The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-20
By win [. sheehan.

| better place to learn the view point of | the immigrant than to have him tell 1t | in the midst of his lares and penates, as he goes from his old home to his new home.
 So Jacob Schmidt and I talked the question over in great big freight car. he property of the Illinois Central. The car was part of the mixed train l rom Bay Minette to Foley. on the Bay Minette and Fort Morgan Railroad. The kcar. from floor to roof, was piled nigh with the lares and penates of Jacob Schmidt, late of Nebraska, but now of Alabama. Much of the cargo of the tall car was of live stock. For Jacob Schmidt was moving lock, stock and barrel, from the bottom lands of the Nebraska Platte to the pine-covered plains of Baldwin.
 It was probably the most unique in- terview ever took. There was skye terrier between my knees and a calf butted his head into the small of my back, firmly but gently. as Jacob Schmidt told of the reasons which in- duced him, a prosperous and well-es- abolished farmer in Nebraska. to move into the virgin country of lower Bald win. The calf, with his discrimination in the matter of butts. seemed to em- phasize the points his master made in his general discussion of the immigra- tion question.
 Six big horses, strong and study, but mild of face. filled one end of the car. Right over there hung big rocker with a red brocade back. They were splendid Western horses of the heavy draught type. There are. and more's the pity, too few of them in Alabama And as thinly settled as is the great stretch of land which Is encompassed by the bounds of Baldwin County, they may be met here. now and then, in the piney woods road. Here. too, the Bald win County census of this splendid type of horse was to be increased by six.
 The big rocker with the red brocade back, while 1t was tho most conspicu- ous feature of the household furniture that was stored away over the horses around the houses and apparently un- der the horses, it was only a small part of the big cargo of the big freight car. There was, for instance, the old family bed, the bed for the spare room, the dining room chairs. the chairs for the sitting room. and one or two of the God Bless Our Home" notices worked out in cloth and set In frIme.
 We stood in a little island of space, Jacob Schmidt and I, during our little informal talk. He was on big feed box and I was standing with the skye terriers head between my knees and the head of the Hereford calf laid con- fdingiy on the small of my back
 A still stronger Array.
 The array of six horses drawn up In sort of troop formation. with the dangling furniture overhead was or our left. On our right there was a still stronger array. for there was in the car item one, two Hereford colors (for my affectionate friend had a compan- N. 4xxyA Dol oh item three. a half dozen Canton geese; item four. two big crates of fine and assorte dchickens; Item five, half dog en big coops of pigeons, and so on. In truth the half section of the car on the right was like a sort of Noahs Ark.
 When one saw around the interior of the car, he understood the presence of everything but the pigeons. And. by the way. how many pigeons have you, MT. Schmidt?"
 Between five and six hundred" was his reply to the question.
 And then we came to know one of the reasons that were bringing him from the Platte to the pine lands of Baldwin. He was going to raise squabs for the market. But then he was going to do other sort of farming as well.
 The pigeons. five hundred and six hundred strong, therefore. had bear ing upon the information that was sought. And what was set out to be done in the interview was to get the viewpoint of the immigrant on the vital question of immigration. After all that is the main thing when State starts out to get immigrants as Ala bama has done-to know what the inl- migrants think about 1t all.
 Here undoubtedly was good man to get the knowledge from. He was shrewd. experienced. well travelled and industrious. He was a farmer. one had to but look at the sun burned face and strong nands to know that. He was prosperous to some degree, certainly, or else he would have had no car filled with household goods and blooded cat tie and fine poultry. And If he were not prosperous to some degree he could not have paid the freight on that car of things from Nebraska to the Gulf Of Mexico.
 The State stands pledged to the polv icy of immigration. The State has thrown open her doors to immigrants and shown them the sign of welcome The State needs the newcomers. The negro on the farm is still the same old industrial failure The small things he has achieved on the Alabama farms and plantations have each year grown smaller and of less consequence.
 The timber fields of yesterday are the farms of tomorrow. There IS Tn Alabama, when the saw mill has done It's work, lands uninhabited today, that could make the domian of hall dozen prineipalities of monarchical Europe The pine lands on the one hand, the thinly populated farms and plantations on the other offer splendid ana ln- viting field for immigration, the lana with its rich and productive soil IS here, the climate Is here, climate that is perhaps not excelled by that or sun ny Italy, so famous in song ana story All. all is here, and only man braun and brain is needed.
 State Needs the immigrants
 The State needs the immigrants. The State recognizes the need. The StSte in truth is ambitious that they shall come, and if it is assured that the money will be wisely spent. It IS wll- ling to spend money to aod ne" braun and new brain to Alabama sup ply of those wealth producers, ana oI ali things the State needs the man Wlth experience. the American who has done things. achieved things and made money in the American way of doing things.
 Now this is exactly the sort of man that Baldkin County got when 1t got Jacoh Schmidt. I am told that many others of his kind and condition have come into the new country The Louis vile and Nashville people say that they haul in between forty and sixty of these immigrants every two weeks. They are not fresh from the immigrant ships. They come from the North and Northeast where they have alreauy la bored and grown strong. land com pany man. an officer in one of the big land companies of this County declares that his people never want to sell an