Lower coast gazette., 1909-05-08
SATURDAY MAY 8, 1909.
Whence Shall We Get immigrants?

where az here. we have two distinct agricultural systems of in t
dustry built up, the result of several generations OF active workers t
in each line of agriculture, it becomes manifest that 1or 1he goou t
of the state both of these systems must be carefully considered t
when we approach the immigration problem and its relation o|
these systems. In the anuvial lands Of Louisiana, on the sugar
plantations, the rice plantations and the cotton plantations, the
agricultural work is carried on in a general way with common
laborers and competent foreman, overseers and general managers.
These last have been most generally the actual proprietors of the
plantations and the whole system of plantation agriculture IS man.
ifest in its specialization into individual industries and the magnl-
tude with which the work is carried on. All this stands out IN
sharp distinction from the farming industry as it IS generally con-
Quoted in the hill parishes of the state. The farming industry OF
Louisiana was formerly confined almost exclusively to cotton pro-
duction and, ~latterly, especially in the southwestern part OF the
state, it has included rice culture. There is a disposition even
now, among the rice cultivators to enlarge their cultivation to It's
EXTREMIST limit and by carrying on the work in this wholesale way
to throw over all collateral farming interests, subordinating them
all to rice culture, which, owing to its aquatic habits is destructive
to almost any other culture.
After the Civil war there came down from the west some gen.
temen thoroughly familiar with western farming in its many
phases, and especially with farming in the state Of Iowa. Among
these gentlemen was our distinguished friend, Prof. S. A.. Knapp
and also Professor Thompson, both coming from the Iowa Agri-
cultural College, and Nh. j. B. Watkins, the we'll known Kansas
banker, who invested very heavily in the prairie lands of South
western Louisiana and organized a large English corporation for
that purpose.
The Iowa colony in Southwestern Louisiana was an ideal one
for us in this state and has led every good citizen in the state to
hope that tens of thousands of such people could be induced to
come into Louisiana from other states of the union, and with their
enterprise, aDlNCy anu energy stimulate OuI w pcOpc mo oAm"
lar activities, until our whole agricultural body would be as active,
energetic and successful as are the farmers Of the great West. 10
get these people to come to our state has been the effort OF their
leaders who came first and have been successful here and has been
the effort for years of several of our leading railway companies
and many a mission has been made, going far up into. the North
west and displaying there the products OF our country, their yields
per acre and the probable and possible advantages that the imml-
grant would derive from coming here. All OF this has had a very
good effect, but the movement has necessarily been a slow one and
recently the high prices that have prevailed in the West for most
rc-u cro1,o<c hovo roth rotordod tho onfAOu from tho WoSf. intO
Louisiana. All possible efforts are still making to maintain and
enlarge this tide of immigration from the West towards the fair
lands of Louisiana, but states cannot be filled up very rapidly with
good, hard working people in that way.
Apart from all this comes the fact that in carrying on the
plantation system of agriculture, as is done to a very large extent
in the alluvial parishes, it can only be done by bringing into the
country common abcrers, those who are willing to begin at the
bottom of the ladder as field laborers and then, as they accumulate
means, to seek their fortunes in channels their incinations may
lead them. Without war or disaster it is impossible to break up a
great system of agriculture, such as is carried on in the aluvial
lands of Louisiana and such as is maintained in England. The
great plantations are being gradually cut up into smaller holdings
and any immigrant into this state, by plantation work can gradu-
ally accumulate means two or three times as fast as could be done
in Europe and in due course will find an opening where he can get
into any desired line of agriculture on his own account The sys-
TEN of central factories now inaugurated so largely in the sugar
districts of Louisiana is changing the character of the old planta-
ton life and developing a class Of cane farmers that promise to be
very active factors in the sugar industry from this time on Sugar
planters with large properties are willing to divide them up into
tracts for suitable purchasers and that change that was brought
about in France by arbitrary division of the land holdings among
the forced heirs, is being brought about in Louisiana by ordinary
industrial causes. The English people maintain their great agri
cultural holdings by their laws Of prmogeniure and they seem
thus far to have been successful in maintaining in the hands Of
few the very large land holdings that have been characteristic IL
Great Britain.
The two kinds of immigration into this state, it will be seer
from the points thus far brought, collide in degree. The dealers
in lands in Louisiana and the farmers of Louisiana would rather
have an influx of the farmers from the Western states than II
have immigration from any other direction. The cotton and sugar
plantations and many of the rice plantations in the alluvial land
are needing a large access Of common labor and without such
supply these phases of Louisiana agriculture are very seriously
threatened. The men from the Western states who come down her
to engage in farming for their own account don't want employment
q plantation laborers and yet there are millions of people in Eu
rope who, if they were thoroughly well informed, as to all the con
ditions here. would be glad to come to this country and to begi
their careers as farm laborers, hoping as they would, to becom
land owners in due course.
In this connection considerable opposition has been develope
among those who perhaps have not given the subject matter niue
study, they believing that any supply Of white labor that can no
be brought from Europe to the United States must necessarl
come from Southwestern Europe and such laborers are unmerc
fully condemned by many persons who are not familiar with tn
history Of that part Of Europe. We read frequently of the col
n:x. bo+,yoor fho Turks md tho Christians in Macoinni