The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-02-08
GERMANS FOR LOUISIANA.


Louisiana seems to ba doing excep-
tionallv well in the matter of attract
ing white immigration. We noted some
days ago that a considerable number OF
italian families were to move into one
of the parishes and engage in farming;
that as a matter of fact, the movement
had already started, and that the new
corners were engaged in building houses
and clearing up fields in anticipation oil
the planting of a crop during the spring
now nearly at hand. And now comes
the information that 1900 German
farmers are to be added to the popu-
laJion of Rapides Parish. The state
ment is on the authority of an agent Of
the immigration bureau Of the Missouri
Pacific Railroad, through which bureau
arrangements for the German colony
were perfected. The German families
to be moved into Rapides Parish will be
gathered principally from the cities of
ST. Louis, Cleveland, Chicago, Milwau-
kee and other cities of the Middle West.
The Germans will engage in diversified
agricultural pursuits. and beyond the
shadow of a doubt will make indus
trjous, law-abiding and prosperous citi-
zens. of whom the state may well be
proud.
The Morning News has from time to
time commented on the advisability of
making efforts TO secure German (and
other North of Europe) immigration to
the South 1t is true that the Germans
referred to above are not going direct
from the Fatherland to Louisiana. but
they are Germans by birth and lam
guage and may be taken as represen-
tative of their nationality. When we
have suggested immigration of this sort
we have been met with the objection
that the fair skinned people of Europe
will not come South because they do
not care to come into contact or COM
petition with the negro as a laborer.
AS we have pointed out time and again,
there need be no such contact or COM
petition. There are hundreds of thous-
ands of white native farmers in the
South who do not come into compe-
tition with the blacks. Cotton, the
Souths staple, is a worlds crop. and
every year is being more largely raised
by white labor.
That it is not the presence of the ne
gro that is keeping white immigration
from flowing in larger volume to this
section of the country is pretty we'll
shown by the small stream that has
been turned this way, and specifically
by the two Louisiana incidents to which
we have referred above. The people
will come if we viii make our advan-
tages known to them and offer them in
ducements. The Missouri Pacific Rail-
road gave information and inducements
to the $4,000 German farmers that 1t is
going to take into Rapides Parish,
Louisiana. AS to what the induce
ments were we are not prepared to say,
but 1t is certain that they were sub
stantial. They will prove to be in the
nature of an investment, yielding large
and permanent interest. AS the settle
ment grows the railroad will have more
business, and local values will be in
creased; thus every interest connected
with the scheme will be benefited. Are
the railroads of Georgia exerting every
possible effort to induce immigration
into this state? Might they not get
some valuable information by commu-
with the Missouri Pacific as
to it's modes of securing settlers?