New-York tribune., 1879-06-07
KANSAS A HOME FOR NEGROES.
THE VIEWS OF GOVERNOR ST. JOHN.

ARRIVE - WHAT THEY SAY AND HOW THEY
FREI.
JFRoM AN OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRTBUNEl
TOPEKA, Kan, June 2-The State of Kansas has
taken no Official notice of the large numbers OF
coored emigrants from the South who in the last
two months have landed within her borders. AT
first the extent of this movement of the negroes was
not generally appreciated, was their destitution
or the helpless condition in which they came.
When II was known that 600 negroes, of all ages
and sexes were in Wyandotte, and that help must
be immediate to save them from great suffering,
citizens meeting was hastily called in Topeka to
take measures for their relief. At the meeting Gov
ernor St. John presided; stirring appeals were
made, and sum of money sufficient for their
present needs was subscribed on the spot. On the
next day the Freedman's Relief Central Committee
was organized and since then has been the agency
through which aid has been bestowed upon the ar
irving freedmen, and care taken for their dlstrbu-
ton and employment. This committee is made mp
of prominent Topeka citizens and the State officers,
who represent fairly the State at large 1t is purely
a charitable association and 1T acts in unofficial
capacitv Governor John 7. st. John is the presi-
dent and ]. G.. Hibbard the secretary. When Iefu-
gees arrive in Kansas and there is no other place To
which they may be sent from the landing. they are
forwarded to Topeka; here they are quartered at
the Fair Grounds in some large buildings used IN
the yearly agricultural shows and remain until
places can be found for them farm laboreTs ana
house servants.
Yesterday called on Governor ST. John to get
from him some information and an expression oil
oninion concerning the coming of the colored ref
ugees. He was in the executive chamber IN tie
finished wing of the new State House, and at the
time, was examining some improved cartridges IN
company with his private secretary. Governor st.
John who is one of the ablest lawyers in the State
fourht through the war as colonel of an Illinois
regiment He afterward lived in Missouri, and in
1870 came to Kansas. His election as Governor
last year was fitting recognition of his ability and
high personal character, and 1t has been Jusuhed
by the able management of the important pu6llc
questions that have come up In his administration
the most perplexng of which has been the negro
exodus. in answer TO my inquiry as to the present
extent of the negro immigration from the South
and the likelihood of its continuance, Governor
ST. John said
"Up to the present time between three and four
thousand refugees have arrived in Kansas this year.
Five hundred more Will probably come during the
present week, which will make Their number near
the latter figure. From the most trustworthy lnfor-
NATION can get. derived from letters received from
various parts of the South, among them points in
Alabama. Louisiana, Georgia. Mississippi and Ten
to come to Kansas, and in my judgment the exodus,
as it is termed has only fairly begun and will con-
tinue for years"
Had Won any knowledge of the movement from
the South toward Kansas before the actual arrival
of negroes r'-"None whatever, except from items
in Eastern papers. The first intmatiOn had OF it
was the arrival of boat-oad of immigrants in st.
Louis. and soon after a boat-lOad landed in WYan-
dotte, Kan"
"In what condition do they arrive in KansasW-
Almost entirely destitute of money, out of food,
very scantily clothed. and in most pitiable condi-
ton l might say that to take them as a whole as
they landed in Kansas their condition has been
disgrace to the civilization of any State"
STORIES WHICH THE REFUGEES TELL.
"Do the different refugees give substantially the
same story as to the which led them to come
North 9"-"They tell substantially the same story.
They say that it matters not how hard they work,
how economical they are in the management of
their affairs they invariably out at the end OF
each year in debt. They were not permitted to vote
AS they desred; they had advantages for cdu-
eating their children for they have not felt
safe either to life property Hundreds of their
people had been murdered and subjected to other ont
RACES. was out on the Fair Grounds to-day, where
there are about 125 destitute refugees. number
of them gathered around me- and | asked them
whether they had any bulldozarS down South. One
old woman. whose name Is Sarah Knox, replied:
Ia massa Won don't know muffin about it. | went
to visit nv son Louisiana and it was abOut three
weeks before could leave his house that was
about lection time; when did leave his house had
only gone a short distance, very early one morning
about daylight, until found nine negroes who had
been hanged the night before still hanging to tho
limbs of the trees one had been drowned in the
III L.. t., tin J,,;
and his body scattered over the ground As the old
woman related this circumstance, she seemed to be
very much affected. and shed bitter tears. They
also showed me bills of goods that they bad pur-
chased Of the merchants who were generally their
landlords. One of their bills have with me. You
will find in il goods purchased by the c0l0red man
named VIM. Lewis of :. ID. Church, of Edwards
MisS charged 81 80 per pound for tobacco; 12l2
cents per yard for the poorest quality OF prints;
81 30 per gallon for very inferior quality OF mo
laSses; 20 cents per pound for bacon which can be
bought for z % cents per pound for saleTatus;
So 80 per 100 for very poor -four which is worth
here in Kansas 50 so, etc To secure this bill III ad-
vance, Lewis gave 10 the merchant deed of trust
on the cotton and other crops to be raised on the
land, He was then renting land for which he paid
$40 per acre per anuum-the land itself being worth
bnt little more than that sum. Another man, named
WIN. Lovd, gave me bill of goods he had paid, In
which found similar advances of prices.
Il have examined many of the contracts OF lease
made by these cOored people with the land owners
in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and other States
South and find the rental price very great per an
num- ranging from Sc to $40 per acre. These same
lands for which colored men pay from Sc to SO
rent per per annum, are listed by the owner Tor
taxation valuation not greater per acre thau the
amount of rent received. The very fact that the
colored man has becn paying 80 rent per acre for
land and can purchase inst good land in Kansas
and other Northern and Western States for 50 per
acre in itself furnishes a very plausible reason why
he desires TO change his situation and location"
HELP EXTENDED N KANSAS
"What disposition has been made and what steps
have been taken in Kansas to provide for them as
they come ~" The first that came were landed at
Wvandotte. 1t soon became evident that the citi-
zens at that point were not able to take charge of
and provide for their necessary wants. and the
necessity of an organization to take general con-