They have been successfully operating practically abandoned farms. They. too. have proven hardworking. lawabiding. respectable citizens. and have succeeded in making life worth while under conditions considored adverse to successful farming. To encourage the cultivation of abandoned farms by this class. our immigration laws must be liberalized to attract selected farmers as fast as they may be absorbed. Recently Commissioner General of Immigration Hon. Walter. W. Husband. a native of Vermont and familiar with our conditions. addressed the Legislature of Vermont concerning the subject of immigration so far as it affects agriculture in New England. and with his permission I am quoting him at length. Mr. Husband is without doubt the best informed authority on immigration in the country. Following are extracts from his remarks. which are here submitted for the consideration of those of our people who are interested in the solution of our . agricultural problem: While Congress evidently believes that industrial employers can take care of themselves so far as a labor supply is concerned. it did favor agricultural Interests to the extent of giving a preference to persons skilled in agriculture who may apply for the privilege of coming to the United States as immigrants. The Bureau of Immigration is doing ill it can to make this preference of some practical value to States desiring agricultural settlers. -but there are so many legal -and other bbstacles to be overcome that the promise of success is not at all alluring. It may Interest you to know that a semiofficial organization or committee In Maine is already making experiments with a view to bringing 100 north European farm families to that State. and if the effort succeeds. it may point a way which could be followed with profit by Vermont and other New England States. As I have said. this is still in the experimental stage. but it is a welllaid plan. and. knowing the men who are behind it.
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