The assistant land commissioner of the Illinois Central Railroad, Major G. W. McGinnis, in a recent interview on the subject of immigration to the Yazoo Delta, spoke as follows:

“I believe that the time has now come for the introduction of white labor. Our road, besides having agents all over the Northwest, have men in Germany and also in Holland, gathering families together to settle up our land. There are many residents of Dakota and other Northwestern States who want a milder and a better climate, with a soil more fertile than that of the Northwest. All these advantages are possessed by the Delta.

“The greatest interest is manifested in the movement. Scarcely a day passes but what we receive from fifty to seventy-five letters of inquiry.

“The colonists who have already taken advantage of our offers and settled along the Delta, are making money hand over fist. They are raising cotton, corn, vegetables, stock and fruit. The largest peaches I ever saw in my life came from the Delta.

“When our work is done we will see every man his own landlord, and by the way, these foreigners are apt to steer clear of that condition, so prevalent in the South, of being land poor. They want no more land than they can cultivate with the aid of their families, say forty acres. In fact, some of them buy no more than twenty. They make up the greatest population for agricultural districts possible to imagine. They have made the Northwest what it is.

“When the movement is once fairly started there will be no stopping the rush of immigration. Northern people all move in bodies. When one comes all come.”

Alabama Farmers Invite Settlers From the North.

The following resolutions were adopted at a meeting of the State Agricultural Society of Alabama, held at Birmingham, February 23:

Resolved, By the State Agricultural Society of Alabama, that we invite to Alabama all honest and industrious farmers that should be desirous of changing their home, and extend to them a cordial welcome, assuring them that the right hand of fellowship will be extended to them, and that feeling that is always accorded one good citizen from another will be extended to them by the farmers of the State.

Resolved (2), That we will cordially indorse and sustain our honorable commissioner of agriculture and his excellency, the governor of Alabama, in a vigorous and continuous effort for immigration made through the Department of Agriculture under existing law. At the same meeting, Mr. Chappell Cory, editor of the Birmingham Age-Herald, read by invitation a paper in advocacy of efforts to induce immigration from the North.

The Railroads and Immigration.

The organization of land companies for the purpose of inducing immigration to West Tennessee is most commendable, especially when these companies are conducted upon the plan of that one which proposes to open up the territory along the line of the Paducah, Tennessee & Alabama railroad. The capital of the company is very small, and there is little profit in the enterprise for those who have formed the company. They intend merely to direct the attention of immigrants to the advantages which this heaven-blest region holds for the thrifty and hard-working farmer. The road is a new one, but it runs through a most fertile region, especially adapted to small farming. The Illinois Central railroad has done much to attract settlers to Mississippi, and every railroad in this section should be equally alert. It was the railroad agent who made States out of Territories in the Northwest, and it is a most assuring sign that he is now taking hold of the Southern country. The railroad company is the best of all immigration or colonization societies. It can accomplish more at less expense than any other. The example set, therefore, by the officials of the Paducah, Tennessee & Alabama, is commendable in the highest degree. The prosperity of a railroad depends upon the population of the country through which it runs, and the more rapidly the country is built up the sooner will the stockholders realize upon their investment. The public has a profound interest in such enterprises. The Appeal-Avalanche has no support to give to purely speculative and boom schemes, but it is in favor of all enterprises the object of which is to put forward the advantages of soil, climate and distributing facilities which Tennessee and other Southern States enjoy to such an exceptional degree.—Memphis Appeal-Avalanche.

The Louisville & Nashville is Pushing Immigration Work.

Col. C. P. Atmore, the general passenger agent of the Louisville & Nashville railroad, is pushing the matter of immigration to the South with great vigor. When approached on the subject recently he said that the Louisville & Nashville road had several agents in the Northwest and in Europe, who were sending families down rapidly. It is the intention of the road to put between 200 and 300 families on its line between Paris and Memphis.

The Louisville & Nashville is now running home-seekers’ excursions from points at a rate of one fare for the round trip, with a view to encouraging the movement. It owns many thousand acres of land between New Orleans and Flomaton, Ala., and also between Pensacola and River Junction.

On the Nashville, Sheffield and Florence branch of the line in question there is a Norwegian colony of about 200 families. This colony has done remarkably well, and the road is much pleased with its venture.

The Texas Coast Section Filling Up.

At Velasco, Texas, recently several carloads of fine draft stock belonging to newly arrived farmers from Nebraska were received, and the next day several carloads of household goods for another colony from Kansas, who had bought farms in Brazoria county, were unloading. M. M. Miller, of the Velasco National Bank, and others have received letters from parties who are coming with families and stock from both of these States and from New Mexico, Iowa, Missouri and Illinois.

At the present rate Brazoria county’s population, it is said, will be doubled by the end of the present year; at least 90 per cent. of increase began coming in less than two years ago.

Colonization Plans for Florida.

Mr. O. J. Johnson, excursion, land and colonization agent, of Minneapolis, has been prospecting in Florida for a site for settling immigrants from the North and Northwest.

Mr. Johnson will take a good many hundred people South, he says, if he has the right encouragement. He was the immigration agent of the Northern Pacific railroad for nine years.

Four business men of Minneapolis are interested with Mr. Johnson. They are Mr. N. C. Westerfield, Dr. William E. Wheelock, Messrs. P. S. McKay and C. E. Channel. Their idea is to purchase a tract of land of from 10,000 acres upward, divide it into smaller farms and lots and then sell these lots to such settlers as they want.

“I’ve had a deal of experience in this line,” said Mr. Johnson, “and know what is to be done. I am well satisfied with Florida’s climate and attractions, and know that we can settle many hundreds of good people. We have a large number of inquiries already, and I am satisfied we can place all the people we want to handle. The farmers of Dakota and other points in the Northwest are dissatisfied, and hundreds and hundreds of them will come the moment they are assured that this State promises them a fair living with the work they have to devote now to a mere existence.”

A Fruit-Growing Association to Locate in Texas.

Officers of the Rock Island Fruit Growers’ and Improvement Association are in Texas inspecting lands. It is the purpose of the association to acquire a large tract of land in the Gulf coast region of Texas, in the centre of which to lay out a town site, giving to each member of the association a town lot. A maximum and minimum ownership of land is restricted by the by-laws of the association. Reservations are made for school, church, town hall, park and cemetery purposes. No lands can be held in unimproved state for speculation; a certain portion of each owner’s land must be improved during the first year by planting fruit, vegetables or other horticultural products, and at least two acres additional each succeeding year until each owner’s lands are under cultivation. When the products are ready to ship the shipments will be made in car lots to the most advantageous markets of the country.

The association expects to number 100 families, composed of persons who will go into the Texas coast region and make their homes, their previous occupations having been fruit growers, gardeners, mechanics from the government works on the island of Rock Island, clerks, artisans, etc. While their fruit trees are developing the members of the association will raise garden truck for shipment. The officers of the association propose visiting the most advantageous sections of the Gulf coast, from Houston to Corpus Christi, and will devote about four weeks time to that purpose. The originator of the enterprise is Mr. I. E. Whistler, whose attention was directed to Texas as a fruit growing country by seeing and testing some fine specimens of peaches shipped from Tyler, Texas, last June to New York City, which rivaled the best California peaches in size, and far surpassed them in flavor. The officers of the association making this tour are I. E. Whistler, president; J. O. Logan, vice-president, and W. E. Hilton, trustee.

The Great Work of the Mobile & Ohio.

Although the Mobile & Ohio Railroad only traverses a few miles of Alabama, yet it has done probably more in the way of inducing immigration to the State since 1890 than any other line, through extensive advertising, combined with excellent folders and maps, which have been extensively distributed through Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, etc. They also pursue the same liberal policy with local land agents and all engaged in promoting immigration along their road, distributing their advertising matter, and granting to them courtesies which are necessary to insure local parties to endeavor to give them the benefit of their work in securing immigrants. Alabama wants 10,000 families from the North to settle within her borders in the next twelve months, and only by hard combined work of the people and railways can it be accomplished, and now is the time to organize and keep the ball rolling. Let us get a move on us in this matter, and we can accomplish our object.—The News, Birmingham, Ala.

Farmers to Organise an Immigration Society.

The farmers around Augusta, Ga., are becoming interested in a proposed plan to organize an immigration society, and many have expressed a desire to take an active part in perfecting a permanent organization of that kind.

A prominent merchant farmer from Wilkes county stated recently that the people of his section of the country were very much enthused over the organization of an immigration society in Augusta.

“You would be greatly surprised,” he said, “to know how many of our merchants and planters have taken up the idea, and how anxious they are to see such an organization established at Augusta. Our people are willing to help in every way possible, for they realize that they are to reap the benefits, and consequently are desirous of sharing the labors.

“You see, the farmers are generally land poor throughout the entire country, and what they want to do is to get some one who will work, and take some of it off their hands.”

Immigration Bill Before the Virginia Legislature.

The legislature of Virginia is trying to devise some method to promote immigration to the State. A bill has been introduced in the Senate, creating the office of Commissioner of Immigration of Virginia, and providing for the election of such an officer, who shall properly advertise the advantages of the State and shall, at the request of any real estate agent or owner of land, keep on file a list of lands for sale and shall refer all contemplating purchasers impartially to the various sections of the State, according to their requirements.

It is provided that the commissioner shall receive a commission of not more than 5 per cent. upon the sale of any lands sold through his department. Any owner of land situate in Virginia shall have the right to list for sale the same with the Commissioner of Immigration, who shall advertise, without cost to the owner, the fact that such lands are offered for sale.

The bill concludes by providing that the expenses attached to such an office shall be paid out of the fund arising from the tax on manufacturers of fertilizers.

Colonel E. S. Jemison, president; M. G. Howe, general manager; Major Tom Cronin, superintendent, and General John M. Claiborne, immigration agent of the Houston East and West Texas railway, are trying to interest the people along their line in some plan whereby immigration can be brought to that section of the State.

Mr. J. T. Merry, of Harlem county, Nebraska, writes from Velasco, Texas, to his home paper as follows:

“Here we are in Velasco, Texas, the land of sunshine and flowers. Surely this is destined to be a large city; within three miles of the mouth of the Brazos river, and a large, deep harbor, where ships come and go at pleasure, and load right here in this city heavier than at any point on the Gulf coast. Of course the country is new, but vegetables and fruit trees of all kinds are growing nicely. Good fruit and vegetable land can be bought from $4 to $12 per acre. The country all around, except on the Gulf side, is a gentle undulated plain, which is being settled with people from the Northern part of the State and from the Dakotas and Nebraska in the main, and Iowa, though some are from Missouri and other points.”

A Swedish gentleman who has had considerable experience in establishing colonies of his countrymen in the United States, has been conferring with Mr. John M. Lee, of Shreveport, La., representing the land department of the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific Railroad Co., and looking over the ground, and says he can locate several hundred families if the conditions are favorable.

Mr. W. E. Pabor, founder of the Pabor Lake colony, near Fort Meade, Fla., has recently been visiting his old home, Denver, Col., and has induced a number of families to move to Florida.

There is more land open to settlement in Arkansas than there was in the Cherokee Strip. The Little Rock Democrat wisely says: “Counting all kinds of our public lands in Arkansas, government, State and railroad, we have nearly 7,000,000 acres. If we could divide these lands into homestead tracts, advertise them extensively and donate them at stated periods to actual settlers, what an impetus would be given to the State. What the State needs is not money for her lands, but active and enterprising home builders, who would become wealth producers and tax builders. A liberal land policy on the part of the State and the railroads would soon result in a vast increase in our wealth and population.”

One of the largest excursion parties of land-seekers that ever went South over the Mobile & Ohio railroad arrived at Mobile lately in charge of Mr. F. W. Greene, general agent of the Mobile & Ohio railroad, at St. Louis. The party consisted of all classes of home-seekers and investors, who have become interested in that section of country through the efforts of the passenger department of the Mobile & Ohio railroad. Over 200 people made up the excursion, some stopping off at places in Mississippi and Alabama. They went from Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, South Dakota, Indiana and Ohio.

Further developments regarding the steamship line to be established between Galveston and Denmark indicate that it will be of great importance to the Southwest. It is intended to use the vessels in transporting immigrants from Norway, Sweden and Northern Europe direct to Texas and the West by way of Galveston. Heretofore these passengers have been sent to New York, and from that point reached their future home by rail. The Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce has become interested in the project and heartily approves it. Vice-Consul Thygge Sogart, of Denmark, now located in Kansas City, is a promoter of the line.

Mr. Hamilton Disston says that Mr. Schulzen, a prominent Scandinavian, will establish a Scandinavian colony near Kissimmee. Mr. Disston met Mr. Schulzen at the Columbian Exposition, and impressed him with the fertility of the soil of Southern Florida, and advised him to try it. This he did, and became so satisfied with the prolific growth of sugar and peaches that arrangements have been made to settle Scandinavians on the South Florida railway, between Runnymede and Kissimmee, at once. Mr. Schulzen’s father and brother are now North disposing of their farms preparatory to settling in Florida.

The last monthly report of the president of the Commercial Industrial Association, of Montgomery, Ala., contained this paragraph:

“There is now a general interest in the subject of immigration to the South. The marked falling off in railroad earnings, with prospects for continued small returns, has aroused the great lines in the South to the necessity of making well directed efforts to induce Northern and Western people to visit the South and invest along the various roads. Some of the leading lines have called conventions of their agents to discuss ways and means to promote an increase of traffic and business. This association, with the other commercial bodies of the State, will assist in every laudable effort to induce desirable people to build up the waste places of the State, increase the population and promote the general prosperity.”

The North Alabama Immigration Company is an organization formed at Florence, Ala., for the purpose of bringing immigrants to Lauderdale county and surrounding sections. The officers are J. Overton Ewin, president; R. G. Banks, general manager; R. T. Simpson, Jr., attorney, and John Rather Jones, secretary and treasurer. The company expects to take several excursion parties to that section of Alabama from the Northwest. Dr. N. A. Nelson is the Northwestern agent at Dawson, Minn.

The section of the valley of Virginia around Lexington has attracted some attention from prospective purchasers from the North, West and Northwest, who are going to locate at some point in the Shenandoah Valley. Additional inquiries are being made for homes and farms, and the prospects are that as soon as the weather opens a number of these parties will pay that section a visit to look over the country.

The immigration movement to Southwest Texas is progressing at a lively rate. The new settlers are mostly from Kansas and Nebraska.

C. R. Camp, a home-seekers’ traveling agent, expects to take an excursion of Northwestern farmers to points in the South some time in March. His plan is to inaugurate a series of monthly excursions, beginning about March 1 and continuing twelve months. He says the class of people he will bring South are among the best citizens of the North and Northwest, farmers who are hard working and practical, who want good farming land, and are making the change on account of the climate.

A large number of farmers from Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and Kansas, have settled in the neighborhood of Port Lavaca, Texas. It is here that the Phillips Land Co., of Kansas City, Mo., has bought some 6000 acres of land, and divided it up into small farms for German colonists.

On February 16th a party of sixty persons from Iowa and Nebraska reached Fort Worth, Texas, on the way to the Gulf Coast to investigate the fruit-growing capabilities of that region. Most of the party are descendants of the people who built up Nebraska, and made that State take a front rank among the wealth-producing States of the Union. While most of them are doing well at home, they are anxious to live in a more congenial climate, and have had their eyes on Texas for a long time.

In consequence of numerous inquiries from the Northwestern States, Mr. M. V. Richards, of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co., has arranged a number of special rate land excursions, as they are called, from Chicago and points west of the Ohio river to Baltimore & Ohio points in the Shenandoah Valley, in order to induce settlers to come to this region. Mr. Richards intends to make the most of the reduction in rates allowed by the Southern Passenger Association on certain dates in February, March and April for the purpose of aiding Southern immigration.

A large number of land seekers recently visited Crowley, La., and most of them bought property. Indiana and Nebraska were among the States represented. The visitors report great dissatisfaction among the farmers of their States, and say that Louisiana will receive many immigrants this year.

Messrs. Sappington & Howell, Little Rock, Ark., are working on a plan to combine the State and railway lands in Arkansas, aggregating 7,000,000 acres, and offer them for sale at nominal prices on an opening day, to be fixed.

A dispatch from Rockford, Ill., says that quite a company of Rockford’s Swedish population are planning to move down to Mississippi this spring.

The Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville, Ala., is in receipt of many letters from the West asking about farm lands in the neighborhood. Huntsville is one of the most delightful towns in the South. It is surrounded by a splendid farming country.

Norwegian prospectors are going into Lawrence county, Tenn., every day and the majority of them buy homes. There are over 100 families here. They are good farmers and make good citizens.

A movement is on foot to locate upon the rich prairie and timbered lands adjacent to and just west of Charlotte Harbor, Fla., a colony of Bohemian agriculturists.

It is reported that a tract of land aggregating about 12,500 acres, at Wilson Station, Ala., on the Louisville & Nashville railroad, has been bought for a German colony. The first settlement will be named “Milton Grove,” in honor of Mr. Milton H. Smith, president of the Louisville & Nashville railroad.

A recent settler at North LeRoy, Fla., is so much delighted with the country that he has persuaded seventeen families of his former neighbors in Missouri to move to Florida.

The business men of Baton Rouge, La., are organizing a development club, to further the interest in securing immigration, etc.

A party of twenty Illinois capitalists, including Mr. A. L. Klank, a nurseryman of Champaign, Ill., has been looking over Arkansas with a view to making large investments in fruit farms.

The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railway recently took 200 home-seekers to Texas from Kansas and Nebraska, and 400 more were to follow.

It is said that a transaction is now under way by which 3000 families, representing a population of 15,000, are to be located in the Yazoo Delta.