The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1874-12-18
Correspondence Of the Pits5,rgh Gazette.

! iaLGU statement Cl Ii0 'tSRjflutlOu III inc
/ western counties ofthis State. This shows
that in twenty-four counties 12.0S9 persons
are destitute of food and clothing, and tha
/ half as many more are suffering for lack of
clothing, making IS, 1874 in all
| On the reverse side OF the sheet which 7
enclose you will find appeal in behalf of
the sufferers in five contiguous counties in
the northwest, signed by representative
of each. which affords as true and succinct
! n picture of the state of affairs in that af-
( fiicted region as | have seen. | have met
! and talked with men whose business it was
! to investigate the destitution of other coun-
! tics similarly situated, and sadder nara
! tives | never hcard-of families with moth
| ing TO subsst upon but bolled wheat, ana
| not enough efthat ; of women and children
! whose scanty clothing ragged that
/ they could hardly keep il on-wiIhout
/ shoes or stockings, and sometimes almost
| without fire-just entering upon the win
! ter and with ne prospect Of relief from
| thcirown resoul ces for the next six months.
| The following is the appeal l speak of:
OSBORNE CITY, Nov. 26, 1874.
To the Generous Pu5Hc:-Wc, the under
signed, committee duly appointo and
! thcriZed to represent tbs destitution existing
in our respective counties, do respectfully
say:
The five northwestern frontier counties in
Kansas, TO wit, Osborne, Smith, Phillips,
norton dfU hCOkS, constituting - udiuTaI
geographical unit, on the upper Solom on and
away from railroads, suffered a loss from
grEsshoppers, last summer, almopt if NOT
quite equal to the value of taxa able property,
as indicated by tbs last general assessment.
Corn is the pioneers first crop; it our
principal dependence for bread and meat
and clothing, and our corn was entirely de-
stToyed.
small portion of our people have light
crop of wheat to live on, and that is q i.
Calculating it only for a part OF their bread,
il must furnish all OF that, feed for their
teams, a surplus to sell for clothing, and
other uecessaries, or they must go without,
or they must ask for help. In the nature of
the case, there could no Insurance to
cover a part of the loss, as in the of
great fires in cities.
Most OF our homesteaders are poor men
with 40 resources to fall back npon. We
are full of courage and faith in the ultimate
prosperity of our country. Give three
years 10 develop our resources and diversity
Our industry, and no. even grassboppers can
make us beg. But, in the present emergency
to avoid actual sufferiEg-to avoid, as We
/ believe, the danger of death to some, from
starvation and exposur-, we ask "a generous
public to give Us back small portion of our
loss.
counties is about twelve thousand, and the
destitutiou is greater than supposed be-
fore making investigation. On the surface,
things look much as CsIz!. But penetrate
u
great many families lying cold of nights for
want Of suffioien mt bedding; hundreds if not
thousands of women ana children barefoot
and the ground covered with snow; many
men coatless; hundreds of families with their
last wheat ground, flour TO last a few weeks
or days aud thea nothing, and some families
already living on bran.
The majority of our men and women
would be glad to sell their labor for the ne
cessarieS of life, at any p!Ico. But the mi
nority, who have enough for themselves,
hare only enough, and cannot buy the labor of
their more unfortunate neiehbors.
We desire by this appeal to prevent the
extremity of suffering which we know will
be upon many of our people by New Years,
and upon majority of them by Spring, If
! relief does not come.
To carry US to harvest we noed from out
! side in provisions alone, $40. 900 in Osborne
county, 3I2, 900 in Smith, $40, ,OC0 in Phillips,
s., 900 in Norton and the unorgauizcd county
of pecatur, and So 900 in Rocks and the un-
organized county of Graham. We need as
much moro in clothing ard bedding. See
ond-haud clothing, if serviceable and warm,
will be gratefully received; shoes, especial
ly, for men, women and children are needed
We greatly desire that sufficient supple.
should be sent without employing travelling
agents. AT the best, the travelling expenses
must come out of their collections, and that
will sometimes absorb all they get. But the
worst OF it is, that a crowd of impOstors,
under that cover, palm themselves OF on
!
urge the public to scrutihize carefully the
credentials Of every solicitor, and give moth
ing 10 the mCoth-tcngued stranger whose
papers are looming by the ncXt mail
We sincerely hope tllis appeal will not be
! thrown aside unnoiced, and that 1t will not
! only enlist the sympathy Of our Eastern
friends Eut that they may receive it az
! truth ard send us Immediately, as literally
as their generosity will permit, the substsn-
tial articles o: food and clol hing that shall
make discouraged hearts rejoice. Anything
/ sent to alleviate the sufferinSs of this dis
| triet may be sent to W. l.. Bear, Russell,
! Kansas or TO the Kansas Central Relief
| Committed at Topeka. Respectfully,
JOHN BIssELL, Phillips county,
LAFs L. SMITH, Rocks county,
Il. 3. FOSTER. Osborne county,
| j. G. FOLSOM, Nortsn county,
| W. NJ. WELLMAN, Smith county,
! Committee.
BASE IHpOsTORS.