Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1906-02-06
LETTER FROM THE SOUTH.
BILOXI, Miss Jan. 26, 1906

AooiAi AOi' ondii UCSiH viii yea WHcI'
| left off with him.
| have this to say of the people O
Evergreen, where we spent about si1
weeks: they are very CORDIAL, friendly
and kindly in every way. And, i
would certainly be a pleasure to live
among them. But Evergreen ha:
nothing to support it or give it growth
except the farming country tributary
to it, and the farming conditions in the
county are certainly We " unpromising
From Evergree my sol, James, and
myself took trip down to the region
on the east side of Mobile bay. The to-
biography of this region is more divers
ified than in the Evergreen country
The soil is much the same in compost
ton, but the percentage of sand is con
siderably more in the bay country
There are the ridges and gullies and
the gullies wash out worse, but there
are also large stretches of flat lands,
and upon these northern farmers are
making cosey homes. These fiat lands,
however, have one quite undesirable
feature-they are interspersed with
shallow ponds of water, breeding places
for mosquitoes and malaria. The soil
OF these flat lands is chiefly sand, but
there is fair mixture of black loan in
them, mixed with the sand. 1t has the
appearance of being fairly good soil
and certainly is easily worked.
The day of cheap farming lands in
the South has passed. From five to ten
years ago the best of these lands was
sold at from 81 to So per acre, and now
what is left cannot be bought less than
from $40 to $40. The owners have dis
covered that they sold too cheap and
are hoping to dispose of what they
have left at prices that will make them
even up their losses on former sales.
They won't do it, for they are asking
prices that few will be foolish enough
to pay. These lands east of the bay
are far away from markets. Though
boats run regularly between Daphne,
Montrose, Fairhope, Battles and Mag
nolia Springs on the east shore and Mo
bile on the west, all of these points ex-
cept Daphne on the north and Magnol-
ia Springs on the south are difficult of
access from the farming country inland
on account of intervening ridges and
gullies. A new railroad, tapping the
L. and N. at Bay Monette, and running
to Foleytown, few miles east of Mag
nolia Springs, will help these farmers
some, however, as it will bring them
within anywhere from fifteen to one or
two miles from shipping point and the
country is fairly good for road making,
for light loads, when you penetrate
from two to four miles east of Mobile
bay. If this farming land was held at
a reasonable price it would soon be set
tied by a good sort of people. AS it is,
the principle settlers at the present
time are Italian fruit growers High
prices do not scare them so much, be-
cause they come from country where
prices of land are prohibitive except to
very wealthy men, and because, too,
they do not care for more than five or
ten acres. These Italian farmers have
settlements now east of Daphne and
have church building there. In ex-
ploring the country we drove through
some of these scttlements-mo
cheap, little houses, clustered together
here and there, like small villages
the fatherland way.
| think this country from few miles
east of Mobile bay inland, all of which
| understand to be very much like what
we saw, either level or gently undulat-
ing, would be excellent for stock rails
ing. There is no trouble about grow
ing grass in the South-not the north
ern grasses, but others better adapted
to the climate. This is now being suc-
cessfully done. OF course peaches,
figs and many other fruits grow there
and thrive wonderfully, and if a man is
content with such extensive farming as
is carried on in the California valleys
he can do as well in Baldwin county,
Alabama as he could in California, be-
sides getting his land much cheaper,
and having mother nature do his irri-
eating. Fairhope, the place where we
made our headquarters during most of
our stay in Baldwin county, is an inter-
esting place. Its population is almost
wholly northern. people, single-tax-
ers." Here they are setting an example
by working out their solution of the
social problem. as an object lesson for
the rest of mankind. No land can be
purchased here. One can rent it from
the community for so yecrs, with the
privilege of renewal. Such rents are
fixed once each year There are no
taxes. The rents of the lands pay every
public expense. For county and state
taxes the county assessors test the lands
to the corporation which is the owner,
the corporation pays them out of its
rents, and has what is left over for the
ordinary municipal needs. Most of
these people are in quite moderate cir.
cumstances, financially. They come
here to get homes without buying land.
They occupy fine site, the best upon
the bay. They have given a large
square of pine trees on the highest
ground for park, and they are putting
in water plant. They keep their lit
tie village of about 500 souls, trim, neat
and clean, and, though rather intoler-
ant and bigoted in their social views,
appear to be happy and fairly pros
porous.
From Evergreen, we came here to
Biloxi week7ago, rented furnished
cottage upon the beach and are trying
our hand at housekeeping again, find
ing the change rather enjoyable, for
want to tell you that Southern hotels
and boarding houses are not very appc-
tizing to Northerner. If we had not
had such appetites as we never had be-
fore, don't know how we could have