The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1890-12-24

90 Dor cent. of the STATE in Sphinx
County is mortgaged' Tor all IL Is worth
and nearly all the chattels arc also
mortgaged, and in this case II q FARMER
kills one OF his chickens, cali In ms
barnyard, or anything else he may nave
on his farm he violates the law. Inc
situation Is serious. Many families have
left the county and others are leaving
Some Of those who remain would Ike 10
go, but they have staid so long that now
they can't.
II have seen an entire family drive
ont of the country, taking everything 10
possessed on earth in small wagon, the
chattel-mortgage shark having claimed
everything else.
Hundreds OF families in SPHINX
County have not provisions enough 10
last them week; no money to buy any
thing; nothing remains in the houses 10
sell, and they cannot secure credit Last
year the state of affairs among inc
farmers was bad, but this year III Is
worse. Worse, because the people OF
South Dakota who wrote TO their friends
for aid AMI secured it are denounced as
defamers of South Dakota.
There is little fuel on hand in tho
towns. and not much in the entire conn
lntTc Is any obidW vi h"J
TO burn, as the drought left no crops.
Thousands OF acres were not cut this
year But such reports rs this were not
sent out to the newspapers. Prosperity
and immense crops are what the men
who were elected TO Office tried TO make
the outside world believe.
SHOULD severe winter set in, and it
is not at all unlikely, the result would be
awful. The roads would be blockaded
for months, and, with the scarcity or
supplies, the towns would contain moth
ing but starving, freezing people. And
how would the few fare who have Sc
cured their supplies? Starvation makes
an angry mob of crowd, and nothing
like rule would prevail. And, il the
blockade continued long. there might
not be any one in the spring TO tell the
story of the sufferings.
"The farmers fear that this is the con-
dition that confronts them, but no such
report gets outside of the State, because
real-estate boomers send out denials Of
the true state of affairs. | will go so far
as to say that the official STATISTICS are
falsified, and Judge Howe, who inAs re-
Gently elected from Redfeld, is my au-
thority for saying this. People in tho
other States believe there is prosperity
in South Dakota, and for that reason are
unwilling to help those who are really
In need.
"While at the Farmers Alliance con-
vention at Mitchell, 5. D., Mr. Ashley,
OF Iowa, told the farmers that the people
of his State were willing to help those
in need, but as soon as they heard from
some family that was probably starving,
reports would appear in the local Iowa
papers denying the state of affairs, and
claiming the starving people of South
Dakota were imposing upon the gener-
osity OF those who desired to help them.
IF you want TO secure assistance said
Mr.. Ashley, you must close the mouths
of the real-estate boomer and the Immi1
grafton Bureau
"This is not the condition in every
part of the State. In the eastern and
southeastern parts there is more pross|
perity, but there is not county easNofl
the Missouri River where many peox
in need of help cannot be found
extortions of railroads and mony-lq
ers lie back of the suffering. Wat
wheat was raised had TO be SD u
interest and debts"