The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1910-06-17
THE PERILs OF COLONIZATION

The statewide immigration conven-
ton that is to meet in Jackson June
2l-22 for the purpose Of considering
ways and means of inducing people
to come and live in Mississippi, and
while helping to develop her great
store of wealth, to share in the r.ch
bounty that that development will
yield, will be a gathering of import
ance. Nature has been very prodigaI
here, in her bestowments. yielding GEN
erous opportunities for the industry
and thrift Of men to realize the prom
Use Of peace, and comfort and happl-
ness held out to those who are wiling
to put forth proper effort and endeav-
or for their attainment.
Those Of us who are familiar with
the resources of the state, its agricul-
tural capabilities, it'd delightful eli
mate, abundant water, even and album
dant rainfall, the absence of crop fail
ures, the low prices Of lands, and the
may be proftably grown, we who know
of these things, have often wondered
why such an inviting field should have
remained so lang neglected, while men
elsewhere, were Iaboriously striving to
wrest a meagre living QUITO f a niggard-
ly soil.
One reason for this has been the alb
sence of information about this land Of
beauty and fruitfulness, and another
has been miscOnception of our so,
cial and civil establishments. The
South has suffered much from misrep-
resentation in the latter respect, and
no proper effort has been made to cor
rect it; but the light is coming and the
object of this meeting at Jackson is
to speed the dawning and to remove
any of the Misrepresentation that
malace or ignorance have engendered.
Mississippi needs both men and mon
Hy to speen her agricultural and indus
rial developments; but Mississippi does
not need any exploitation by anybody
That is one thing that those who
are going to Jackson on June 21-22
might well keep in mind. Selfish in
terests, greed and avarce are sure to
profit, at the expense of the state. ii
opportunity is afforded; and they are
already with seductive allurements to
tempe the thoughtless into acquies
cence in Their plans, not the least dan
gerous of which will, very probably,
be speculative schemes of colonization.
There are men skilled in this work
who never fail to take advantage of
the opportunities yielded in such oc-
casions as this imm. grafton move
went presents to reap a rich harvest
IT the expense alike, Of deuded colo
nists and the communities in which
they operate. They care nothing about
the welfare of either. Their single
purpose is to make money; they secure
options on large areas or buy them out
right, for a song, and then proceed to
settle these lands with the victims of
their misrepresentation at an enor-
nous profit to themselves, without
any regard whatever to the consequent
ces entailed upon colonist or state.
Nothing could be more hurtful to Mis-
sissippi than an operation of these col
onizing schemes, ana that is the chief
danger that will confront the .mmi-
grafton propaganda if it takes dfenite
form and shape out of the Jackson
convention. The colonist is almost
sure to be disappointed; he has been
lied to about the land and its produc
tivity, about the climate and the pro-
fits of. crops, and everything else re-