6 



actions of the society, embracing, as they have done, a vast amount of 

 information upon nearly every industry prosecuted within the State, 

 has been attended with very beneficial effects, both at home and abroad, 

 where they have found their way by exchange and otherwise. These 

 reports are sought and read with interest by almost all classes of the 

 community, and are almost daily being called for by the intelligent 

 people of other States and countries, who are anxious to learn of the 

 advantages and resources of our State. Some of the later issues are 

 completely exhausted, and it may become advisable to reprint addi- 

 tional volumes. But the isolated position our State has heretofore occu- 

 pied has been a serious obstacle to the full realization of the fruits of 

 the labors of the society, except among our own people. Now, however, 

 by the completion of the continental railroad, and the consequent com- 

 petition between it and the steamship lines from the Atlantic States and 

 our own, we are brought nearer to the great centres of the population 

 of the world, and a much wider field is opened up for the labors of the 

 society, in inducing and assisting to supply to our State a desirable and 

 valuable 



IMMIGRATION. 



We have repeatedly called the attention of the Legislature to the 

 importance of adopting some measures by which to induce a larger 

 immigration from the Atlantic States and Europe. In our last report 

 we referred to the subject, and will repeat here a portion of what we 

 then said : 



For the last ten years it has been evident to all who have given the 

 subject a careful thought, that nothing would contribute so much to the 

 advancement of our prosperity as a commonwealth, as the influx of a 

 large immigration of industrious citizens. Every class of the commu- 

 nity experiences the want of labor. Every department of industry 

 needs the stimulus only to be found in a plenty of labor adaj)ted to its 

 wants. 



Our resources are so much greater than our ability to develop, that 

 the demand for immigration may be said to be universal. 



There is no principle in political economy more thoroughly established 

 or more generally acknowledged than that a State cannot come up to its 

 natural standard of prosperity without sufficient labor to develop and 

 husband its resources. 



When we see a farmer, a miner or manufacturer, attempting to do 

 three or four times as much work as he can command means and labor 

 to accomplish, and accomplish well, we do not expect to see him succeed, 

 and he never does succeed, but generally makes a disastrous failure. 

 The present condition of our State, possessed as we are of a great variety 

 and abundant resources, without a corresponding amount of labor and 

 means, is just calculated to induce our enterprising and energetic citi- 

 zens to this very course. 



Our most enterprising men frequently fail in their undertakings, simply 

 from the fact that they cannot command sufficient labor, at reasonable 

 rates, to carry through to a successful conclusion their enterprises. 



We need not cite proofs of the necessity of immigration to our State. 

 The proposition is universally acknowledged. The only questions now 

 open for discussion are: How shall we secure the most valuable immigra- 

 tion in the shortest space of time and in the most economical manner? 

 Many plans are proposed, many schemes are advocated — some purely 



