand
Books to different points in Iowa, Hi.
uois. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska
and Dakota, and found so great an in
terest in the subject / issued a circular
stating that the illinois Central Railroad
would run a special land excursion
South during the month of October.
Letters came pouring in from every
direction. and the result was a grand
Inauguration of scheme that will within
two years place the States of Tennessee
and Mississippi twenty years ahead OF
what they would have been in the ordi-
nary process of settlement. The excur-
sion numbered about 300, and was COM
posed of class of men that will do
honor to any State.
The direct result of this excursion is
the forming of company of our lead
ing lunbermen of northern Iowa, who
send committee TO the Ya2o0 country
next week to spy out" the timber lands
of that section, and if they find it. as
represented, will purchase several tnois-.
and acres, erect mills and infuse new
life and energy into tae lumber districts
of your State. The Investment of CAPT
tai by such men as these from different
parts of the Northwest means a general
stampede from the Northwest to the
South. 1t does not require much fore
sight to see the advantage these mill
and lumbermen will have, with line of
road from Yazoo City to Sioux City, the
central distributing point for northern
Iowa, northern Nebraska and southern
Dakota; certainly there will be demand
Tor all the lumber they can manufac-
ture.
Now, sir, with all this, have a prop
osition TO submit to you and your peo-
pie. 1t is said, I'm unity there is
strength, and upon this principle |
there should be unity of action, dis |
sussion of methods and means to
be employed in furthering these inter-
ests in which your State and the COM
pany represent are mutually concerned. |
About the middle of February / would
ike to see held in your city a Farmers
and Lumbermen's Convention that shall
occupy two days and evenings in the dis.
,ussion of these great interests. /
would have neat programme prepared
md assign different phases of the sub
ects to different persons; would have
ome practical dairy and stock man de-
lYer an address the first evening, and
he second some lumberman or one who
9 acquainted with the timber resources
# your State. The day sessions upon
General topics pertaining to farming.
lairying, cotton growing, etc. 10 the
| will try some of our
Northern speakers Of business experience.
nd besides will run a low rate excur-
ion that will crowd your city and in
ure the success of the convention.
lease consider this matter and confer
nth your people if they look upon it as
PRACTICAL. The sooner you begin to
gitdte it the better. We ought to
ave large representation of lumber.
nen, cotton-growers and farmers. II
uggest, if you have a glee club, the ses-
ion be interspersed with music and. an
given that will do honor
0 your STATE, and worthy the great
interests it is intended to subserve. /
ope to meet you on the 18th, and ex-
ress to you more fully my convictions {
hat your State is upon the eve of a | /
ornament boom" such as its warmest I
-iends here never dreamed of. The !
Ireat Worlds Industrial Cotton Exposi- I
on to begin in New Orleans in Decem-
er, 1884, will bring to this country the
ofton growers and capitalists of the
ord. They must be shown the I'M 5
aralleled cotton districts of Missis-
ppi, and they will not be slow to see
he special opportunities for investments A
Ire to yield large returns. / have
ritten you a long letter, but it in no
amer conveys the interest fell in the
lbject of Southern immigration and the n
of all that country especial r
tributary to the Illinois Central. Hop r
g to hear from you at your earliest =,
'nvience, ! am yours truly. h
j. F. MERRY, i
Gen'l West. Pass. Ag't. ),