The only people to whom the mountains of Oregon would offer any great inducement to settle among us, are the Swiss; but a score of reasons mitigate against any hope of. The only people to whom the mountains of Oregon would offer any great inducement to settle among us, are the Swiss; but a score of reasons mitigate against any hope of their joining fortunes with us to any great extent.
To begin with they are not used to the sea, and the sea voyage across the Atlantic has terrors for them which it does not possess for men born along the coast, and habituated to maritime life; and then the journey from Switzerland to Havre, and the greater on by rail from New York to the Pacific Coast, render the expense so great that we are not likely, at least for years to come, to see many of these useful people settle among us.
Again, they are a patriotic race, throughout all ages, and their love for their grand mountains is so inherent in every heart that they are loth to leave the land where the "Ranz des Veaches" echoes from hill to hill on the mellow autumn air.
If a Swiss immigration or colonization scheme could be projected at once, so as to bring out each year a hundred Swiss families to settle in the foothills of Marion, Clackamas, Linn, Lane and Douglas, it would indeed be a great thing for Oregon. Most people have an idea that the Swiss are by nature dairymen and cattle-breeders, when the truth is that they are a nation of mechanics, second to none in industry and genius They are a race of skilled mechanics, in a word, and in a country like Oregon, where water power is abundant, they would soon make their presence felt in the industries they would inaugurate and in the thrift that characterizes their daily lives.
In California the Swiss residents control more wealth in proportion to their numerical strength than any other foreign element. They are engaged in almost every branch of business that demands industry or financial wisdom, and you never hear of one of them being in jail for theft or vagrancy. They are a busy people and yet a conservative element. It is a rare thing to hear of their mixing in politics, and yet, in all educational matters they take the liveliest interest.
