The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1894-03-01
Raleigh News Observer. Chronicle.

TO promote immigration to the
South company has been formed,
among the directors being William +.
Riggs, Gen. Marcus ]. Wright and
Col. Pat Donan.
The announced object of the COM
pany is to turn immigration and cap
ital to the Southern States, to select
and provide lands and homes for i'm
migrants, and to secure for them every
possible advantage and protection in
the new regions to which they go.
The preliminary work has been ac-
lively going on for many months.
Pledges OF earnest cooperation have
come from hundreds of leading South
ern men in all the States and Territo-
ries. The Governors, immigration
agents, and other officials Of numerous
States have sent written guarantees of
interest and aid, and two or three of
the European steamship lines, largely
engaged in bringing immigrants to
America, have signihed through their
representatives their readiness to turn
their vessels to any Southern port or
ports the company may select.
One of the members of the associa-
ton, speaking of its purposes, says the
time has come to change the course of
the tide OF immigration from the frigid
wastes of Dakota, Northern Minnesota,
and Wisconsin, Montana, and Mani
! toba, to the fertile lands and sunny
climate of the South. There is terri
bic suffering every winter among the
unfortunate people who are sent, by
railroad companies and emigration
agencies, to those frozen and in hos
pitable regions. North Dakota, for
instance, is " one crop" country
wheat alone and full crop of that
only abou' once in five years. There
is no coal or timber, and fuel and
building material must be brought
long distances at heavy cost. The
arctic winter lasts five months. The
thermometers out there have been
marking from IS to 80 degrees below
zero for month past. Great destitu-
ton and hardship prevail every winter
among the hapless foreigners, who are
shipped out there by the conscience
less corporations that get paid for car
rying them. The same wretched con-
ditions exist all over the bleak wilder
ness of the far Northwest.
The South needs these people to-
day, and has incalculable advantages
to offer them. Within her borders are
millions of acres of lands that can be
had at less than Government price,
and that only await these sturdy, in
dustrlous, thrifty workers to become
blooming gardens. The soil is fertile
i'll every product Of the temperate
zone-gralns, grasses, fruits, vegeta-
bles and textile fabrics. There are
boundless forests OF valuable timber as
yet scarce broken by woodman's AK
or saw and the hills and mountain
sides are bursting out with coal, iron,
stone, and nearly every other useful
mineral and metal The climate is
mild and heathful, requiring little
extra clothing or preparation for the
winter, and permitting white man
to work in the open field every day in
the year. All the means Of living are
abundant and easily obtainable. The
labor necessary to exc out the barest
and hardest existence on the blizzard
swept prairies Of Dakota or Nebraska
will speedily win independence and
competence anywhere in the South.
Yes, all this is true the time and
the opportunity are here now for the
men,