“We contend that the South is the most promising section in the Union for enterprising farmers who will conduct their business in the right way. The Northern and Western farmers are beginning to see this. They are coming to the conclusion that it is short-sighted policy for them to purchase land at $100 or more per acre when they can buy plenty of good farming land in the South at from $5 to $25 per acre. A Northern farmer needs at least forty acres, and this will cost him in his own section $4000. This sum would buy him at $25 per acre a Southern farm of 160 acres, but he can easily find good land at much lower figures. Indeed, with $1500 or $2000 a farm of 150 or 200 acres can be purchased in a productive region. The Northern farmer who comes South and sticks to his diversified crop plan will keep out of debt and make money from the start. He will find, too, that he will enjoy here the same conveniences, facilities, institutions and society that he has always been accustomed to at home. He will suffer none of the drawbacks of moving to a new country among strangers. Our people are native Americans—98 per cent. of them—and the Americans from other sections who come here easily assimilate with them, and there is no sectional prejudice to make it unpleasant for strangers. When an immigrant makes it apparent that he is a good citizen his Southern neighbors readily extend the right hand of fellowship without asking him where he hails from.”
Here is the opinion of an editor who moved from Nebraska to Tennessee and is now editing the Advance of Harriman:
We came South from a State as fair as any under the sun. In some respects it is unequalled by any land we have ever seen. But that is not what makes a country desirable for a life-long, all-the-year-round residence.
With all the desirable qualities of Nebraska, and there is no Northern State that can excel or even equal it, there are some disadvantages that render it more than a hundred per cent. inferior to this country.
In the first place, there are no minerals, no timber, and, consequently, no manufacturing to supply a home market for produce. All surplus grain must go to a foreign market, and the distance and freight are so great, as to leave but very little for the farmer. Corn more frequently sells for less than twenty-five cents a bushel than it does for more than that, or even that figure.
Then the long winters and severe blizzards. We know what they are, for we battled with them for a good number of years, and are in a position to judge between the climate of that country and this.
Concerning the outlook for farming in this country, we are convinced of two facts.
The first is, that the same kind of farming given to this Southern soil that is given to the the land in the North will result in just as good crops. Of this we have no doubt whatever.
The second is, that while the farmers of the Northwest have to sell their produce for the lowest possible price, depending entirely on a foreign market, here, with our stores of undeveloped minerals, and immense quantities of timber to be manufactured, the farmer can depend on a good local market for the next hundred years.
The Age-Herald, Birmingham, Ala., says: “The disposition among Northern and Northwestern farmers to come South is every day becoming more apparent. They long for the salubrious climate and fertile soil of the South. When the South is covered by small farms owned by industrious white farmers, then it will blossom as the rose. The negro shows a disposition to get away from the farm. He is a social creature and loves the society and excitement of the town. He flocks to the furnaces and mills around the city. He can stand heat and enjoys the hot work of the furnaces. He makes more at the public works. He is thriftless and cannot manage, and can’t make farming pay. It is possible that there will be a considerable shifting of places between the whites and blacks, resulting in good to the entire country.”