Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1879-06-10
From an Appeal Correspondent.


ELLIS, KS. June IL had heard so
much of this State that my expectation was
very great, but l was not prepared to see SO
beautiful and prosperous country by any
means as | have passed from Kansas City to
this point. 1t is one grand field of corn and
wheat as far as the eye can see on each side
of the railroad for over two hundred and fifty
miles, and | am informed that the route of
the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad
runs through an equally beautiful and
wealthy portion of the State. This point Is
on the Kansas and Pacific road and i5 the
most productive soil l ever saw. But it has
grown so rapidly, and the lands have be-
come so high, IN the eastern and middle por-
ton of the State, that poor men cannot own
them. And if they buy railroad lands it
costs quite sum to build on them and bring
them into cultivation, as there Is no timber,
and lumber and brick are high. What the
poor negroes can do here | cannot see, and so
far as | have been able to learn, the people.
here do not want them. Several trains were
sent out from Wyandotte with colored peo-
ole, but several of the towns would not allow
them to stop within their limits. There are
about three hundred still at Wyandotte, and
the remainder of those who did not go back
are scattered around through western Mis-
souri, and southern Kansas, only about one
hundred and fifty having gone to the colony
of their countrymen called Nlcodemus, which
lies fifty miles north of this point. There
has been much suffering among them, and
much speculation and fraud by those who
pretend to help them. The winters
are longer and more severe here than
in Mississippi and Louisiana, and they
will certainly suffer In the winter, more
on account of their improvidence and their
inability to get employment. The people
here hire white labor, and permit servants to
eat and sleep in the family mansion; there
no aoloraJ mas haa M pOual qhnvulncy
Besides this, the system of farming is total
iy different. Reapers and threshers and
gang-plows and riding cultivators are not the
tools the negro is accustomed to using, and
therefore a white boy will get more than a
negro man, because he can do more and bet
ter work. Ii our people will just let them
| alone the exodus will soon end. But If, like
| Chalmers, our people threaten and oppose,
the more the sympathlsers of the north will
| be aroused, and means will be raised to bring
all who wish to come, and the sharks who
are devoting themselves to soliciting aid for
| them which they put in their own pockets,
! will reap rich harvest. In st. Louis l
saw the Home, as it was called, and there
was filth, poverty and suffering, while the
friends who pretended to feed and shelter
! them were riding about IN carriages, dressed
| fine and begging money, very much like some
of our noted philanthropists nearer home,
| who spend two dollars in applying one. From
| my observations, | am sure that the people OF
Kansas and the railroad companies had no
hand in starting this movement. 1t is not
what they want at all. Kansas has over one
million of people, raises forty per cent. of the
| grain and meat crops of the United States,
and has a well managed and equipped rail-
road system, all of which makes her great
State, prosperous and wealthy, clearly prov
ing that prairie country will always outstrip
a wooded country in wealth and prosperity.
stayed over night at Abilem so as to pass
through the whole State in daylight, and to
this point l must say it is the finest country
| ever saw. NOGASHAN.