The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1903-03-20
SOUTHERN MARYLAND AND
IMMIGRATION.

| IMMIGRATION.
A correspondent of "The Sum in let
ter published Friday morning undertakes
to explain why emigrants from the west
ern counties Of this State do not settle in
the tidewa alter region rather that go West
This writer says that the main reason. why
the upper, county people do not buy land
in Charles, Prince Georges, St. Mary's
and the other southern counties is the
different views regarding labor held by
the natives of these counties and those OF
Western Maryland. In Southern Mary
land" he says, lit is traditional to detest
labor" Nothing could be farther from
the truth. There are probably no agri'
cultural pepole in the State who work
harder than the farmers of Southern
Maryland and their families. There are
no people more honest, God fearing and
industrious than these, and none who
come to live among them with greater
hospitality. 1t is true that they are not
as wealthy or prosperous as the inhabi'
tants of other parts of the State, and the
reasons for this are apparent. No part
of the State suffered in the same degree
from the Civil War. About two-thirds
of all the wealth of the section was wiped
out and the power of recuperation was
destroyed by the disorganization of labor.
In fact, the whole system of labor was
ruined. The negroes refused to work
and the former owners of the slaves and
their sons took to the fields and bravely
endeavored to stem the tide of adversely.
But the white population was sparse and
there we're still are far too few to till the
SOIL Much of it has grown up into wood
land The soil is light and much of the
land has been impaired by the washing
of rains. White labor could not be hired
because white labor will not as rule
come where majority of the population
are negroes. Then, too. the people OF
the southern counties have always had
tobacco as their chief staple crop, and the
cultivation of tobacco requires more labor
than almost any other field crop. But it
is the crop the people are accustomed to
and it is hard to get away from it.
The conditions of life have been SO dis
couraging that many of the most promis-
ing young men have abandoned the coun-
ty and many of the old homesteads are
given up to negroes, and the people say
that the negro labor cannot be relied up
on and is, 10 fact impossible to employ.
And yet, notwithstanding all drawbacks,
the people, impoverished by the Civil
War, have greatly improved the condi
ton in recent years, and it is said now
that there is no part of the State more
free from mortgages and other debts.
Some families from the West, just such
people as live ia Washington and Freder-
lex counties, have settled in Anne Arun
del and Prince Georges counties, and it is
reported that they are prospecting and
we'll satisfied. Our correspondent misses
the chief reason why people who leave
the western counties go West. The emf
grafton began many years ago when the
fertile lands along the Ohio and the
Mississippi rivers and on the rich prairies
of the Central West could be had at
Government prices. At that time the
was no room in Southern Maryland for
settlers and land sold higher than. in the
Western Maryland counties. In the
course of years many Western Maryland
colonies were established in the West
and almost every family in the Maryland
counties mentioned had some member or
some friend in these settlements. Then
when person started out from the old
home he would naturally join some friend
Or relative in the West. This is still one
of the chief attractions. If Western
Maryland settlement could once be esta-
blished in one of the southern counties it
would probably grow by attracting others.
Persons who undertake to depreciate the
Southern Maryland people are doing a
great wrong. They are an industrious,
intelligent, moral and God fearing peo
baltimore Sun