The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-08-22
BENNINGTON, VT, THURSDAY, AUGUST %, 1889
THE COLONIZATION SCHEME.

THE COLONIZATION SCHEME.
There is every evidence that Commits
sioner Valentines scheme is a good one,
and entirely practical. We muet begin
somewhere and in some shape to do
something. and should be thankful that
matters IN this special bureau under the
faithful administration of Major Valen-
tine are beginning to take shape.-St.
Adams Messenger.
Major Valentine shows that this is not |
an untried experiment in New England,
referring to the thrifty town of New
Sweden, in Maine. He might also have
cited successful Swedish colonies in Can.
ada and in the West. AS to the quality
of this class of immigrants, there are |
few, If any, better. 1t seems to us the |
proposed plan is feasible and has much |
to recommend it. At all events 1t has |
the advantage of definiteness, which is a
very important factor in the case. Yer |
monters desire the Up-building of the |
waste places in the State. Here IS one |
suggestion looking to that end. Should |
the Commissioner letters bring answers
favorable to the ultimate success of the
scheme, it ought to receive serious con-
sideration.- Press.
Swedish immigration is of a highly
desirable character for the purpose in
view, and there are certain correspond
ences between parts of Vermont and
Sweden as to soil and climate which
would make the conditions of the Green
Mountain State congenial to the Swedish
settlers. The Swedish colonies in Maine,
in Canada and the West have been very
successful, and the people composing
them are recognized as a valuable ele-
ment in the population. Alto
gether, this plan of Commissioners Val
entine has its hopeful aspects, and if the
people of Vermont, rightly appreciatipg
the advantages to come to the State
from the adoption of the policy proposed
should cooperate cordially along the
lines which he suggests, great good
might result.-BOStOn Journal.
| While New Hampshire is just trying
to get in shape to attempt something in
the way of securing occupants for some
of her deserted farms, Vermont is al
ready at work, These deserted
Vermont farms are said to equal in area
the improved lands of Orleans county or
of Essex and Grand Isle counties com
bined. 1t is the definite purpose of the
State to repeople these lands, and to that
, end the Commissioner suggests colonial
, tion. He has conferred with a promi-
: nept Swede of Nebraska who has had
experience IN founding colonies of his
countrymen, and this man proposes to
examine these depopulated lands, and,
if satisfactory, to bring over colony of
I fifty families next spring. 1t is re-
markable fact that already four towns
7 have been found in any one of which it
/ would be possible to place that number
= of families on deserted farms. There
r will be sume problems to be met-as
what terms shall be given the new set
) tiers, and how they shall be enabled to
stock their farms or small capital at the
a outset-but it is believed that these diff
= culties can be overcome if the people
t till,remaining in those towns will man.
2 fest liberal and enterprising spirit
] Whether there is public spirit enough in
] these sparsely settled communities, and
~ whether prejudice against foreigners
will count against the scheme, remains
to be seen. But whatever Vermont
a experience may be in this respect, it is
!. certain that here in New Hampshire we
y have at least one town in which Swed
Y ish immigration has been a marked sue
IS cess. While the Swedes in Deerfield dc
n not form a colony, strictly speaking
s they were all induced to take farms
/" through the influence of an enterprisinl
e countrynan, and the progress they haYt
9 made and the readiness with which they
are assimilating with the native popula
y tion affords substantial ground for con
e fidence that similar results can be Sc.
l. cured ewhere.-Mdncheste Union
n The method adopted by Commissions
\ Valentine for colonizing Swedes on tn
n vatant farming lands in Vermont is on
t whose success may be reasonably doubt
,r ed at the outset. He estimates that 200,
h 600 acres of farming land are now grow
,e ing up to wilderness in that State, wher
d they were once under successful AM
le profitable cultivation. The attempt Il
ss repeople Vermont, where the drain o
N of Western emigration is severest, b,
the introduction of a colony of fit,
)r Swedish families. is bold experiment
s. Mr.. Thomas of Portland, a dozen year
l. ago made successful effort to coloniz
o. Aroostook county, Maine, with Swedish
h, families, but he had special tract o
ID unoccupied country to place within thei
10 reach. 1t hardly seems possible tina
st anywhere in Vermont there can be de
W serted farming lands sufficient in exten
z. for fifty families to settle as immediat
to neighbors; and if they cannot be locatet
t, near together, as similar colonies are II
r the West, it may be doubted whethe
as Vermont can compete with Wisconsi
IN or Montana for their acceptance of it
III lands at So or $5 an acre. 1t woul
I'd seem as if the remedy for repeopln
g. vacant farms in the more remote NeV
- England townships, where the NOR
I'd eager farmers have abandoned thei
III lands for Western farms, lies nearer o
I'd hand than the importation of coonist
ID from Sweden. The French Canadian
50 are thrifty farmers in their way, an
re the success of the Irish on farms whic
1T native New Euglanders have abandone
2. is one of the signs of the times, BU
rs this ls not the only remedy. 1t is mair
ly tanned by some that if the native farm
ce ers would use the same efforts to cult
a vate their lands to-day, with the skillfr
adaptation of means to ends, which tn
state of the home market demand,
that their forefathers employed in tn
earlier days, there would be no lack c
te prosperity in our great farming districts
av From a somewhat careful study of th
n conditions on which farming is mad
successful in northern New Hampshir,
r. it is believed that the present difficult
es in farming with us is not so much in th
'lr soil as in the men who till it. The ecC
nomic changes account for great de'
L.. of unsuccessful farming. In the choic
IT. of crops, in the expenditure of none
o. for machinery, in the changed characte
k of home living, is to be found the explf
nation of the fact that large number c
the New England farmers are in deb
a They plan for more than they can
II. and then blame the soil for their ow
W incompetence. Wherever the farmer
r have mixed their crops with brains an
have maintained the old economy {
Nv living, they have been comparativel
* successful. 1t is the emigration to tn
ad cities of the shrewd and active men wh
mi put intelligence and foresight into farm
ing that has robbed our villages of the
life and the nelghboring farms of the
''C prosperity. II the French and tn
OF Irish are willing to restore our farms
N, some degree Of their former fertility,
he is by all means best to encourage ther
in this service, and they have just q
ID much good stuff in them as any EN-
ia grants can have who may be asked
of come to us from across the Atlantic
,ls Spasmodic or colonizing efforts to ma