The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-06-24


 Northwest with little money to invest can reap greater reward and more con- tentment by settling in this section of the South than he would secure in any other section of the United States. Thirty-three years ago Mr. Rasmus- sen, a young man from the peninsula of Denmark. debarked from a vessel in New York city. He likes to tell 1 it that he had but $7 when he first saw the shores of America But he l had strong arms. common sense and | solid character foundation. He sought an acquaintance from his own Dem mark, told him he had $7 and asked what he could do in New York with | his ST.
 'Tf you haven't got but $7." said this acquaintance, get out of New York 1 as quick as possible"
 1 Mir. Rasmussen accepted the advice, bought railway ticket to the mining section of Pennsylvania and went to work. He thinks the advice of his New York acquaintance the best ad- vice he ever had.
 Saving his money and investing 1t judiciously. MT. Rasmussen went from Pennsy1vania to Chicago. In 1881 he removed to Minneapolis, the metropo- | lis of State that has 4s.676 Scandi- navian families Today he is at the head of book publishing establish ment that employs scores of people | and Manager of the c. Rasmussen Ad- vertising Agency which represents 100' Scandinavian newspapers of the Uni- l ted States He is regarded as an au- | thorfty on Scandinavian immigration | and the needs of his people.
 MT. Rasmussen has just come from l a trip to Georgia and Florida. He ad- dressed the immigration conference which was held in Augusta a few days ago and he has addressed commercial bodies during his visit to the South. While hes has been in nearly every State in the Union this is his first trip l to Alabama. He has already visited Birmingham and points in North Ala bama. He will go from Montgomery to Thorsby and Calera. and will then in- vestigate conditions in Mobile and Baldwin counties, where there are sev- eral Scandinavian colonies.
 | Near Coalburg, several days ago, Mir. Rasmussen renewed acquaintance with l several of his Scandinavian friends whom he had known in the Northwest. l One of these couples" he said "a | rather old gentleman and his wife, travelled overland in a wagon from | Chicago. They had little money and l they stranded in Birmingham The man was a good carpenter. He went to work in Birmingham and saved his | money until he was abla to purchase | twelve acres near Coalburg He and his wife were so well pleased with their investment that they were in- strumental in bringing other families to that section. I found them happy, contented and making money. They are truck gardening and they told me l they could grow fourteen and fifteen l varieties of garden truck which found 1 a ready aale If one crop failed they | could depend on another, The climate is saIubrious and they swear by Ala bama."
 The severe winters of the nortnwess,;; | MT. Rasmussen says, make the Scandl naVians restless and many of them would come to the South If the condt- tions here were placed berorc them properly. Great numbers of them are now settling in Western Canada. rms Is due, he says, to the fact that Scandi- navian bankers and others who have made considerable money have bought and are buying great tracts or nnoe- veloped lands in that section of Cana da and are offering Inducements to immigrants.
 aThere should be organized effort in | Alabama" said MT. Rasmussen. to bring the Swedes and Danes and Nor wegians to yoHr State. Eacn one Who comes here will bring two more. The South believe Is the poor man s para disc Nowhere else in the country can a poor man do as much for his Family.
 He can live in the open air all of the
 year. He can grow crops all or the
 year and he can grow more different | IinAs of crops This section continues
 su of It's honored traditions of chival-
 rv that I read about when l was &
 DanIsh boy. combined with the huste 1 and activity of modern times. Ana so I I like to speak of 1t as the neW-olo
 country. os Aroorios
 declare that the Scandinavians are the
 best class of immigrants Tney oo @ no'
 come to this country with the intention l of going away when they have mace
 some money. They possess the moral
 and industrial qualities that go to make
 good Scandinavians. They rapidly ac-
 commodate themselves to conditions III
 this country, to American customs, tt
 American thinking and to American
 ideas. As a rule they are religious
 There are 3,500,000 Scandinavians IT
 this country. They support 2,500 Scan
 dinavian clergymen and l25 Scandlna
 vian newspapers. Over 13 per cent. O.
 our foreign farmers are Seandinavian'
 and 80 per cent of them own the farms on which they live.
 These people own or operate 0,O0C
 stores in the Northwest. As laborer!
 they are second to none by reason oi
 their steady habits and clean, mora
 lives. One bank in Minneapolis ha.
 deposits of $12,00o.000 divided among
 b5, 900 depositors. Seventy per cent. o
 these depositors are Seandlnavians.
 'Tt is my purpose to show these peo.
 ple the advantage of settling in tn, Southern States. One family of then
 will be worth S1,0O0 year to any com. munity and I hope that Alabama, in. ] stead of looking across the seas and maintaining agents at the steamship
 docks in New York, will make an or
 ganized effort Tn tho Northwest to se-
 cure citizens of this class"