The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-10-22

II there is some exaggeration there is also cor
siderable subsratum Of truth in the accounts that
we have Of the deplorable state of destitution TO
which failure of the crops in some sections of
Kansas has REDUCED large numbers of the inhabi-
tants of that territory. We win not be so harsh
as TO assert that such condition of things is the
necessary result of the manner in which Kansas was
settled; hut we cannot refrain from abiding TO the
causes which, apart from the vicissitudes of the
s3ason, have undoubtedly exerted a marked iniu-
ence in producing at least exaggerating the pow
erty and distress that are now appealing TO the
charitable for relief. There is moreover, a moral
to he drawn from the story which is well worth
noticing. Unlike any other of the territories of
the Union, Kansas was settled in direct violation
of that law of progress which leads families to
migrate from the Atlantic States to the virgin soil
of the West Such immigrants go, for the most
part to establish themselves permanently in a new
home to better their condition, and look forward
TO the time when they shall be able to crown long
years of sturdy industry with a competence sufi-
Gent to enable them to take their ease in their old
age. II they are farmers they carry with them
at least some small quantity Of stock, some
little money, perhaps, and their implements of
hu3bandry. If artisans and mechanics, they de-
pend upon the skill they have acquired in their
craft. But the great majority of those who are
the pioneers of most new settlements are farmers,
and the inducements which the Territories hold
out to them are many and tempting Land of the
best description can be had for small sum; crops,
whose products per acre put TO shame the meagre
returns Of the WORKOUT soils of the seaboard can
be raised at little cost, in favorable seasons and,
rs population increases, and roads are opened,
and churches built, and schools established aud
all the elements of organized society make them
selves apparent, the domain that has been brought
under cultivation rises in value and thus rewards,
in a two-fold manner, the labor that has been be-
slowed upon it. The process of settlement, to be
successful, must be gradual and must develope
itself naturally, and the earliest colonsts must be
of that class which is most capable selfhelp, and
therefore most Independent of extraneous assist
ance If these conditions had been observed in
Kansas we should not now be called upon to
sympathize with those who are furnishing, or
to recur to those political disturbances
which have brought starvation in their train
The scarcity that prevails there is quite as much
owing TO the recklessness and improvidence Of the
people, as to the unpropitious character of the
season. OF the hundred thousand inhabitants
who make up the gross of the population OF
that Territory, many were sent there from the
Eastern Statesmen so much with view to their
industrial capacity, or TO their becoming perma-
nent residents, rs for the purpose of sustaining by
force of arms and by the power Of numb rs, the
advocates Of free soil. Others went there of their
own motion to take part in the strife. For two
years the Territory was kept in perpetual commo-
ton by the struggle Of the opposing factions for
the ascendency. Claims were located in vast
numbers but very few Improvements were made
upon them. On the farms that had been settled
tage was neglected-for no mans life was safe
and no man knew how soon be might be driven
from his possessions. When the strife finally
ceased speculation in wild lands commenced, and,
with the rise Of that speculative spirit sharp and
acrimonious and sometimes bloody were the dis
putes over contested claims. These are the primary
of the present distress in Kansas and if the
anarchists were alone the sufferers we might regard
their present condition as the retrbutiye penalty OF
their previous acts. But it is asserted that one
half Of the population either compelled to quit
the territory to endure, with much of patience
as may be vouchsafed to them the perils of hunger
at the most inclement season Of the year, and TO
look forward 10 renewed labor in the Spring with
Rcanty means and exhausted strength. There
must, therefore, be many amongst them who are
worthy Of our deepest comm;seration, and upon
whom such assistance as the benevolent can afford
TO give would be worthily bestowed. Kansas,
though erring, is nevertheless an integral portion
of the Union; aud if SO large II proportion of her
people are destitute as they are represented to
be- that philanthropy which furnished furnished
Ireland with food in days that are now happily
past, may be safely invoked again on behalf of our
own suffering countrymen.