The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1879-05-02
THE COLoRED EXODUS.
AtchisOn Champaign.

The people of Topeka have raised
$533 for the relief Of the colored refugees
Another boat load has arrived at Wyan-
dotte. Several car loads of the destitute
people have been sent to Lawrence. Dis
patches from the south say that the
movement has been checked at some
points, while at others the Kansas fever
is still raging violently.
The resolutions adopted at the Topeka
meeting very properly say that it is
necessary for individual citizens to con-
tribbte to the relief of these destitute
people, as the state government has no
means to provide aid for them. They
further appeal to charitable citizens in
all parts of the country for contributions
of food, money, etc. But suppose this
exodus should continue, would it be
possible for the citizens of Kansas to
either provide employment for the des
titute, or support them in idlenss, or can
other portions of the country be depend
ed on for the necessary aid?
This is practical question, demand
ing practical answer. A few thousand
of these people can, we have nOldOubt,
find employment ON the farms of Kan
sas. They are, almost without eXcep-
| ton, farm hands. There is, therefore,
no employment for them in our towns
and cities. As we have already said
| there is not "a town or city in Kansas
| that does not have all the unskilled Ia
| borers it can find employment for.
What are we to do, therefore, if this exc
| dus from the south continues? These
| people come here with crude, indefinite
| idea that they can secure government
land. They can, on our frontiers, but
| they have no means of subsistence, and
they must live for six or eight months
before they can possibly produce any
thing. They know nothing of the agri-
cultural methods or crops of the north
ern states Hence their chance of sue
cess, even if they could be provided with
homesteads, and with subsistence for six
or eight months, would be extremely
| doubtful
| The question is, therefore, a practical
one, and will have to be solved in prac
teal manner, just as it would be if the
same number of destitute white people
were suddenly dropped down in Kansas
The Topeka meeting was well enough a:
as far as it went, but it did not go fal
enough. Charity, in Kansas and else
| where, will after season grow cold
People will give to relieve distress, bu
after a time will tire of giving. And the
question we have to deal with is no
whether the country can and Will con
rary necessities of these refugees, Blu
whether five, or ten, or twenty, or fifty
thousand of them can earn LIVELIHOOD
in Kansas. Ifthey can, the people of tn,
state will gladly welcome them. TIT
fact that they are colored people make:
no difference whatever. But If thes'
numbers cannot earn a livelihood here
if they cannot support themselves anC
families, if they are only plunged int
deeper poverty and distress by remova
to Kansas, then active and energetic
measures ought to be adopted to inform
them just what the facts are, and thu
prevent them from making change tina
is only from bad to worse. This is tn
practical question this exodus from thu
south involves, and it ought to be deal
with in a practical way. The TOpeks
meeting failed to consider this phase o
the matter at all, or at least to express al
intelligent judgment upon it.