'''HE ALABAMA OPPORTUNITY. 143 



In tl^iC da3s of slavery the northern section was the section 

 of wealth and of prosperity. In the days' of reconstruction 

 the sun of its prosperity grew dim. A higera from the coun- 

 try to the town set in. White family after white family left 

 ■the farm and the plantation for the town and the city. The 

 ' white folk's house" on the hill was left untenanted or given 

 over to the corroding uses of the negro. The tenant system 

 was triumphant and the land decayed. 



The white man was' in the town or city learning unfamiliar 

 occupations, but in town where his' family might have asso- 

 ciates and friends, and where his children might have chance 

 and opportunity at an education. The negro plowed, tilled 

 and gathered the crops. On the surface, but only on the 

 surface, the farm and the plantation grew poorer when the 

 negro was at work upon and in charge of them. In the true 

 sense of the word the lands were not impoverished. 



Their fertility was only arrested. The restoration to their 

 former glory is no difficult matter. It is a thing only of a 

 year or two's careful cultivation. And the lands which^are 

 under cultivation are the lands upon the plains and the hills. 

 The bottom lands, the valley lands, are as rich today as they 

 have always been. 



It is the conviction of the thoughtful Alabamian that such a 

 section — and there are many others of its kind throughout 

 Alabama — is the true place for agricultural immigrants'. Be- 

 cause of their history since the war, the lands may be bought 

 for a cheaper figure than any other lands of the State. They 

 have only been mishandled. And because of their mishandling 

 their market value has been placed at a low figure. 



By all means they should be attractive to the intelligent and 

 the industrious immigrant. He is not s'et down in a pine 

 forest and made to clear his land. It lies open and ready for 

 hun. The highways to the city have been built. An intelligent 

 and cultured people surround him in the towns and villages. 

 I'he thoroughfares to his markets have been built and kept in 

 repair. There are schools' and churches not far off. 



He needs only to apply thought and energy to his ready-made 

 farm to have it as fertile as any of the fields of Alabama. To 

 care and attention the lands respond most quickly. He may 

 come in with the assurance that the people of Alabama are not 

 selling him their poorest land, as is sometimes done to the 



