The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-02-15
Some Figures of Interest From Census
 Report.
Alabama Needs Men to Cultivate Its Rich Lands and Add to Wealth of state--southern Counties
 Getting Most of Settlers.
By wiIr n. sheehan.

dence-)-- wealthy Alabamian. a man who farrned and who owned several thousand acres of fertile lands, was la- menting the distressing labor situation in Alabama.
 The negroes are going to the min eral districts. to the railroadsd and the public works. Those that stay are Of they please and they never work when they have any money in their pockets. They are as independent as If they owned the farm and the white man was the hired man.
 Their whole attitude is wen work when we get good and ready and not until them. and what are you going to do about it?' What are we going to do about it? We are hiring them when we can and trying to keep them paci- fled and pleased-the few of them are left. But they get fewer and fewer every year and more thriftless and worthless every year"
 why. I've got a. little mill. but I've had to shut 1t down. simply couldn' get the labor to run 1t and I can't get labor to run half of the good lands on my farms. We've simply got to have more labor"
 "But." he added. with conviction. T don't want any foreigners. don't want any foreigners"
 Question of Foreigners.
 He was an old man and the many years of his useful life had been spent in Alabama. In all probability he new CT knew any foreigners beyond a slight commercial acquaintance, with a Greek or Italian fruit seller in the cities. 4 good man. a strong man, but of some provincial opinions. And one was a positive prejudice against the foreign CT and in favor of the negro. Which leads up to the consideration of some thought-provoking figures which came out of the census of 1900. In her great population the State of Alabama had just 14,592 persons of foreign birth, in 1900. There may be something to boast of in those figures for some Ala bamlan. 1t may be a matter of just pride for an Alabamian to think~of that of all States in the Union Alabama s percentage of American-born citizens is very near the highest, along. in such statistics with the first three States. So much for that side of the question, the side of pride.
 There is the side of industrial econ omy to consider, with Alabama stand ing as she is just now where the brook and river meets. And so some other figures are eulled from the census of 1900. These have to do particularly with the broad acres that go to make the State In accurate numerals Ala bama contains 32,462.0s0 acres Of land. water covers 454,400 acres of this to- tai. Thetefore the land surface proper is about s2.000,000 acres. The report indicates that for one reason or an- other 100000 of these acres could not be brought Into profitable cultiva- tion and for the time being the word of the report is taken. This leaves a total of 3o,0o0,00e acres of fine lands lying under an unexcelled climate.
 UncuItivated Lands.
 How many acres of those lands were under cultivation in the census year? Just s,651,9 acresl Which shows that practically three-fourths of the State Just s.e51,ss1 acres. Which shows that about one acre out of four is under cultivation.
 And It shows how bad Alabama needs folks. .....
 TO look back moment to the fig ures on foreign born people in Alaba- ma In that same year, the year or 1900, when there were only 14,592 for tign born people in the State, no less than SO0,000 immigrants came to the United States If Alabama had been in the business of getting immigrants her just share that year would have been 10000. But they went some where else and three acres out of four remained out of cultivation.
 The thinking farmer will tell you and with probable truth. that the acres of uneu1tivatei land has increased since the taking of the census. The same old negro question is responsi- ble In the older augmented districts the hire of the negro, has left NO inconsiderable number of acres of the farms and plantations out of produc- tive commission.
 Assuredly Alabama needs folks. And it would seem that they need for eign folks, too, If that other three- quarters of the state is to be cultivat- ed.
 Awake to Needs.
 Rut the State is walked up to its needs. More immigrants, foreign and native born, came into Alabama last year than during any previous year, unless 1t was In the boom times of threw open the lands 1t owned for cul- tivation and improvement Between two and three thousand foreign born immigrants were brought into Ala bama, for the year ending the 30th of of last June. The officers of the Ala bama Immigration and Industrial Bu- reau confidently expect to bring In be- tween 5,0oO and 10 0O0 immigI ants this wear. There is the foreign born i'm migrants, who are set to work in the industrial plants, the mines, the mill and the factory. They are the labor CTS, But thev1are needed, badly need ed.
 There Is another class whose com ing is of such a definite material bene- fir to the State, that their worth is not to be questioned It is the American bred farmer who comes from the en- vironmelts of the Middle West, with their thrifty habits upon him. He and his families are beginning to dot Alabama with tidy farmers run in un- familiar ways. He comes for the eli mate. And to get most of the cli- mate he moves as close as he may to the Gulf This Gulf climate is a clinch- ing argument to the prospective set tiers. He comes with round trip ticket sees and is convinced. It so happens that Mobile, Washington and Baldwin Counties are drawing most of the Western immigrants, primarily be- cause of the splendor of their climate and secondarily because of the work of the several companies organized with ample capital, which are ex- plotting the Southern portion of Ala bama.
 The Clay Sub-SOiI.
 They are enabled to get good pine lands, with clay sub-soil at cut-rate figures. The lumberman has passed over 1t and no longer has use for 1t. He bought it for it's yellow pine treas ures and when he has reaped them the land with its small annual assessment for taxes is of no use to him. On the land he has left few twisted, slender saplIngs; an array of Dlackened stumps and decayed tree tops.
 Is 1t good land for farming purposes? It Is pine land with clay sub-soil. This is the sort of land that has made the decentralization Coffee, Henry, and other counties the farming boast of Alahanna If there Is any difference l