An article about emigrating to Acadia parish and working in the Crowley rice industry.
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Acadia Parish offers a fine field for legitimate enterprises of every character.
People from the drouth-stricken States, who are considering the advantages of locating elsewhere should turn their eyes to Southwest Louisiana. Its superior cannot be found by belting the globe.
Nowhere in the Union, nowhere in any country or clime can a young man start with so little capital, with such certainty of success, in such a variety of fields, as right here in Southwestern Louisiana.
If you should not happen to meet a railroad or land agent on your trip South sufficiently interested in your welfare to call your attention to Crowley, take the risk and stop- the chances are in your favor.
Crowley ships more rice than any other point in the United States, while Acadia parish produces one-third of the rice grown in Louisiana. These are not idle statements, but statements that are borne out by facts and figures.
No one could with reason ask for a better climate than that to be found in Southwest Louisiana – unequaled by California or Florida. Entirely free from the sudden changes and excessive cold of the North and West in winter; while the summer is tempered with the cool, pleasant and invigorating gulf breeze, giving us a perpetual evergreen springtime- a continual succession of budding, blooming and fruiting.
We believe that more people will come to Southwest Louisiana during the next twelve months in search of homes than in any two previous seasons in the history of the settlement of this section. And the immigration would be much heavier than we expect did more of the people of the South and West fully realize the extent of the advantages Acadia parish and this section of Louisiana has to offer them.
The labor troubles, drouth and crop failures in the West and the disnietude in financial circles through-out the North generally during the past year, will have the inevitable effect of turning capital for investment into the Southern States, which have been but very slightly effected by the extraordinary commotion in other states. And of all the South no section offers equal inducements to those to be found in Southwestern Louisiana, of which Acadia parish is the center.
In reading what we may have to say in favor of Southwest Louisiana some may feel inclined to east the paper aside with the remark, "That editor is a liar!" Don’t do it; not on our account, for we don’t care; but for your own sale. Your own interests demand that you at least read the interviews and statements from the scores of Northern and Western farmers who have settles in this section during the last few years. With the knowledge that an editor’s veracity is not held by some people as sacred and with the esteem deserving, we have supplemented our remarks with columns of indisputable evidence from our farmers and business men.
The Place to Emigrate To
No region in this country is today more desirable for immigrants than Acadia parish. Men, in looking for a new home, no matter what section they may have lived in, desire to find it where the natural elements of success are only awaiting their energy and their industry. The chief end of success with most men is the securing of a home and competency, and the spot of this great country where this can be most easily accomplished is the one they desire to find. This particular spot just now is Acadia parish. If the immigrant is a farmer, Acadia parish is certainly the best locality he can find for the certain fruition of his hopes and his ambition.
A large scope of the richest and best land to be found in America lies right here. The soil is food and fertile. It is capable of the most diversified production. It is most easily brought under cultivation. Even the wild and hitherto uncultivated prairie can be made profitably productive the first year. There are many instances where the first rice crop has netted its lucky raiser more than enough to pay for his land. An ingenious and intelligent farmer cannot only raise what grain he needs, with plenty to sell, but he can come nearer living completely off his farm than he can in any other known country on earth. He can raise rice, cotton, cane, corn, oats and potatoes, fruits of all kinds which are indigenous to the semi-tropical zone, besides many which have here-tofore been considered as capable of production only in tropical climes.
Here he is always within easy reach of fuel, which is not often the case on Northern prairies. Vegetables of all kinds grow at all months of the year and are exceedingly prolific. Acadia parish is the section where stock are most easily and economically, and consequently most profitably, raised. The natural grasses are rich and strong and grazing lasts and is good all the year round. The climate is so mild and equable that stock need no shelter.
If the immigrant is desirous of a good home, he has but to come and look over the ground here and he will be satisfied. The same thing happens in every instance where an intelligent stranger visits this section and rides over our rich prairie and views for the first time our good farmsand vast rice fields. He is astonished with what he sees. He is surprised at the wonderful resources of the country that have been developed within the last four years. He is struck with absolute wonder at the evidences of prosperity among the northern settlers which meet him at every turn. He is above all enraptured with the beauty of the country, and the smooth and excellent roads, and the atmosphere braces him up and makes him feel like a new man. He wants to become a citizen of such a splendid country, where the prospects for the future are unequaled. He wants to come, and in most cases will come. What is true of the man who is intending to devote his energies and his capital to farming, is true of those who are seeking a desirable location for the pursuit of other occupations. Here we have or can produce the raw material for may branches of industry.
Here is the place for the best immigration. Acadia parish is the spot where the citizens from the overcrowded portions of the North, from the blizzard states of the West, can turn their steps and where they can seek new homes with the assurance of prosperity and plenty.
Room In The South
Never was a statement further from the truth that the ott-repeated one that the United States is becoming overcrowded. It may be true that some sections have become densely populated through various influences, but was there an equal distribution of the people it would appear as but sparsely settled. We are told that thousands of the men who are out of employment are idle because the county is crowded. The fact is that they owe their condition for the overcrowding of certain artificially stimulated industries and to their passion for hanging about the cities. One thing that the country needs to put it in a prosperous condition is a general exodus from the cities and smaller towns into the country. There seems to have developed during the past few years a mania among thousands of men to flock to the cities, there to take out a hand-to-mouth existence while the country districts are actually suffering for the lack of industrious hands to develop sources of wealth in agriculture, and in the almost untouched mineral and timber regions.
The South alone offers openings in agriculture for a population several times as great as that now inhabiting the rural districts. For the industrious immigrant the South offers the grandest openings to be found in America. This is essentially the poor man’s paradise. Nowhere else in the whole country is living as cheap as it is here, and nowhere else is it possible to engage in profitable agriculture with as limited capital as can be done in the South. What is true is an agricultural way is also true of many other avenues of trade. The growing manufacturing, mining and iron interests of the South is causing a demand for an increased number of laborers while the development of these industries is at the same time furnishing an increasing demand for the products of the farm.
Of all the South no section offers greater opportunities to the industriously inclined individual than Southwest Louisiana – be he a farmer, an artisan or a tradesman. The natural advantages are all here, while there is a ready market for all products and smaller outlays are required for the support of life than in the rigorous climate of the North and West. While we have enjoyed a good immigration during the past few years the country has hardly yet begun to fill up. There is a welcome here for the new comer, and thousands of them are wanted to develop the country.
Prosperity In Louisiana
There is not another State in the Union where there is less want, where legitimate industry is more amply rewarded, or where all classes of men are making more money, that right here in Louisiana – the garden spot of the world. Neither is there a country where the values of lands are advancing more rapidly, and as they have not yet reached even an approximation of their value, they are certain to continue advancing for years to come. Here in Southwest Louisiana, the most fertile section of the most fertile State, the best of judges predict that good land will easily command $100 per acre inside the next decade. There is no better time for you to come, whether in search of homes or investments than right now.
Come Now
The old adage, "Procrastination is the thief of time," can be better applied to your desire to secure a new home, than anything else. How often have you resolved to look for a more congenial home in a milder climate and quite as often permitted some little frivolous matter to prevent your going? There is no better time than right now and the best country you can possible find, although from one end to the other, is right here in Southwest Louisiana.
Southwest Louisiana, the beautiful garden land of the continent, presents attractions to the immigrant more varied and substantial than any other land, and Crowley is the center of this territory.