The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-09-29
ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT.
Arkansas.

United States Is now attracting more general attention among investors and immigrants than the almost undevel- oped country known as Arkansas.
 propose to tell briefly and plainly, and without any attempt at word- painting, few of the advantages of this great state, but before doing SO would impress on your readers the correct pronunciation of the name of the state, and the pronunciation given it by the people of Arkansas. It is pronounced with the final Is" ot the word silent. At the session of the general assembly of 1881, in view of the different accommodations given to the name of the state, the matter was investigated by special committee and resulted in the adoption ot the following concurrent resolution:
 Whereas, confusion of practice has arisen ill the pronunciation of the name of our state, and it is deemed important that the true pronunciation should be determined for use in oral official proceedings, and whereas, the matter has been thoroughly investi- gated by the State Historical society and the Eclectic society of Little Rock, which have agreed upon the correct pronunciation as derived from history and the early usages of the American immigrants, be it therefore
 Resolved, by both houses of the general assembly: That the only true pronunciation of the name of the state, in the opinion of this body, is that re- ceived from the native Indians by the French, and committed to writing in the French word representing the sound; and that it should be pro- nounced in three syllables, with the "s" silent, the "a" in each syllable with the Italian sound, and the accent on the first and last syllables- being the pronunciation formerly universal and now still most commonly used; and that the pronunciation with the &C., cent on the second syllable and the sound of "a" and the sounding of the terminal 's" is an innovation to be discouraged.
 This pronunciation is rigidly ad- hered to by the citizens of the state, notwithstanding the fact that certain of the geography makers insist on its incorrectness.
 But to return to the subject: The area in square miles of Arkansas is 52,198. The census of 1880 gives the state population of S02,525, but it is now claimed to be double that amount. If the population at other points in the state has increased in the same ratio of Little Rock, it is more than double. The census taker gave Little Rock in 1880 population of about 13,o00, and the city now con- tains between 5000 and 0,000 peo- pie. In our state we have more miles of new railroad than any other state, boundless forests of soft and hard woods and inexhaustiblc fields of coal, iron and manganese.
 Until within the past year but little organized effort was made to turn the tide of immigration in this direction, and then the work devolved upon a few enterprising people, who origin ated the plan of holding state immi- grafton convention. The movement received the hearty cooperation of Simon P. Hughes, governor of the state, who issued his proclamation. The result was one of the most enthu- siastic conventions ever held in Ar kansas. Every county was repre- scented, and state bureau of immigra- tion supported by voluntary contribu- tions was created. The board has branches all over the state, and its main office is in this city. Its officers are as follows: Logan H. Roots, presi- dent; D. McRae, vice. president; H. l.. Remmell, secretary; George R. Brown, treasurer.
 These gentlemen, together with J. H. Clendenning, of Fort Smith, A. M. Crow, of Philadelphia, and W. P. Fletcher, of Lonoke, constitute the active executive committee. Under their auspices tons of printed matter have been put into actual circulation. and the result is that Arkansas has gained thousands of valuable citizens and millions of dollars of new capital. A spirit of progress and enterprise has been aroused, the like of which the southwest never before knew. It has been demonstrated that every element of material greatness is to be found in the state.
 There are 2,00O,O00 acres of state lands which are to be donated to bona fde settlers. This, in addition to 6,OOO,000 acres of United States lands, subject to homestead entry. The gov ernment land can be had in tracts of l60 acres, at cost of about $2O per tract. Both the St. Louis, Iron Moun- tain and Southern and Little Rock and Fort Smith railroads own very valu- able land grants, which they are dis posing of on long time and easy pay. ments. It is now claimed that there are more saw-mills in Arkansas than m any other state in the Union, and thnf tho okakn bee s- nA AN<>