Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-07-15
AIDING EMIGRANTS.
A Scheme of Voluntary Association Or
ganized on Business Principles to
Promote immigration.
bow Tarrant County Might be Filled with
Thrifty Farmers-A Building AssOcia-
ton Plan for the Country.
R.ltimore Manufaeturerg, Record.


aid in money and supplies. These eqhs
tributions were prompted by antagont5c
motives which quickened the general
zeal. Before the great question at
issue was decided. Kansas shook of
her territorial swaddling clothes and
strobe into the national arena fully
equipped state. Since then lin less than
thirty years. it has become one of the
most prosperous commonwealth of the
Union. The pioneers who settled Kan
sas were not paupers, although very few
of them could have been called wealthy.
They were as a rule, young, energetic
and accustomed to hard work. A
majority were agriculturists, the
remainder mechanics and artisans.
They settled down to their avocations
as soon as they selected locations, and in
spite of the interference of political du-
ties and bitter conflicts, which occupied
much of their time and thoughts, they
planted farms in the wilderness and
founded cities which soon had a wonder
full growth. Aided emigration lald the
foundation of Kansas and contributed to
the construction of its substantial pros
perlty. The survivors of those pioneers
and their numerous descendants are &C
tive factors in its never-ceasing progress.
A system of aided emigration may be
devised for the South with marked ad-
vantage to the whole country. This can
not be done by acts Of congress or of state
legislatures, nor would aid from either
source be desirable if if could be had. To
be of the highest practical value it must
be given by voluntary associations, or
ganized on business principles. A saw
ings bank is an institution governed by
oil n or 1no md tod
by business methods which enable
it to do grand philanthropic
work. By taking care of petty sums of
money and adding steadily to them the
interest earned, they teach the poor how
to accumulate by the exercise of thrift
and self-denial. AT the same time, by
gathering in driblets of money from the
multitude, they obtain large sums that
can be loaned on unquestionable securi-
ties, for the construction of buildings
and the enlargement of trade. The saw
ings bank principle should enter into
the plan of an emigrant aid associa-
ton, for the system, to be successful,
must combine thrift and economy in its
management, with good judgment in the
selection of its benef1ciarIes. It must
also make sure the safety of the capital
invested and reasonable profit thereon.
the plan it is about to outline meets all
these requirements.
An emigrant aid association may
be organized by any number of capt.
talists under the general corporation
laws of most of the states. It's object
should be to purchase large tracts of
good farming land in the South, to di-
vide them into tracts of not less than
twenty acres each, to build on them suit
able farm houses and outbuildings as fast |
as the demand should arise, and to sell
them on long time to industrious, ca
pable men. The purchaser should be |
required to pay per cent. per annum
on the purchase price, to keep his |
premises insured, and to pay an in
stallment of not less than $50 a |
year on the principal. If at any time |
he wishes to pay whatever balance may |
be due, his right to do so should be |
guaranteed. Owners of suitable tracts |
of land in the South should have the |
opportunity to sell their land to COM
pany aud take their pay in its stock. A |
small profit added to the cost of land |
purchased for cash or its equivalent in
stock would be sufficient to pay all incl
dental expenses of the business.
There are thousands of families of the /
right stamp in the North and West who
would be glad to purchase farms in the
South on such an installment plan as has
been outlined. Many of these are young
farmers who have money enough TO buy
stock and tools for small place, and to
support themselves and families until
they can make their crops after getting
their land in condition, but who
have not enough to buy prop
erty cash down. Another and
very large class are skilled mechanics
with large families, who earn excellent
wages and manage to put something IN
the savings bank when trade is brisk, but
who have frequently been compelled to
draw out and spend their little hoard
when dull times came and there was lit
tie or no work to be had. To such men
an opportunity to buy farm on the in
plan would be most welcome.
They could command as much ready cash
as the young farmers, and they would
have this additional advantage in the
South, that there would be frequent
calls for their services as mechanics, for
skilled workmen are not numerous any
where in that section, and often in
places none can be found.
II would not be wise for an emigrant
aid association to organize with very
large capital until the plan had been
tested ana experience naQ SHOWN the pest
system for making it effective. Numer-
Ous details would suggest themselves to
the association as their enterprise pro-
crossed, and until it had passed the
experimental stage. With capital of
$50 900, one half well invested in land "a
successful business could be started, and
when that had demonstrated what could
be done, the enterprise could be enlarged
The wealthy in all our large cities are
continually called upon to help the poor,
and they as a rule respond generously.
The number OF alleged 'chari-
table associations in New York
is very large, and many of
them Of the papers of that city are cor
rect) are humbugs. Sometimes those
who honestly engage in relieving the
poor are an injury to the community be-
cause, by giving aid without asking any
return from those able to make it, they
are unconsoiously increasing the ranks of
professional paupers, but not so in an en-
terprise of this kind. In times of strikes
and of long continued business depres-
sion many capable men would be saved
from poverty, as well as from the demor-