St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1909-07-31

5oSoUN " ~ AlA0AJ AoDV HSSA Oh
mostly from Lancaster county, Penn
sylvania. They came on a special
coach, and arrived in Washington
Thursday evening, where a hearty
reception was rendered them by the
good people Of our sister town. The
Colonial House, the home of Mr.. Schell,
was thrown open to the visitors.
Friday the party witnessed the
working Of the dredge boat, Che
levee building, and the completion Of
the pumping plant. The Pennsy1-
~vanians were astounded, as well as
gratifed, at the advanced stage of
everything. I'VE can hardly believe
our. eyes" remarked one of the party,
who had been here on a previous "trip,
we had no idea to find the work SO
much advanced"
It seems that Mr.. Schell, the man
ager, had brought to the Pennsyl-
yanians extremely conservative re-
ports-had told them only about one-
half Of the conditions existing here
and to find so much Of the work
done was like a thunder bolt from
q clear sky, to use a thread-bare
expression.
Saturday the party took a "trip
around the belt" coming to 0pelou-
sas over the S. P. Railroad, TAX
ing the @. Gee here to Church Point,
Rayne and Crowley, then over the
Rock Island to Mamou, the end of
the proposed canal. There a sight
met the eyes Of the fasteners
thousands and thousands Of acres of
prairie land, the finest in the land,
virtually waiting for the "Schell
Canal. to make them the most re-
~muneratiye and productive acres in
the country.
On the way 10 Mamou, receptions
were rendered the visitors at Crow
ley and Euniee. At Eunice the Drin-
cipal speakers were Mr.. Schell and
Senator Henry L. Gueydan, the latter
of Gueydan, Vermilion parish. Mr..
Gueydan spoke as follows:
eLadies and Gentlemen:-I thought I
was coming here to have a nice quiet
time. 1t is my first trip to this City and
I thought / would be shown about and
here / am explaining and telling the
people from Pennsylvania all about it.
az am glad to have the opportunity
here to-day to take of my hat to Mr.. J..
Franklin Schell. There are some men
| who give birth to great ideas, but as a
rule those men need others to carry
those ideas into execution, but I am
glad to say that MIR. Schell can both
give birth to a splendid idea and also
execute 1t. 1t is a grand idea indeed,
this vast conception of his, to take the
undisturbed Mississippi as it flows to
the sea and enlarge the delta to make
an artificial outlet for it, and by spread
ing 1t over this fertile land take it on
and on and give the glorious splendid
waters of the Mississippi river to st.
Landry, Acadia, Calcasieu Parishes and
even old Vermilion.
aMore than that, we have not only to
thank Mr.. Schel1 for giving birth to this
idea, but also for bringing here these
good people from Pennsylvania. Louis
ldAd ASGds A1A4E RSQPA6s We NAVE 90
000,000 acres of cultiVatable land. We
need more of your me to come down
here to these fertile fields and make
comfortable homes. Bear in mind that
Louisiana produces more money to the
acre than any other State in the Union.
Government statistics will bear me out.
Such as we have, no other
State can offer. It would take me too
long to enumerate them, but we would
like to mention to You gentlemen from
Pennsylvania, that those who care to
look into the matter will find that we
have minerals here as well as fertile
farm lands. You can find oil, sulphur,
salt and other minerals, but it is es-
pecialIy to those Of you who engage in
agriculture that we offer inducements.
We want the home builder, those are
the people we welcome. Of course we
need capital to develop our resources,
but more than capital we welcome the
people from other States who come
here and build their homes, aud I think
that I can state truthfu1ly for all sec
tons of Louisiana that we welcome aud
doubly welcome people from Pennsyt-
vania.''