Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-01-17
More People For South Carolina.

IL tnere IS Olie lllllS Hioio lhe1h Oil
other that South Carolina can do to her
material advantages just now, 1t is to
Join in with the railroads in that pro-
posed campaign to secure home builders
from the middle west, and we sincere
ly hope that the general assembly will
be able to give this subject intelligent
consideration at it's present session.
1t has been proposed that South
Carolina put up $4,000 year for the
next three years to be used together
with $685. a year contributed by the
railroads for the purpose of thorough
ly advertising the advantages of this
state where that advertising will do
the most good, and it is believed that
as the result of this advertisement we
can secure large reinforcements of
good American citizens to help us in
work in which we are making splen-
did progress, but in which as yet we
have only scraped the surface for the
reason that the situation calls for the
help of many hundred times more
hands than are now available.
AS to why the middle west people
have not drifted down this way of
their own accord it is hardly worth
while to try to explain. All our peo-
pie are more or less familiar with that,
and those who understand that under
stand equally we'll that the old condi-
or 10
longer any reason why we do not want
these people and that there is no long
er any reason why they would not
want to come. The only thing that re-
mains is to acquaint them with condi-
tions that now exist in this country
with regard to the cheapness and pro-
ductiveness Of our lands, the rapid
strides we are making in the i'm
ties, and our growing regard for and
loyalty to law and order.
The advantages South Carolina can
secure from the requirement of a ma
terial addition to her population from
the middle west are manifold
In the first place these people are gen.
orally intelligent, energetic, God fear
ing folks, who make good citizens
They are industrious and economical
and know how to conserve the results
of their labors. They do not know
anything about raising cotton; but
they can learn if they want to. How
ever, there is more or less doubt as to
whether cotton would interest them,
for the reason that with their meth
ods applied to a soil and climate like
ours they could produce more wealth
from the crops to which they are ac-
customed than they can from cotton.
But this is not to be understood as
suggesting what they will do. They
will do very much like the rest of us
except many of them will do better and
show us how to do better, certainly
much better than we were doing up to
a few years ago.
And can we get them? That will be
easy. Our lands have increased in
value during the past few years up to
$25 and $50 an acre. Many of the mid
die west farms with improvements,
range in value from $3.50 to 5000 an
acre. When the children grow up in
that part of the country it is frequent
ly the case that they cannot get farms
of their own for love or money. They
have to move The census returns
compared with ten years ago show that
they have been moving, and they have
been moving to other sections than
ours. They have been helping to add
to the progress and wealth of sections
that did not offer them anything like
the advantages our section offers. If
they had only known. they would have
come down this way.
This matter of advertising the re-
sources of the state is one that is de-
manding immediate attention. We
need to look after it and look after It
now. If we sit quiet other states are
going to take advantage of the sensa-
ton South Carolina has been creating
by her remarkable progress during the
past few years, and get these people to
come to them on the argument that
they will be right next to the great