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quirements of agricultural enterprise; about five hundred tracts were thus described in a printed catalogue, and furnish- ed on application. Personal applications soon became numerous—these were* from persons seeking places for immediate settlement, and others, prospecting for themselves and a circle of friends or neighbors who were desirous of viewing for themselves or by a trusty representative, the attractions set forth, with the design if satisfactory, of emigrating at a future day. Giving them every facility for prosecuting their inspection, it was a source of gratification to learn from them afterwards that their expectations were in nearly every case, fully realized, and also to know that where a settlement of one person was effected, it was generally followed by others from his former neighborhood induced to follow by his representations. I am therefore, induced to believe, that the seed thus sown by your timely legislation has already and will be productive of much good to the State, and that the day is not far distant when our now sparsely settled State will he teeming with a population drawn from the energetic and enterprising people who have given such vitality to a section of country so far behind us in its natural resources, as to merit no compari- son. While my' efforts have been mainly directed towards secur- ing for the State this class of people, I have not been unmind- ful of the value of the foreign emigrant. A large number of the pamphlets printed in the German language were distributed throughout Germany, Mr. Schumacker, an enter- prising German merchant, and Mr. Schnauffer, the editor of the Wecker, of Baltimore, and the American Emigrant Com- pany, of New York, kindly furnishing me with facilities for that purpose, and in the "American Reporter and Emigrants Guide," a monthly newspaper published in New York for European circulation, I published a lengthy abstract of the Resources of Maryland. One difficulty at present encountered in the rapid set- tlement of the State is the scarcity of small farms. From ten to fifty acres is all that is required; or within the. ability to purchase, by the emigrating class. It has been my endeavor to enlist private enterprise to relieve us of this disability by purchasing some of the larger contiguous tracts, and divid- ingthein into parcels to suit the means and requirements of every purchaser. I have assurances that this relief is a' hand, and that Boston, New York and Baltimore will join hands in an enterprise that cannot fail to greatly enhance our prospects for increased population. So much of the appropriation made by your honorable body as I deemed myself justified in using, has, I trust, been judiciously expended. That appropriation being for a speci- |
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Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly, 1866
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