Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-02-06
NORTHERN Alb F0R SOUTHERN
SUFFERERS-ADDRE OF THE
SOUTHERN RELIEF COMMISSION.

/ %OA IAEhN MNAAEE AVHMhHSAONs
A few days ago a very large meeting was
held in the city OF New York, to take steps
to relieyethewide-spread destitution in the
South. A commission to solicit subscrip-
tions, setc., was organized, and subsequent
" the following touching appeal has been
issued
To THE PEOPLE OF THE NORTHERN
SrATEs.-The Northern Relief Commits
sion, appointed by the large meeting held
at the Cooper Institute on Friday evening
last invite the attention of their fellow
citizens to the necessity Of immediate, gen.
erous and universal effort in behalf of the
famine-smitten districts of the South.
The war, of which the Southern States
were mainly the theatre, through so many
successive years, not only kill and manned
multitudes Of husbands and fathers, and
thus frightfullv added to the number of
widows and orphans; but impoverished the
people, by taking from them the present
means of producing wealth, or, to any con-
siderable extent, the ordinary comforts of
life Their cattle, horses, fences and i'm
provementssof husbandry are gone TO a de-
gree Of which the agricultural districts of
the North know next to nothing; and
years Of fruitful seasons must come and 60
before the South has again the power to
produce the wealth in which she once luxu-
rated
But in the first year after the close of the
terrible conflict, while the shadows of her
crippled resources rested on eyery face,
and i'm every heart and home, the foods of
the spring and the scorching drouth of the
summer well nigh destroyed, in large parts
of the States Of Mississippi, Alabama,
Georgia and South and North Carolina, the
great staple crop that gave bread and meat
to the people. Beginning at the Mississippi
river and going in a north-easterly direc-
ton through these States, from six hun
dred to seven hundred miles, and including
a territory from one hundred and fifty to
two hundred miles wide, with a population
Of perhaps a million and a half souls it is
believed that there are not enough bread
stuffs sufficient TO supply the wants Of half
Of the people until another harvest is
gathered Those who have the means will
provide themselves with food at any price
But how, in the midst of n universal scar
city both of provisions and money, are the
poor, and the families bereaved Of fathers,
husbands and sons TO obtain bread
Of such scarcity, both of bread and
money, in the large district referred to-
there can be no doubt. The testimony
comes from eye.witnesses whose veracity is
unquestionable, and from men who could
have no motive to overstate the suffering
aud poverty Of the South 1t is incredible
that a State, such as Georgia, should vote
$4,000 to pay the freight on provisions
contributed to her suffering people, if want,
as the forerunner of famine were not at her
doors.
What, then, is the imperative duty of
this Northern American people, 1t is re-
membered what they felt it to be their drits
TO do for Greece, and for Ireland and for
Lancashire when their necessities cried TO
them for help. But if prompt and eager
and munlhcent giving was duty then
what shall be the measure Of their contri-
buttons now that the wall Of distress comes
from those of our own household, from
men, and women and children who are
themselves Americans, and are known to
be such throughout the world? Can we
withhold from them the succor we gave to
the suffering poor of other nations2
We earnestly request such cooperation,
on the part Of philanthropic men and
women in every part of the North, as shall
make il possible to do more for the relief
of the South than has been done by them
in answer to all the other similar calls for
relief. Clergymen are especially desired
TO bring the subject to the immediate notice
Of their congregations; women are as earn
estly requested TO make it one of the oh
jects Of their patient and heroic effort en-
deavor; and every man, whatever may be
his political or religious opinions, is So
licited to give his help in providing the
needed supplies
The utmost care will be taken TO secure
a distribution that shall reach all classes of
sufferers, without respect of race or opinion,
and it is belived that the States in which
/ the distribution is to be made will pay the
expenses Of transportation. But the first
necessity is a treasury, kept so full of money
that large sums can be drawn from it to
purchase supplies. A million of dollars
expended for the relief of 100000 sufferers
would be no more than $40 to an individual.
| But the number in need far exceeds 100000,
and an average of $40 worth of the plain
est food to every member Of a household
would be meager six months sustenanee
for a family.
ARCH. RUSSELL, Chairman,