Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-04-13
ESTABLISHED 1925
Monday, April 10, 1908.
Coming to Maine.

One of the hopeful signs of the
times is the fact that many westerners
are buying farms in Maine and &C.
cupying and cultivating them.-York
Transcript.
The sign is a hopeful one both for
Maine and for the people who come
from a distance to buy and occupy the
Maine farms. 1t means greater prog
ress and prosperity for the good old
State which has long contributed so
generously of its blood and bone and
sinew to the building of other states
and especially of the great west. The
latest figures show that close to 2o0.-
900 natives of Maine are scattered
through the other states Of the Union.
No doubt there are still more who
are the children Of Maine-born
parents. The work they have done is
known to the world, and 1t is idle to
speculate what it would have meant
to Maine had they remained within
tHe UOTueTS III Tie uoiIC sot<ieC' IA
spite Of their loss Maine has done very
well, and its gain in population and
wealth has been steady and substan-
tial.
The sons and daughters Of Maine
who have remained at home have had
help in their work of keeping the
State at the front among the sister
hood Of states If there has been little
immigration of English stock since the
early part of the 10Th century, other
good elements have figured in the
work. The Irish began to come with
the beginning of railroad construction
two generations ago; the war period
saw the beginning of the stream of
French Canadians to our factory
cities, and decade later there began
the Swedish immigration which has
been such a factor in the development
of northern Maine. And now in
recent years there has been the be-
ginning of a movement of population
into Maine from the middle and
western states.
1t is not yet a large movement but
it is a beginning and it's significance is
not to be mistaken. We mentioned
few days ago the case of the town of
BOwdoinham where eight farms in one
neighborhood have been sold within a
few years to buyers from eight
different states, and in each case the
new owner Is occupying and operating
and can be duplicated in many Maine
towns This movement means that
the So called abandoned farm prob
lem of a few years ago no longer
exists 1t is not merely that the
unrivaled advantages of Maine as one
great summer resort are being more
and more appreciated. This is bring
ing an increasing multitude of people
to our coast and to all parts Of the
interior every summer. and it means
much to the general prosperity of the
State.
But we have now in mind the kind
of immigration that is permanent in
character, the immigration that is
based largely upon a more general
Of the great agricultural
and possibilities Of our
State. There has been Il great change
in farming conditions everywhere
within a generation. and nowhere has
the change been greater than here in
Maine. Under modern conditions
farm life is a vastly more attractive
thing, and with modern methods there
are financial returns from Maine
farming which were not dreamed Of
In the old days and which cannot be
in any State of the Union.
The farmers who come here from the
west are finding a golden opportunity
md they ure teaching Maine farmers
1 valuable lesson which many have
been too slow in learning.