Mr. Andrews to Mr. Fish
Sir: I beg to submit some observations on the subject of emigration, and to refer also to remarks thereon in my Nos. 45 and 51. The condition [Page 804] in which the war has left many people in France and Germany, and especially those in the districts of Alsace and Lorraine, and the fact that certain powers, among them Sweden, are increasing the military burdens of the people, favor the conclusion that the present year may be a favorable one for the United States to make some extra exertions to induce immigration. If the United States should receive emigrants from the following countries, for instance, in about the same proportion to their respective populations as they receive from Sweden, they would receive annually from Finland 15,000 in place of none now; Esthoria, Livonia, and Coneland, (Baltic provinces of Russia,) 15,000 in place of none now; Belgium, 25,000 in place of 1,000; Holland, 25,000 in place of 1,300 now; Austria, 160,000 in place of 4,000 now; France, 180,000 in place of 5,000 now. I have the impression that emigration from these countries would not fall much short of these figures, if the people therein were as well informed about the United States as are the people of Sweden. Mr. James Howard, member of parliament, in his “Continental Farming and Peasantry,” in which he described what he personally saw in 1869, says of the farm laborers of Belgium, “what surprised me much was that notwithstanding their wretched condition, they had no idea of emigration; indeed many did not know what was meant by the term.” (See page 29.) Though the peasantry in the other countries I have named may not be in the condition that is here indicated, I feel sure there is an almost universal ignorance among them of the opportunities of acquiring land and citizenship in the United States. Even in Sweden, from whence there has been so large emigration of late years, the people are not yet generally informed of the benefits of the homestead law. A few years ago I believe the French government refused to allow documents to be circulated in France designed to encourage emigration to the United States. But perhaps there would be no difficulty in that respect now. The Swedish language is extensively spoken in Finland and the German language in the Baltic provinces; and it would seem easy to diffuse the requisite information in those quarters, in case it would be permitted by the Russian government. I, for one, should be glad to see the experiment tried. If proper efforts were made, I believe the annual emigration from Europe to the United States could be doubled. With compulsory education and the ballot-box, which has aptly been called the “real American college,” our institutions will be liable to no detriment from the greatest immigration that can possibly happen, while the material interests of our country will be promoted. In his circular No. 19, of August 8, 1862, addressed to diplomatic and consular officers, the Secretary of State (Mr. Seward) stated:
It may, therefore, he confidently asserted that, even now, nowhere else can the industrious laboring man and artisan expect so liberal a recompense for his services as in the United States. You are authorized and directed to make these truths known in any quarter and in any way which may lead to the migration of such persons to this country.
Again, in his circular No. 32, of February 8, 1863, on the homestead law, addressed to the same officers, he says:
It is believed that in no country in the civilized world are such opportunities afforded as in the United States, to active, industrious, and intelligent men, for the acquisition of abundant means of support, and comfortable homesteads for themselves and their, families. These facts you are instructed to make known in such manner as may be considered most expedient and proper, within the district of your residence.
If the Department is of the opinion that anything can be done by the legation in diffusing information of the character contained in these circulars, I will be very glad to receive instructions as to the way it deems advisable to proceed. I have supposed, however, that, in consequence [Page 805] of the sensitiveness of all classes in these kingdoms on the subject, any direct efforts on the part of a diplomatic representative of the United States to encourage emigration would be viewed with displeasure by this government. The most effective and economical plan, it appears to me, would be to operate through the native emigration agents, who canvass for and contract with emigrants for their passage. There are eight of these in Sweden, and all located at Gothenburg. They severally give bond to the government for their faithful dealings in the sum of about 60,000 riksdalers, ($16,000.) Let such an agent publish in newspapers of the largest circulation a notice like this, for example:
Free Homes.—The United States of North America donate homesteads of 160 acres of fertile land, convenient to railroads, to heads of families, male or female, or to single persons upward of twenty-one years of age, on payment of $14, and on condition of cultivating a portion of the land, according to their means, for five years. The foreigner, in acquiring a homestead, becomes the equal of the native-born citizen, legally and politically. The inducements are great, not only for the poor, but for persons with capital. The expense of passage from ______ to these lands is $—. A pamphlet and map containing particulars as to homestead benefits will be sent post-free by the subscriber to any one applying therefor.
The agent being supplied with the proper pamphlet and map, could thus circulate the information among those who really desired it. The short notice, such as I have given above, better, perhaps, if even briefer, kept as a standing advertisement in the newspapers, and occasionally appearing in the editorial columns, would awaken the necessary attention. It would not be essential to employ a regular agent in distributing information in such manner, but the service could be rendered by any trusty unofficial person. I am informed that an agent in Gothenburg, operating for the new Swedish settlement on the Aroostook, in Maine, receives a hundred letters weekly, inquiring about the prospects for emigrants there. Information calculated to promote emigration will have increased influence by being official. It should be practical and brief. I would recommend that a pamphlet be issued by the General Land Office, not exceeding thirty octavo pages, which shall explain the way of acquiring homesteads, and the economy of their cultivation and management; that shall explain how people without capital can acquire them, and also the inducements for people with capital to acquire them. It is a fact, I believe, that a settler who needs to work out for wages in order to get the necessary means to improve his homestead, can be absent therefrom a considerable part of the first five years of occupancy, and still hold his homestead. Such practical facts are the kind that should be circulated. Also, facts showing the amount of labor or money necessary to be expended in order to comply with the homestead law, the kind of crops the soil will produce, their value, the proximity of railroads to the land, the cost of subsistence, rate of wages, the season for planting and for harvesting, the rate of taxes, the privileges, both political and civil, the settler acquires, &c.
The local land officers are in daily intercourse with settlers from all parts of their respective districts. The General Land Office, by supplying the local officers with blanks containing the proper questions and headings, could, with no other expense than the cost of the blanks, obtain the requisite practical facts from the local officers. It could then prepare a pamphlet embracing information as to homesteads in the different sections and climates of the country, and which would meet the wants of a very large class of emigrants. If possible, a moderate-sized map should accompany such a document. If a pamphlet, such as I have indicated, were prepared in a careful manner by a competent person, having some actual knowledge of frontier life, and a heartfelt interest [Page 806] in the subject-matter, it could be circulated in Europe (in the language of the country where circulated) to the very greatest advantage. Having given this subject earnest attention for a long time, and being deeply impressed with the importance of some measure such as I have just above indicated, I beg leave to ask that you will bring it to the notice of the President, so that, if he deems it advisable, he may give directions to the proper department to have it carried into effect. I would here emphatically state that there has not yet been made any thorough and systematic effort to circulate in Sweden and Norway information calculated to promote emigration.
State boards of emigration in a few instances have published pamphlets in Swedish and Norwegian, but their circulation has been limited and transient. Several States make large appropriations to encourage emigration, and maintain agents in New York, Quebec, Chicago, and perhaps other cities to attract emigrants. But it would seem to be a more economical method to impress the minds of emigrants before their departure from their native country, as the better class of them generally make up their minds as to their particular destination before embarking. Several hundred copies of the report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office for 1867, in Swedish, were received here a year ago, and delivered to the United States consular officers for distribution. The most of them, I believe, remain on hand, though the newspapers and public libraries had been supplied with them, and regular emigration agents had all they wished. It being a volume of 178 octavo pages, and the matter general, it is not of direct advantage. But in connection with the document I have indicated, it will serve as an excellent groundwork of information.
I have, &c.,