Birmingham age-herald., 1895-04-21
THE TIDE IS RUNNING,
And Alabama Should Launch Her Bark Upon lt-A Strong Presentation of the Ne
 cessity of Concerted Action.
To the Age-Herald:

matter of immigration shown by the peo- | pie of Alabama causes us to call atten- | tion to the old but logical quotation that "there is a tide in all mems affairs, which l taken at the flood leads on to prosper
 ity, etc.," and nothing more truthful or
 pertinent could in our opinion, be ap-
 piled to the immigration question in Ala
 bama at the present writing. Liberally
 construed immigration means the basis
 of prosperity and development, the lat
 ter invariably accompanying immigra-
 tion, and prosperity also, if the resources
 are sufficient and are aided by intelli- 1 gent direction in their development
 Show us extensive immigration, though l it be only of poor, but economic, indus
 trious families to only a common or poor
 soil and we show you a thriving com
 munity and extensive and profitable de- velopment in progress, together with | evidences of thrift upon all sides as the
 result.
 There is rapidly approaching a flood
 tide of immigration to the central south, | and the question now before the people | of Alabama is, vii you take 1t at the | flood and bring prosperity to yoursciVeS 1 and to those thousands of desirable pcu- l ple from the north west and east, whom I | resources so bountifully deposited within | your borders, or will you relapse back | into your former lethargic, non-enter- | prSing habit and allow your sister
 states to absorb your rightful share | A fair amount of immigration five years
 ago to the agricultural districts of our | state would have today made agricul- | tural lands worth 35 to 50 per cent more | than they are, and largely increased the l present value of city and town realty, l F,a rf, F,1o ,tc tn wi | say: Times and everything have been l against-us and no chance to effect any | thing
 | This is not fact and Georgia, Texas
 and eastern Mississippi disprove it most effectually. Some people in our state | have been hard at work, and have there l by accomplished something, but 1t needs 1 the people and railroads of the entire | state thoroughly Interested to effect great l results. That indefatigable immigra- l ton worker, Maj. F. Y. Anderson, recent 1 ly received from one of the most exten- 1 sive colonizers of the north the following, | in answer to a letter of his of April 1: Upon my return I find your letter of l the 1st instant. wish to say, however, l that prior to our Knowledge of your com l pany and your lands you have, and as | far back as September last, we had re- l ceived most of our encouragement from 1 Georgia and great Inducements, both in l transportation of actual settlers and their | l them from there.'
 trust that this may come to the notice l of each and every member of the state | legislature of Alabama, that those who | favored the establishing of an immigra- | ton bureau may see that they favored | something that would prove of great | benefit to Alabama and her people, and | those members who opposed it or were | lukewarm in the matter may see that
 they committed most grievous error | and change their action and vote for es-
 tablishing the bureau.
 | Suppose each one of those 14, 900 fami- | lies signed up by that colonzer averaged | five persons to a family, and each person | of those families only brought to Georgia | the low estimate of $50 per individual, it | would mean $10, 800, 900, and were it in A ia | bama would mean over $650 per individ-
 ual of our entire population. There is a | strong probability, however, that the benefits to be derived from immigration | are becoming so apparent to the citizens | of our state that they will demand that
 an immigration bureau be created by the | legislature at the next session, even | though the railway commission has to be | abolished and that fund used for the | maintenance of the bureau of immigra- | tion. It is conceded nearly universally | by the people that under the existing | statutes little benefit can be or is had | from the considerable fund it costs the 1 taxpayers; whereas the same amount | expended through properly constituted | immigra tion bureau would bring large | accessions of working, economic valuable citizens, together with large | aggregate sum of money to go in circula- | tion, benefiting both the people and the | railways many times more than the rail- | way commission --doeS. Immigration should from now on be the work laid be- | fore their readers fully in each issue by ! the weekly newspapers of Alabama. | First, because immigration means more | subscribers, and, second, it means more | advertisements and greater profits.
 The individual, neighborhood, town l etc, that does not desire the immigra- | tion of good people is an enemy to the | prosperity of our state; and the quota tion, "He who is not for me is against me-" applies to those who claim to be lon the fence as regards immigratio and development and the bringing of more money into Alabama. The request by the Alabama Commercial association for the appointing of committee by the Grand Army of the Republic to investi- gate upon the resources etc., of Ala bama, and their report be placed before their comrades over the entire country shows that the people of our state de- mand =. thorough immigration policy. The appointment of three such we'll and favorably known members of the Grand Army of the Republic as Post Com mander William Snyder, Post Com mander F. G. Sheppard of this city and POSt COnlmaHuer M. U. WlcKefSndm Ol Mobile, guarantees a truthful and eX- cellent report from the headquarters at 1906 Second avenue, this city. In addi- ton, two members are appointed from each post to receive communica tions and answer the same regarding matters in their respective localities only.
 Another favorable fact is that while the Queen and Crescent and Mobile and Ohio systems have for some time been intelligently pushing immigration work in tho north the T.nIliSVilIa and h. vile has joined heartily in the good work. and will be found doing their