Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1857-05-30

tain numerous ana distressing accounts OF suffering
on account of the scarcity Of provisions, and espe-
cally of corn and hay. In Michigan. Iowa, Wes-
tern New York, Canada, Tennessee, and elsewhere
corn and hay are very scarce, and man and beast
stinted and suffering for the want Of those alb
solute necessaries of life. We make the following
extracts as specimens of the prevailing want:
"In Iowa the traveller finds no hay straw for
horses at any of the hotels. At Des Moines corn is
considered cheap two dollars per bushel, and can
scarcely be had at that 1t is reported that five dol
lars is the regular price in many places between there
and Councils Bluffs Dead horses and cattle along
the road are said to be ordinary sights Wheat seems
to be nearly scarce and hay. Flour is sell
ling at five dollars and five dollars and fifty cents
per hundred rising.-Higb this price is, farmers
who could afford it were feeding their carriage horses
wheat.
The suffering in Michigan has been so extreme
that public meetings have been held and measures
taken by the public authorities for relieving the
destitute. The Relief Committee of Lansing report
that in Gratiot county people selling their land
for means to get away with-that none have pro-
visions to last more than two or threee weeks What
they have consists of -four and meal merely; they
have no meat the smoke last fall from the extensive
fl eS having driven off the deer
One of the most substantial farmers in the town
of Arcadia reports that in his neghborhood most Of
the families have only few potatoes left for seed
divide no more, and have seed to plant. Each las
from one to three bushels He had last season one
I'd half acres Of fine corn that cut of by an
early frost when it was in the milk and he could
only use it for provender for his cattle The cattle
have had to subsist mostly through the winter on
browse. He has heard of neighborhoods north of
him. from ten to thirty and even sixty miles, that
have nothing but oats to boil for food and that one
woman and two or three children west of him, in
Montcalm county. had died for want Of food
In Tennessee things are in still worse condition.
The Knoxville Register of the 7th inst, says that
everywhere in East Tennessee the greatest scarcity
Of provender and grain of every description pre-
walls. The cattle are actually dying by the thou
sand, and in sections the dependence is to cut
down trees. that the cattle may eat buds Nor is
this alarming state of affairs confined to cattle In
many sections Of the country, families that have been
we'll provided with not only the necessaries, but
many the }uxures of life are sratened as to be
compelled to 60 forty fifty miles to buy corn or
wheat"
Corn is steadily advancing in ali parts of the
country and as for hay and fodder, they scarce
y be obtained at any price. Corn was selling in
New York at the latest dates, at four dollars and
ninety cents per barrel-in Baltimore, at four dol
lars and forty cens-in Norfolk at four dollars and
ninety cents-in Petersburg, at five dollars and in
Wilmington, at from four dollars seventy to five
dollars We have heard of sales in the interior of
this State at from five to dollars per barrel
though the price generally asked and obtained is
! from five to six dollars. Hay is selling in New
York at one dollar per hundred. cash, and advan-
| cng-in Norfolk at dollar and a quarter and
scarce-and IN Wilmington, at dollar and a
quarter to one dollar aud half We have no price
! about here, for is offered. On Wednesday,
however, small lot sent down the N. C..
Road for which two dollars and quarter is asked !!
We satisfied there is more in the coun-
try than is generally supposed but it is mainly in
the hands Of spectators and of persons who are
waiting for enormous prices. We think five dollars
ought to satisfy the cravings for money of any one
who makes the article to sell. Better take that, or
less ye hoarders of the precious grain than
poor neighbors suffer; better be satisfied with high
prices than wait for enormous Ones and in the end
! be disappointed. We speak for the honest, toing
poor and we proud of the privilege of doing so.
The rats take your cribs ye hoarders Of the precious
| grain !-tfA8easOns mildew it!-the elements fight
against you, ye heard hearted devotees of Mammon,
| if ye ciu not hearken to the cry for bread But
though the prospect be gloomy let not even the
| poorest and most distressed despair The wheat
crop is abundant, and the yield must be large The
| harvest Is near at mana. nat Will 1urnlSl OreaG
and the famshed cattle already begin to live in the
woods and "od fields" Gods own blessed sun
shine streams warmly down, and the showers are
descending the budding corn. When the Fal
comes, there will be enough and to spare. And We
trust that the lesson taught by this of scarci
ty and destution will be remembered, and will leat
to less attention to tobacco, and cotton, and turpen
tine, and more to corn, wheat, and hay.
Commencement at Chapel Hill.
We are authorized to state that the Valedictory
Sermon to the graduating class will be delivered OF
Monday evening next, the LIST of June, by the Re,
James II. Otey, D. D., Bishop of the Diocese 0
Tennessee.
The Lecture before the Historical Society of thu
University Tuesday the I'd, by the Rev. Francis
L. Hawks, D. D., Ii. D.
The Address before the two Literary Societies, OF
Wednesday forenoon, by Henry W. Miller, Esq, o
Raleigh.
And the Address to the Alumni Association OF
the afternoon of the same day, by the Hon. Warner
Winslow of Fayetteville
These distinguished gentlemen are all alumni o
the Institution
Thursday the 4th June is Commencement Day.
Wake Forest Commencement.
We understand that the Rev. DR.. Hooper intends
in his speech at the Commencement of Wake Fores
College on the 10th of June, to address the audi
ence on this subject: "The sacredness of human
life and American indifference to its destruction, a
exemplifed,
l. By the bloodshed of our public highways
Q. By the bloodshed of sudden rencouners.
| g. By the bloodshed of the duel.
f. By the bloodshed of the bar and of the jury
box"
Dr. Hooper is an able and accomplished writer