The Leavenworth weekly times., 1875-01-28

| NIiuiCdtc Tue CudTdcttI ana reDut1tlOn o
the people among whom it has been m,
good fortune to reside for a period of eigh
years, and receive the erronious impres
sions created by the publication of certain
malicious falsehoods, l herewith submit :
brief statement OF our conditions Durin.
the year of 1873, the farmers of this Dor
ton of the 25th representative district OF
account Of dry weather and chinch bug, re
aiized on their corn crop, from 10 to q
bushels per acre. Wheat yielded between
, 10 and II bushels, of rye, very little wa.
grown, and that was badly damaged BY thu
, bug. Potatoes were almost an entire fail
ure, some farmers realizing from an acre oI
, this edible, only 3 or 3 bushels, while the
greatest yield hardly exceeded 20 bushels.
The season, from various causes, proving SC
, unfavorable to the production of our staple
articles of consumption, bore as heavily
and injuriously upon the man who depend.
ed upon his daily labor support, as upon the
farmer. Coupled with poor crops, was the
! panic in monetary affairs, and prices
for produce dropped below the cost Of pro-
ductions, 80 that those who were obliged to
sell portion of what they had raised, and
needed for their own consumption lin order
to liquidate their indebtedness) found it
impossible to meet their Liabilities, and had
to depend upon the clemency OF their
creditors for a respite until another season
OF harvest, however, all entered upon the
Winter of 1874 with bouyant hearts, though
many deprivation was endured. The
farmer, the mechanic, the day labOrer, al
though deprived OF many of the comforts of
former years, commenced q rigorous system
of economizing, looking forward to the re-
turn OF another Spring, that should bring
plenty and prosperity again to their homes.
There was no talk of appealing for aid, no
thought of depending upon the charities of
the world for support; but each, husband
ing his condition from one another with
grim reliance manifesting itself upon his
cOuntenance, fought the battle, through a
tedious Winter and backward Spring, until
they were enabled to wiring from the soil the
laid" they had stood so long in need of.
Early in the Spring of "a, our farmers
commenced putting in large crops, notwith-
standing their teams were poor, and in no
condition for severe labor. A large area of
corn was planted, thousands OF acres of oats
were sown. Wheat, rye and flax were re-
sorted to, by those who could spare the
means to procure the seed. What was the
result? Early in the Spring innumerable
swarms Of chinch bugs were evolved from
some source, and Immediately commenced
preying upon the tender blades of wheat
and oats, killing out large portions of t,be-
fore it had reached = height of six inches.
As soon as the corn appeared above the
ground, they commenced their attack on
that, also; soon dry weather set in, and be-
fore the growing season was over. came
clouds of locusts to dispute
with bug and drouth for a
portion of the spoil. The end of the season
found many farmers without a bushel of
corn, where acre after acre had been plant
ed. Corn in this community yielded all the
way from nothing up to % bushels. Oats
yielded IRON to 20 bushels, with now and
then piece tri1e lower or higher Wheat
ranged from to and 10 bushels, with nos
and then an exceptional piece somewhat
higher and very much of what wheat was
raised was OF an inferior quality. Potatoes,
as in 1873, nearly total failure. The fall
OF 1874 found many of the farmers without
sufficient food to carry them through the
winter without corn for horses or hogs
many of them in fact destitute of nearly
everything, money, food and clothing but |
it found them also with their debts entire, |
mortgages upon the point of foreclosure, in
short, our farming community was in a |
lu. III
there was no work for the mechanic or day-
laborer, and if they became ''idlers," it was |
because there was nothing to do, or If there |
was, no money or produce to exchange for |
their labor. Cold weather set in; cries of |
destitution began to pour in from all |
quarters; cases of mfiering began to be re-
ported from houses that were unused to suf- |
fering; added to all this, sickness began to
prey upon our inhabitants, and their con- |
dition hecsDe one of helplensDess in the ex-
treme. In this emergency, those of us more
fortunate than our neighbOrs, began to move
in the direction of procuring relief from
different sources, and a meeting was called
to expedite affairs. This was our condition
at the time we reported to your paper,
the proceedings Of that meeting, in
which those who had taken part
have been stigmatised, by some miserable,
cowardly poltroon, who, in order to shield
himself from the righteous Indignation of
the people, took refuge behind the initials
NJ L l. That individual states that Mr..
Moore offered work to our citizens, but,
though NTo0ganOxie was full of idlers,
both black and white, they were sticklers
Tor high prices, and would not work" A
more infamous falsehood, it we've not posi-
BE fof fend in human form to utter, and
if the Imp a daxknes was to have search
ed t. wtds World over, he could not have
found . hsaEt none fttingly prepared to
have gLvn uf1esance to lie % Infamous
and danning. What are the facts? Mr..
Moore let the contract for hauling that ma
nure to Mr.. Bury, for five cents . load, and
Mr.. Bury would have completed his con-
tract, had not cold weather stopped him;
and Mr.. Moore himseM aid thas be had no
money to hire the manure spread, after il
had been hauled out Theae are the facts in
relation to that case, and We challenge the |
miserable renegade, who uttered the un-
truth, to disprove them, and We only await
his name, in order to tear from his detesta-
BILE carcass, the rags that -coacsal his noral
leprosy from public execrstioa, and hold up
to the view Of the people, tie blaek-heartedI
wre9eh, Who would abandon to the cold hos
pitality Of the work, the vidov., orphans
and destitute ones, and Who i thus inhu-
manly making merchandise Of their suffer-
ing. He ntteFs IN appeal to the chafitably-
inclined everywhere, to rgAss to listen to
calls for aid coming from Tonganoxie, and
warns them that those Who AK it
are .Sthemselves fraudk" Can . moe
heartles, nav, devlish, appeal
have lad il conceptioa in tie hrain Of auy I
human being! but Whatever the insults cast I
upon a BY tie brainleo and hutalised
sooHers, the truth Of our coadition, = I ,
have ssaied it. can Be veri6sd By tie nem-
bers Of this Gfange and By IL psople Of this
entire community. The malie;us staAe-
ments made By Nj. Ward have sufscieutIv !.
zefuted BY himself he having declared thss
heva lnsant ths faeti ~ ND g
presumed TO know % much, md tat ke
would publicly deny the satenents be w .
70 tho1ght2es - 70 make in his ls11e
vruashs - incalculahls niscAi,S kR~f
aser6uns snd oaf cifiAK, 49, casr;-
tally 6sposed toward hin, y 0a0Ri
trying 70 unao What - has spSntoH7 - ,
done, ssill, can.ot but I'D TIT So Il.
iea5kd theif unainep and go vi
psivatioaa Bet toward HELA II
nalisD9ly nd diabolieslly 2 6ksuD11dk /
lie ssatinsat b rsh'iely aaasg that ,