Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1888-10-13

the wholesale OBSTRUCTION or crops ana
tho imminent danger Of thousands Of
people starving to death. The annual
appeals for aid from other quarters have
led the reporters and correspondents to
believe that there ia but one kind Of dis
aster which can befall q community, and
that is the worst kind. If q train runs of
. bridge and the faces of a few passengers
are slightly scratched the modern news
gatherer calls it 80 horrible accident" If
a tea kettle is upset in a family kitchen
and a child is scalded, the reporters say
that a whole family has been par-boiled.
If a heavy rain comes to wash away a
few acres of CROP the fact is@duly mag
nified and the black headlines are made
to say that whole townships are sucked
up by the relentless deluge.
Dakota has even been the "butt of
ridicule' and her mishaps the subject of
c~onscienceless exaggeration by these en-
terprising and magnifying scribblers,
who are paid by the inch for what they
write. They are sure to double and
treble our woes, and quite AZ sure to
reckon our joys in fractions.
So in the 8 of Ramsey county's
circular, the difficulties therein recited
were greatly exaggerated. In aCincinnati
paper it was stated that all the Ramsey
county farmers were without bread. In
. New York paper it was related that
the farmers and business men here
were all upon the point Of starvation.
Anew OIL cans paper gave space to the
report that everybody in Dakota was
about to freeze to death. And SO the
stories go, to the great CONSERVATION Of
capitalists who have Investments here
and the fiendish delight of those who
would like to have oat haven't.
The fact is, the cases of absolute want,
outside Of the Russian settlement, are
rare, and we now have reason to believe
that the condition Of the Russians has
been overstated. We hear Of several
families, outside Of Cleveland town.
ship, who are or will soon he in need o.
assistance, but up to the present time
none of these cases have been officially
reported to the authorities. The aver
age Dakota settler is modest a. well q
plucky, aud he does not throw up his
hands at the first approach of danger.
The Russian residents, however, are
more inclined to look upon the situation
with q business eye. They do not hest
tate to say that they want and expect
help.
The INTBR-OcEAN made the sugges-
Etion over q month ago that the business
men of this city should organize a relief
committee whose duty it should be to
look after actual cases of want, but no
movement Of the kind has vet been
made. Doubtless we are oil too busy
looking after Jul own affairs, but this
10 not a very Christian like explanation
Of the reason why we have not perfected
such an organization. We venture to
say there .is not = business man in
DevilsALake or in any other Dakota
city who cannot afford to. donate cloth.
ing and food to those who heed them, II
there are any such people around
DeYils Lake or in Dakota. The time to
not 10 before, and not after, and it would
not be very creditable to our stock o.
charity ii we neglected . duty tina,
would appear more Of a reality under re
verse circumstances.
Had the board Of commissioners con
cluded to disregard the law and appro
priated one. two or three thousand o
she county's money to charitable pur
poses. the "kicking"' would not only b
Igeneral but Of the highest order It ma,
haye beep q mistake TO issue the cir
cular: yet the document was based upol