The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1875-03-03
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e eConu1rBIA. 8. o.. March I, 1875.
g Nh. EDHreR: Enclosed please aud o
letter from . citizen of Kaneas. who
was inauenced by the wopdprful stories
pal Into circnlation by land specula-.
tors 10 induce emigration to that re-
gi0n, which tells the true story OF
poverty aud dsstitutiou. Why can we
not make an effort to get some of these
industrious and enterprising people.
who want land, to como to this State,
where land is as cheap as in the doubt
ful West. and yields as bountifully TO
the hand of industry as any part of
the United States? No man need
want bread here who will work.
100, 600 families can find cheap homes
in this State. and the same industry
used here necessary to secure living
in the far West. will proluos wealth in
few years. If they have richer soil.
We have to compensate for it climate
that will permit the farmer to work the
whole year, and in very few years hs
can make our forest lands equal to
their best lands. Why do not our
Changers place before the thousands
Of people of the Eastern and middle
States, who are yearly seeking homes
in tue fur West, the advantages OF
fered by this State? There is no
branch Of industry opened in the West
to the enterprising and industrious
eMigrant that canHos. be made more
profitable in this State. Respectfully,
ROBERT K. SCOTT.
notice that O certain Col. Hicks
has written to the papers E ,st several
commu nications relative to the extent
Of damages by the locunt, chinch bug.
the amount of destitution, and an esti-
mate OF the average yield of crops in
different parts Of the State; aud when
I read and see such bare.saced lies and
Interpretations scattered broadcast
throughout the East, to iuveigle the
readers thereof, l must take up my
pen and to warn you, aud to consider
we'll before you leave comfortable
homes "to better your condition (?) in
the West."
Let us look to the estin,ated crops
for the year 1874: First, our corn crop i.
or has been, esti@uted from ~ tn 60
bushels per acre. This is lie number
one. 1 dofy the writer to show even
single instance of such yield, say no.
thing about on average. So far az
can gather up facts, l can safely say
that the corn crop averages from o to
l5 bushels per aore-poor. misera.
BILE. worm eaten. chinch-bng sucked.
grass-hoppered- .sweiled up article at
that. All upland was n total failure,
and If any Of our Kansas quill drivers
want proof of this assertion, I will,
if they will give me ''dead head
pass" go with them, show them whole
townships that did not raise q boshel
OF corn or wheat. but few small pota-
toes. Wheat crops may be boiled down
to approach somewhere near the truth.
The same deceitful writer says, "that
winter wheat yielded from Is to 35
bushels per acre;" but he forgets to
say that thousands of acres of it was
not cut. There is lie number two.
The same writer says of spring wheat,
'that chinch-bugs. locusts, Sc. da
msged the crops, but there were some
crops that yielded IL to 20 bushels per
acre." The fact il this: That 80 100
OF this crop was not cut at all, but lite.
rally destroyed by insects. This is lie
uumOef ture6.
will ask the writer one direct. yet
pertinent question. It is this: If our
corn crop averaged from forty to sixty
bushels per acre. winter wheat fifteen
to thirty-five, and spring wheat twolvc
to twenty bushels per acre. I ask him
| why has the Kansas State Relief Com
mlttee been organized, and Why has
thousands of our citizens gone East to
beg the necessaries Of life and old
clothes? And why did General Grant
give the needy of Kansas such quaint.
ties OF army clothing. when these gra-
naries we're filed with such bountiful
crops?
When I left my home, like thou
sands Of Others last fall, and looked
over the broad fields of blasted crops
and hopes, with but little more than
hay for boast to subsist on, and as /
saw our highways thronged with emi-
grants on the road to the fertile East
to the promised land" leaving
their farms. aye. their homes, behind
them, never expecting to return, with
oaths upon their tongues, and curses
(oh, such bitter cursesD upon those
who, through lying and misrepresenta-
tion, induced them to break up and
sell q good home in the East for new
and wild prairie claim in Kansas. ]
thought that hell shoulds be the liar &
portion. Greeley is dead, and his ad-