Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1889-07-12
Let Us Work for immigration.

The Richmond State, of Tuesday, con-
tains the following timely communication
from Commissioner of immigration Chas.
Grattan, of this city:
! STAUNToN, VA, July 4.-As your paper
| has always been an earnest advocate of the
| farming interests of Virginia, | make bold,
| through its columns, to say a few words to
I'LL whom it may concern. There are to-
day neal Is ,000, 900 acres of waste and I'M
improved land in the State, which is an
incubus upon the remainder-in this, that
the taxes paid on this unproductive land
would i'll some measure enable the owners
to utilize what they have under cultivation.
Now, what is to be done? The Board of
! Agriculture has blaZed the way and we
have gone far enough in it to see daylight,
| if We only have the means to keep on. That
board has taken steps to make the advan-
tages of Virginia known far and wide, and
| invite II class of immigrants that Will make
our waste places blossom us the rose; and
| this ! say not from conjecture and theory,
but from actual experience. There is
scarcely county in the East in which you
cannot find the class Of immigrants we are
looking for, and wherever found you find
thrift and progress and contentment, and
this not only in the individual spheres, but
| the material and social Well-being of the
communities in which they live is bettered.
| The supervisors and county officers are
men of wide scope and progress; the roads
are improved, the schools better patron
ised, and the race question put in a posi-
ton to be quietly and peacefully settled.
1t would surprise the public generally to
know how many men of bone and SineW and
brain and money are already among us, and
how many more are anXiously looking to-
ward us with a view to coming. The
Board of Agriculture, with its very limited
means, has done a great deal; and the Com
missioner of Agriculture, for his untiring
zeal, deserves well of his country. If l
understand him correctly, he turns more
into the treasury from his department than
he draws out of it. So that all the good
that is accomplished has been done at nc
actual cost to the State whatever. But he
and the Board are hampered in their good
work for the lack of the sinews Of war.
If We had the means to supplement the
counties in sending a man from each to
travel under the general supervision of the
| Commissioner Of immigration, and make
known in that section where the Commits
sioner has found most suitable the peculiar
advantages Of his section, with maps and
| lists OF lands and prices, certificates of
crops, and assurances OF friendly treat
ment, we could in two years build up Viz
| Sluld tllu pun uGI Oll GuG U1SSu IOctu W tl1dU
position of material vantage ground she
deserves, and which her advantages of posi-
ton, soil, climate, minerals, timbers and
water-power so justly entitle her.
We have been signally blessed by Provi-
dence i'll this matter. Already there has
| occurred in Our bOarderS an assembly of
thousands of farmers, scattered from New
Hampshire and Canada to Oregon and Cali
fornia, who have gone back, thanks to the
seasons and the good lands and farming Of
the Valley, impressed with the idea that Vir-
ginia is as fair a land as the sun ever shone
Oh. They have taken with them, to back
their own judgments, statistics, facts,
and figures, amply showing that Virginia
is far ahead OF the North and West in point
of profit in farming, when the value of the
land is taken into consideration. Now,
with this tide forming, we cannot afford
to lie supinely on our banks and wait.
Strike while the iron is hot. Let the peo-
pie of Virginia, in the two great parties
into which they are divided, see to it that
the men they send to the next Legislature
shall be men thoroughly imbued with the
Importance of this matter, as the corner
stone on which the structure of our future
wealth and social order rests. This must
be done within the parties and not by a
third party. This was the verdict of the
Farmers Assembly, and they We're WISE
Let the next General Assembly give us the
means and we will rejuvenate Virginia.
CHARLES GRATTAN.