Happily, in this country, the people's title to the land is recognized,
they are invited to take possession of their own, and the tall,
luxuriant grasses of the broad prairie are the messengers it sends forth
from its virgin bosom, telling of the wealth it has in store to reward
honest, patient labor.
There is no angry contest here for the possession of the soil, but there
is, and should be, a noble, wise emulation among the various races that
have emigrated to these shores, for their just portions of it. The
surplus populations in our cities, the depression of business, the
scarcity of employment, the poverty, suffering and discontent attending
thereon, the magnitude of labor strikes, and the dread of their
repetition, have made the question of immigration to the land from our
over-crowded cities of pressing, national interest. The policy of our
people immigrating in large numbers to the lands of the West, is no
longer a theory to discuss, but a necessity, calling for the active
support of every good, intelligent Catholic.
It is not necessary to review the many causes which have heretofore
retarded the immigration of our people to the land. Among those causes
was one which should endear them to every Catholic heart, and which
stands out in bright contrast to the irreligious indifference of the
age.
_They feared that if they came West, they would be beyond the reach of
church and priest._
The danger of a Catholic settling in any of the Western States now, and
finding himself entirely isolated, by distance, from his church, is
scarcely to be apprehended, for the West has now its handsome churches,
its priests and Catholic schools; but it might come to pass, that coming
undirected, and without any Catholic organization to which he might
apply, the Catholic immigrant might find himself settled in a locality
inconveniently distant from church and priest, and where he and his
family would be separated from Catholic associations.
Bearing this in mind, the religious welfare of those coming to our
colonies, was one of the main features to which Bishop Ireland devoted
his attention when organizing the Catholic Colonization Bureau. Before
the arrival of any of our immigrants, the rule was established that
whenever we opened a colony and invited our people to it, the resident
priest and church should go in with our first settlers, be their number
small or large. To this good rule we attribute, to a great extent, not
alone our success in bringing settlers to our colonies, but likewise
their general contentment in their new homes and brave cheerfulness in
meeting the trials, hardships, and set-backs, which are incident to new
settlements.
No question is so frequently asked by our correspondents as, "How near
can I get land to a Catholic Church?" In no portion of any of the
Catholic Colonies of Minnesota, established by the Catholic Bureau,
under the auspices of the Right Rev. Bishop Ireland, shall a settler
find himself beyond the easy reach of church and priest.