St. Paul daily globe., 1890-12-29
What Proper Immigration
Will Do for Minnesota
People.
E. j. Kodgson DiseourseS on
the Value Of a State
Board.
Railroad Legislation to Come
Before This Current
Session.
The Abrupt Ending Of the
Romance Of Axel An
depSOn.

On the subject of state board of i'm
migration, L. j. Hodgson held copy
of the GLOBE i'll his hand and dis
coursed forclbly. as he always does.
Addressing his remarks to the editor,
he says:
81 find in this mornings GLOBE the
following statement: 'E. j. Hodgson
continues to whoop up the agitation
for state board of immlgration.'
Right you are, aud you might have
added with equal truth that | shall con-
tinue to do so until it is an accomplished
fact. When you find something that L
have gone into with heart and soul, and
ceased to whoop it up until | got there
with both feet, you will be able to give
your readers at least one item of news.
But this is not the giSt of the article
from which it is quoted. Here it is:
'Prying under the surface of Mr.. Hedg-
sons heroic efforts to create sentiment
in its favor, what do we hnu?-that MIR.
HodgSon owns or controls vast amount
Of land in the state; that an influx. of
population can have but one effect upon
that land, and that is TO materially i'm
prove its value You then suggest that
inaSmueh as the expenses of board of
immigration must be paid out of the
public treasury, it would be better for
myself and other land owners to foot
the bill ourselves, and then you ask me
how the proposition strikes me. L will
tell you how it strikes me. We have got
some little microscopic souls IN st. Paul,
as they have in every city, who live in
perpetual ferment of dread that some
body other than themselves will make
a cent out of public enterprises. You
can't drive them out or kill them Off.
Bill Nye's plan of trying ''iDSect pow
der" on them would not work because
their inhnitesimal souls would find
abundant room to exist in the spaces
between the dust particles. l am not
surprised that we have such creatures,
but am surprised that the GLOBE will
Officiate as mouthpiece for them.
Now, the fact is | have got less than
two and a half full sections, or 1,600
acres of land in the state of Minnesota.
Nor have l control over or power to sell
one other foot of land in Minnesota.
There are about 53,G00,000 acres in the
state of Minnesota. A board of immi-
grafton would cost about $4,000 per an
mum. My share would be about s3 per
annum. | stand ready to subscribe it
any minute. Have | answered your
That my land would be enhanced in
value by a large influx of population
do not deny; but, OIL the other hand, |
assert that it would be greatly enhanced,
and so would every other mans land,
and SO would every town and city lot.
and so would every mans property of
| whatever name or nature the same may
| be. And not only that. but the cOndi-
ton of every wage Garner. in whatever
| line he is engaged, would be vastly i'm
| proved, whether he owns property CT
not. There would be more houses to
| build. more stores, more mills. more ele-
| vatOrS, more factories, more bridges,
| more school houses, churches and pub
| lie buildings of all kinds. There would
| be more work for professional men and
railroad men. There would be d greater
| demand for the product of every shop
| and manufactory and the wares of
| every tradesman. But why attempt to
| enumerate? | cannot conceive of a
! human being in the state who would not
| be benefited by opening up our untitled
| soil, by building saw mills and utilizing
our forests. ly encouraging our in
| numerable quarries, by putting wheels
! and shafts under every waterfall, by
| opening up at least some reasonable
| part of sour iueXhauStible mineral re-
sources. Every farm, every town,
every city. every man, will most surely
be benefited Ly these great achieve
ments; al every mean little creature
who stands >hivering for fear he can't
make all tlr is to be made out of it
ought to be kicked out Of the way, if
| you could only nhd a place big enough
| to kick. Some have said that South
eastern Minnesota would not be bene-
| flied, because it would get but very
small portion of the newcomers. This
is very short-sighted objection. The
moment you have populated the west
| ern lands. every acre in Southeastern
Minnesota will increase in value from
two to four times its present value.