The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-13
To Turn Innigrdtion
 Back To The South
By CLYDE W. ENNIS

Back to the southl
 Come back to a rejuvenated southland
 where the living is good, where condi-
 tions are wholly changed. and where one
 may live in peace and plenty among ones
 own people,
 That is the slogan of thousands of pro-
 fessional and business men of the south.
 This is the invitation they are sending
 broadcast to the southerners who went
 west years ago, under the alluring idea
 that gold and fortunes were within easy
 grasp in the land, of romance and ad venture And in continuation of this widespread movement to get the former
 scutherners to come home and till the
 soil of. their nativity, a conference of rep resentatives of every railroad in the south and other interests will be held in Chattanooga Wednesday.
 At this meeting representatives of rail- roads traversing 25.OOO miles of territory east of the Mississippi river and south of the Ohio and Potomac will meet with oth- CTS interested in bringing home the stray
 ones and giving them the benefit of a
 greater country than they left to seek
 the alluring will O wlsp gold.
 It Is to lure these former southerners
 back to their former homes to show them how much the south has improved in
 the past 15 or 20 years, to disclose to them what is believed to be almost unbound ed opportunities in successful agricultural
 and commercial pursuits, which has caused the people of the present south to
 stretch out their beckoning hand across
 the limitless deserts and mountain peaks of the far west to those who possessed too little hardihood to brave the disas- ters of the devastating war between the
 north and the south, and the conditions following that period.
 The conference to be held in Chatta- l nooga Wednesday will be attended by del- egates appointed by the various governors | of southern states, and definite plans will l be outlined to get in touch with those | who have settled in the west. In descrip- | tive matter it will be pointed out to them | how greatly the south has changed in the past year, and how limitless are the opportunities here for industrious men, The widespread movement to stretch the
 welcoming hand across the great divides
 and bring the home folks back had it's inception several months ago.
 w. D. Roberts of Johnson City, Tenn. who is with the Clinchfield railroad, started the movement, and it has spread as no other popular movement has in re- cent years in the south. Northerners and southerners whose disagreements caused
 many to leave the soil of their nativity
 and seek pastures new for their livelihood are joining in the work. Their co-opera- tion serves to emphasize the fact that sectionalism has been obliterated and the
 common wish is to populate the untitled southland with men who are familiar with southern history, with her romance and tragedy and who would feel inclined to buckle harder to make this section the
 richest and most popular in the United States. Besides the romantic side of the appeal | and that is the side which appeals to | those who have gone to the west an argument has been advanced along the
 most plausible commercial lines, which,
 1t is believed, Is sufficient to bring the westward people back to their former I homes. That is the fact that in the south l ern states there are untitled acreage for | 100000 farmers with 14O acres each