The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-03-13
Dcsti-ution in this State.

r. & Dcsti- ution in this State.
+ We make the following extract
of letter from DR.. j. Leighton Vii
son, and the appended statement Of
Miss Hlartin, o. this city, from the
Baltimore SIN. The picture of suf-
fering and destitution which they
present is much gloomier than many
Of us had anticipated:
In one OF our recent interviews in
Baltimore, you suggested that the
City Council and the Legislature Of
Maryland might each make an appro-
priation for the relief of the suffering
people of the Southern States At
that time, 1 could not speak conf
IDENTIFY of the actual OF prospective
sufferings of the country; but since
making a tour of two hundred miles
through the heart of this State, with
ears and eyes open, have come to
the conclusion that the distress of the
people is unprecedentedly great, and
must become even more SO if our
friends in other parts of the country
do not come to our relief. Many of
our people are not only destitute and
without credit by which to get the
means of subsistence, but will be
without the means of cultivating their
farms, and, of consequence, must be
even worse off the next year. This
distress is not confined to any one
section Of the State, but prevails to
less or greater extent in every por.
ton of it. A goodly number have
raised cotton enough to purchase
food. but the greater mass of the
people have neither cotton, money
nor credit to buy the food necessary
to prevent their families from actual
starvation.
In Abbeville, and several of the ad-
joining Districts, I learn, from good
authority, the distress is very great,
and becomes every day more so. In
Columbia, as learn from DR.. Adger,
one gentleman was serving out corn
meal by the peck to more than four
hundred families. From Judge AL
drich, with whom I travelled some
distance yesterday, and who has been
travelling extensively in the State,
learn that the distress was quite as
great in the Southwestern part of
the State as anywhere else; and, in
deed, he expressed the serious appre-
hension that we were approaching a
general fa Inc, such as had never
been known in this country.
Our merchants, in the present po-
litical gloom overhanging the coun-
try, are without credit abroad, and,
of consequence, are unable to do any
thing for the relief of the people.
The S500,0cO appropriated by the
Legislature Of South Carolina, to
supply corn, to which reference was
made n our last interview, proved an
entire failure, owing to the fact,
believe, that our State bonds are
worth very little in the present state
Of the country.
do not suppose that matters are
any better in the State of Georgia.
Perhaps the general destitution is
greater IN these two States than in
any other.
The wants OF the country can be
better met by the shipment of corn
and meal than in any other way.
These might be sent to depots along
the railroads. and be placed under
the care of iudicious committees, who
could either sell them at moderate
prices, or distribute them gratuitously
among the poor, as might seem ne
cessary. 1t will require, as L learned
from number Of judicious and OBJ
servant men, several hundred thou
sand bushels of corn to relieve the
distress of this State alone; but what
ever may be given viii go just so far
to relieve existing distress.
In concluding this hastily written
letter, would simply add, that what
ever may be done should be done as
speedily as possible
Our Christian people are greatly
comforted and cheered by what is
being done in Baltimore for the re-
lief of our afflicted church.
Yours, with Christian and fraternal
regard,
J. LEIGHTON WILSON.
Extracts from a letter, dated Co
lumbia, S. c., March l, 1867, written
at the request Of the Rev. William
Martin, a Methodist minister at Co.
lumbla, by one of his children, and
addressed to DR.. J. Leighton Wilson,
who sent it to George M. Gill, of
Baltimore. DR.. Wilson fully endorses
the standing and character of the