The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1885-08-15
IMMIGRATION AND lSK4LL
FIRMS.

VI #bttG fA3uthtHfih aIlOAle HAhu NAIll
Company" the stock subscriptions tc
consist Of improved lands and money,
tho money to be used for dividing the
lands into small tracts and placing
dwellings thereon. Then bring in and
locate on these tracts white farmers oil
industry and character, thereby en-
abling them TO earn homes for them
selves and their children, and at the
same time give the country a class OF
farmers that would become good eiti-
zens.
We heartily endorse Mr.. Sage's
plan in the main, bnt would suggest
t'Rnimproved'' as well as improved
lands to the stock of subscriptions, as
a reason, and we consider a good one,
that some of the best lands in the
State are unimproved. Take for IN
stance, Calcasieu. We have in this
parish thousands of acres Of as fine
farming land as can be found any :
where IN Southwest Louisiana, that
has never had q hoe stuck into it,
some Of which would yield bale of
cotton per acre, and from As to so
bushels of corn.
We fully agree with Mr.. Sage, that
the people of Louisiana should re-
member that their welfare as State,
their prosperity and their moral health
as a people depend largely on land and
its cultivation; and the more intelli-
gent, Industrious, thrifty, frugal and
good-habited white farmers we have
the better. And we heartily concur
in the fact that if we want to fiji our
waste places we must not wait for
outsiders, bnt We must attract them
to our midst by suitable information
of our resources, and climate.
The Echo has labored for years to
place the resources of Calcasieu be-
fore the public, that it might be set
tied up by an industrious class, who
would assist US in developing the hid
den treasure that has laid dormant for
time immemorial. The lands in this
parish are as susceptible Of cultivation
as those of any other section of Louis
lana, and with a little care and moder-
ate use Of fertilizers produce almost
anything that can be grown in the
tropics. As for fruit, there is no bet
ter section in the South, for all kinds,
than right here in Calcasieu. We
raise as fine oranges, peaches, pears,
figs, grapes, apples, apricots, necta-
rines, Japan persimmons, pemme-
granates, ounces, etc, as can be pro-
duced almost anywhere. Oats, barley,
broom corn, sorghum and rye do well,
while such things as garden truck
flourish beyond description,
The great drawback to our labors
toward bringing immigration to this
parish, has been the want of co-opera-
tion on the part of our large land
owners and the discrimination of the
railroad against both the town of Lake
Charles and the parish of Caleasieu,
the road seeming to have more inter
est in building up other sections.
Trains arc run exclusively at night
through our parish, which of itself
works detrimental to the parish, as
travellers aud home-seekers have no
chance to see the country through
which they pass.
Nevertheless, we are proud to say
that our parish is slowly, but surely,
filing up with a good class of people,
such as will materially aid us in de-
veloping our resources and placing
Calcasieu before the public as one of
the foremost farming sections in the
South. All we want now is a local
immigration Society and Parish Fair
Association, to be composed of men
interested in the building up of the
parish and the cultivation Of the soil.
With these two organizations, properly
managed, we can build up our parish
quicker than by any other means. The
Immigration Society to encourage the
coming among us of an industrious
class of white farmers, and the Fair
Association, by offering small pre-
miums, would serve to encourage them
in their industry, and at the Same time
would show to strangers that might
visit us on these occasions the pro-
ductiye qualities of our soil.
So we ask, who will take the mi.
tiatiYe in organizing either one OF
both Of these Associations We arc
ready 10 contribute our might at any
time, and will lend the use of the col.
nmns Of the Echo TO make both sue
cessful, once they are organized.
1 THENoFthwestern Luntbernaa says;
at is now claimed that the visible SHIN.
gle supply Of the Arkansas, Texas and