The Saint Paul globe., 1905-01-13

Various plans for establishing and
regulating a state board of immigra-
ltion were discussed yesterday after
noon in the senate chamber of the old
capitol by a hundred delegates and vis-
itors attending the first annual con-
vention of the Minnesota immigration
society
This body was the outgrowth of a
general convention held at the Peoples
church, ST. Paul, last June The of
ficers then chosen were Judge John w.
Willis, of st. Paul, president; NJ j.
'Donnelly and G. P. Stine, of st. Paul,
secretary and treasurer, respectively;
w G. Nye, Minneapolis, auditor. One
vice president was chosen from each
county.
Addressing the convention yesterday,
Senator L. O. Thorpe, of Kandiyohi,
said that the state should promote i'm
migration; private enterprise was in
sufficient. Especially, it lacked the
requisite prestige and responsibility.
AS the first thing for the convention
to do was to suggest suitable Iegisla-
tive action in furtherance of immigra-
tion, he would recommend such a bill
as was introduced in the legislature
lWO y cars dSO llG 6OtGII1OI, lie SSC-
retary of state and the state treasurer
should be designated as an immigra
ton commission to disburse appropria-
tions made by the state. The commits
sion should serve without salary or ex-
pense accounts. Members of the legis-
lature would then have a guarantee
that there would be no graft" It was
essential that the appropriations should
be expended, not by the society, but by
state officers.
John Street, of Northfield, said that,
inasmuch as the state owned 1000, 600
acres of land, all to be sold, it should
be willing to exploit them.
The city jobberS could materially as
sist immigration, said Representative
A. l.. Cole, of Cass county, if they
would undertake the task.
Land for Settlers Only
Mr.. Cole urged that state lands, when
sold should be transferred to settlers
only. Contracts should insist on this
point. If the land We're bought on
forty-year contracts, with interest at 4
per cent. it would be the next thing to
providing free homesteads.
In order to formulate the wishes of
the delegates in respect to legislation,
Mr. Cole had prepared a bill, he said,
which he would read.
1t provided for state commission
of immigration. the members of which
should hold Office two years and be re-
movable by the governor for mall
feasance. The board should appoint a
field agent and should fix his salary.
He should give a bond in the sum of
$4,000. The commission should COL
lect and disseminate information of all
sorts that might be useful to guide inn
migrants or prospective immigrants.
Agencies of the commission should be
established at the principal foreign
ports, The information collected
should be distributed through newspa-
pers and pamphlets. For the expenses
of the commission $4,000 should be ap-
propriated annually.
President Willis declared, when Mr..
Cole had finished reading his bill, that
the principal objection to it was that it
did not ask for a sufficient apprOpria-
tion AS a hint of what the state ought
to do to promote immigration, the leg
isIature might consider what the rail-
roads are doing to that end. The Rock
Island road alone, as the speaker had
been informed, spent not less than $780,
900 to attract settlers into it's terri
tory.
The Dominion of Canada set an ex-
ample even more striking. At st. Paul,
not to speak of other American cities,
the Dominion was probably expending
$4,000 in the maintenance of an immf-
grafton agency, with. it's various en-
ployes and publications. The prov
inces of Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba
maintained agencies in the Twin Cities
aside from that of the Dominion gov
ernment. The appropriation suggested
by Mr. Cole would not permit Mime
sofa to initiate satisfactory competi-
ton with Canadian enterprise.
A delegate then announced that, as
he understood, Judge Willis himself
| had prepared bill for an immigra-
ton commission. The judge admitted