A Valuable Suggestion from England.
A reader of the Southern States living at Florence, Ala., sent a copy of the January number to a friend in England, and has received from him the following very interesting and noteworthy letter, which we are permitted to publish:
“Many thanks to you for the January number of the magazine, “the Southern States,” which I received this morning. I presume you sent it, knowing that the interesting letters relating to the subject of immigration to the Southern States so fully coincide with the views I have long held and have expressed to you concerning immigration from Great Britain to the South.
“Those views were verified again only a few days ago in the following manner: A friend of mine, who is a builder, wished to “talk with me about America,” rather a big order if he had considered a little, as having but limited means and a growing family he “thought of emigrating.” Where should he go? He spoke of many of the States I know well, but he knew nothing of the South, except that they had oranges and alligators in Florida. He was a fairly intelligent man, too. After a long conversation, the length of which you will understand when I tell you that I conducted my friend from the blinding blizzards of Nebraska to the genial sunshine of Alabama, I promised to get him some printed information from some of the emigration agents in London, so that he could form an idea as to the requirements, capabilities and resources of the South. Well, I tried to keep my promise, and called on numerous agents. I could obtain any amount of information about any part of Canada and the Western States, but in this great city of 6,000,000 of people, I, an experienced Londoner, could not obtain a line about Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana or any other Southern State, except Florida, and as I enjoyed life in the latter State for over three years I could describe a gopher or a “Florida cracker,” better than the agent could. Is it to be wondered at that people from England know the West and are ignorant of the beauties of the South? There, you have your Southern difficulty in a nutshell. We have over 35,000,000 of people on these little islands, very few of whom really know anything whatever of the Southern States. We have tens of thousands of men—small capitalists, manufacturers, skilled artizans, farmers, dairymen, market gardeners, and business men of all classes—who would give up the, in most cases, hopeless struggle here (hopeless as far as a comfortable competence is concerned), and cross over to the Southern States with their wives and families if they only knew the power of their skill, industry and perseverance in a country where those qualities will give an ampler, fairer and a more just reward than here. These people, the hewers of wood and drawers of water, who are the backbone of every prosperous country, require information, official, authoritative, reliable information, about Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, &c., and it is simply because such information is lacking, difficult to obtain, or unreliable when it is obtained, that so many go West and Northwest, whilst others, who could be induced to go South, stay and struggle on in the old rut for want of being waked up. I feel perfectly sure that if a bureau of information were established here in London and supplied with literature, maps, &c., descriptive of the Southern States, and properly advertised throughout Great Britain, the results would be quickly felt, whilst the expense would be infinitesimal compared with the benefits which would eventually accrue. Such a bureau, however, would have to be managed by a man (or men) of integrity and experience, who should be as unbiased as possible, and entirely free from sectional prejudice. An agent should have sufficient business tact to know that he would never benefit Georgia or Alabama by disparaging Colorado or California. I know that many agents in England try to detract from every other State, and every other section of a State, except the little spot they are for the time pecuniarily interested in getting settled up. Their aims are narrowed down to simply getting commissions on the railway and ocean tickets, and a small prearranged percentage on any little land purchase the immigrant may make from the agent in America, who has glowingly, and very, very often untruthfully, described.
“A Southern States bureau of information, such as I suggest for London, should be kept entirely free from the machinations of the unscrupulous land speculator, who, we all know, has in too many cases most seriously injured States and localities, simply to gain some small selfish end of his own. In my opinion the expenses of such a bureau of information should be borne by Southern railroad enterprise, and the London bureau should work in conjunction with established agencies, or sub-agencies, in all the large towns and cities in Great Britain, and also be in close touch with agencies in the United States, working with the same object, viz.: To induce immigration to the Southern States. The South as it really is can stand on its own merits, and is good enough for anybody, no matter what class—capitalists, cotton kings, iron masters, coal owners, farmers, or earnest, industrious artizans. The South can supply every requisite for all, from the raw material to the finished product. These are a few of the facts that people here in England are ignorant of and should be informed about, whilst many of your own people in the North and Northwest are not much better informed on many points. A couple of summers ago I was laughed at at my hotel in New York because I remarked, “I cannot stand this sultry heat any longer; I’ll go South, where it is cooler.” I was considered a “bullheaded Britisher;” but I was right, anyhow, for it was cooler in Florence, Ala., than in New York!”