The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-04-14
HOW TO BRING THEM.
Suggestions Regard nR tho Way tn At
trHet Attention and Immigration.

Suggestions Regxrd Ing tho Way tn At
trnct Attention and Immigration.
To Tho Independent
take tho liberty TO write again regard
Ing the suggestion which ] tried to make
In my recent letter. The editorial comment
which you did me tho honor to publish In
connection with that lsttor showed roe that
| had missed the point.
How to settle up this stats--not In ten or
twenty years. but during the coming two or
three y%ears.-that IL the bsorbina question.
Boiled down, 1t IL a question OF emigration.
Now, ] maintain that too much energy and
money 10 spent trying to bring new comers
into the cities or towns. II tho farm lands
are peopled, the towns will grow a. a nat
urRl consequence. and certainly they Will
not grow until tho farming population 10
enlarged. How are these new farmers to
be induced to settle here In MontanaI II
| will not do to reply that advertising will
do IL. There arc a hundred ways OF adver-
| Using. Which one is the sin plest, most con-
~yenisnt and ohenpest2 And what main fact
Is 1t that must be advertised People NIL
over the country have diifted into the
habit Of thinking that " q man wants to
raise fruit At n profit he must 20 to Cali
f%ornia; or to Dakota II no wish TO raise
wheat; and 80 far as Montana is concerned
uo LhK6S III lOF RTHlLeu OHnHuu tnhG LneT6 IL
no way to make n living here except by
mining. 1t IL evideat then. that the first
thing is to scntter the information that
farmers, stock %raisers, wheat r%aisers, and
even fruit raisers ere badly needed here in
Montana. 1t does not need a book or a
pamphlet to tell this to the general public,
| My suggestion WAS that a concise and lain
statement be made OF these main facts, OF
say half II column in length, and that this
be periodically printed and reprinted in the
newspapers every where in the state. with
the request in each cnse that the subscribers
and lenders OF those papers mail their
copies of the same to friends and %acquain-
tnnces throughout tho United States.
The Inper in each locality could
add a brief description of its
own town and locality. The
carrying out of this plan would not touch
upon any Of the reasonable objections
which you 80 ably advanced. And it seems
to me that on the whole it is really the only
/ possible way to scatter the desired infor-
| nation in a way that it is perfectly etfec-
tive. cheap, interesting and convenient.
Every resident of Montana is called upon
from time to time to write back something
about this wonderful country to his friends
ut home. He would have in a nutshell just
about all he ia able to write in a years co =
r%espondence, If his newspaper published
such an article AZ that suggested. Then.
such people as became in this manner in
terested in making special inquiry rega d.
ing the business possibilities here could
readily find fuller sources of information.
am not laboring under the impression
that his suggestion il a now one. The
special holiday editions Of all the wide
awake paners of the west carry this i'd q
out exhaustively. But there's the point.
They are far too exhaustive. They do not
dwell md insist upon the main fncts. Peo-
pie cannot pick out from these great masses
of information those few points which they
must remember and think about. if any
lasting impressions are to DO made upor
their minds. Naturally in such specia
editions. that one TOPIC which is thus fa1
the dominating one. namely, the subject ol
mining. overtops and smothers out those
struggling enterprises which have not YET
obtained a %foothold, so that the people &C
on thinking that there is still nothing il
Montana but mining.
And finally, l am not laborina under the
impression that l know anything about the
newspaper business. 1 am simply one Of
the many newcomers who have perfect con.
tidence in the future of Montana. but who
for the life of them. have not been able &c
prove the grounds of their arguments
when they write back to their friends in the
east to come out here and put their money
into something besides mining. Tho.e are
a few pamphlets which we can buy. but
they are full of mining, mining, mining;
and besides, people will not read pamph-
something short md to the point, and poo
pie will not forget it. The Chicago papers
a. printing specials about the flood of emil
grants just now settling in South Dakota.
What takes them there? Nothing in the
world but the wheat iden. They could do
better in Montana. and so could all those
] people who have settled in Colorado al d
| made the lourishing city of Denver a pos
sibility there. ANDREW ADAMS.
Helena, April ID. 1898.