Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1913-1915, 1913-10-23
Conditions In West
Says r. Clarke
Prominent Business Man Talks to G..
II. Club About Bringing Western
Farmers to Henderson County.

lOne hundred and sixteen in the
shade-hogs selling for two dollars
each-water so scarce that some hard
" know what it looks Ikea years
hard work gone to waste-that's about
the picture Mr.. R. C. Clarke drew OF
farming conditions in the Middle
Vest, from where he has just return.
ed.
Mr.. Clarke, at the last meeting OF
the Greater Hendersonville club, spoke
very Interestingly indeed of agricul-
turat conditions in the West-which
he described as bad"
The club will send two of its mem
bers as missionaries to these people,
of whom Mr.. f. s. Wetmur, a fine ex-
ample of a Western man, will be one.
These missionaries leave within the
Text few days-to be gone possibly a
month. They will carry plenty of adj
yestising literature prepared by the
club especially for this occasion and
they will carry the true Gospel of
Health and Opportunity to a class of
men 1t is extremely desirable to in
terest / n Henderson county.
Their expenses will be betrayed by
private subscription. The club Off
cfaily endorses the movement to try
and bring these Middle West farmers
to Henderson county and when they
do come, as eventually they will, they
Will become the guests of the club and
Will be given a welcome that will sur
prise them.
The whole aim of the movement is
not to sell real estate, not to merely
get a few families here, but to bring
into Henderson county practical farm
ers, practical truck growers, practical
orchardists, practical stock ~raisers,
who will help develop the latent ma
+ufal resources of this naturally rich
country and who will help stop the
half million dollar leak which is now
draining the very life blood of the
community.
During his talk, Mr.. Clark said:
Farming conditions in the Middle
West are bad-very bad. Millions of
bushels of corn have been lost there
to the terrific drought. During
the height of the dry spell hogs sold
for $500 each, and outside the awful
financial loss the physical suffering
has been severe.
The people are essentially a people
who move. They are generally of am
lie means-there are any number Of
them who could clean up 100000 or
more if they decided to pull up stakes
and move to a more congenial climate.
l believe this is an opportunity to put
Henderson county in a section where
Il has never been put before and / be-
lieve that two good men out there for
a few weeks could thoroughly adver-
tise this section and possibly bring a
few men back with them. They could
possibly get a Southern Railway i'm
migration agent to go with them, and
il so, so much the better.
There's an awful lack Of informa-
ton in the Middle West about the
Southland of Western North Carroll
ia they are absolutely ignorant. They
asked me the most absurd questions
They think most of the population heel
has a black skin. They believe we are
eaten alive by mosquitoes and die il
droves from malaria. A common
question asked me was: Where do yor
go in the summer"
"They are the best class of settlers
to be had for any country. They art
energetic, practical and are men O.
means, and if they could once be made
! 70 realize that right here they coulC
make money, enjoy the finest scenery
in the world, have perfect health and
freedom from such awful experiences
as they have just gone through thi:
summer l believe they would come
"The Denver Board of Trade appre
ciaIes their value, and has appropri.
ated a large sum of money to bring
some of these men to that city. Il
Denver can do it, we can on a smaller
scale. If Denver wants these men
We want them and / believe we car
get them. The necessary funds car
be raised by subscription. The clut
should endorse the plan, furnish al
cnce all the needed advertising mat
ter and cooperate to the extent of its
ability. What action is taken must
b. taken at once for within the next
few weeks many of these people will
nave moved and / see no reason why
some of them should not move here
Mr.. Clarke's talk commanded the
closest attention of the large number
OF business men present. The Secre-
tary was authorized to prepare
at once the needed literature and to
cooperate with the committee in any
way possible.
Mr.. F. S. Wetmur was emphatic
that all the real estate men
would cooperate, as they did SC sue
cessfuIly in securing the st. Peters
burg Colony for this country. Other
members endorsed the plan and Mr.
Wetmur and his fellow missionary
will leave within a few days on their
mission.
Saturday, Oct. 18th, special three