Workmen's advocate., 1890-12-27

In the Grasp of Capitalism-Au Prop
 erty so Mortgaged that "A Man Can
 not Kill Hen Without Violating the
 Law"-Destitution Among the Farm
 CTS.
 CHICAGO, Dec. 1S.-"A man cannot kill hen in Spink County, South Da. kota, for his sick wife, without violating the law is the way William Broakans, a lawyer of Redtield, S. D., who is stop ping at the Leland, expressed himself concerning the deplorable condition of the farmers in the county he mentioned
 "l mean by that" he continued, that 90 per cent. of the real estate in Spink County Is mortgaged for all it is worth, and nearly all the chattes are also mortgaged, and in this case if farmer kills one of his chickens, calf in his barnyard. or ything else he may have on his farm, he violates the law. The situation is serious Many families have left the country and others are leaving now. Some of those who remain would like to go, but they have staid so long that now they cant.
 "l have seen an entire family drive out of the country, taking everything it possessed on earth in small wagon, the chattel mortgage shark having claimed ev3rything else,
 Hundreds of families in Spink Coun- ty have not provisions enough to last them a week; no money to buy any. thing; nothing remains in the houses to sell, and they cannot secure credit Last year the state of affairs among the farmers was bad, but this year it is worse. Worse, because the people of South Dakota who wrote to their friends for aid and secured it are denounced as defamers of South Dakota.
 "There is little fuel on hand in the towns, and not much in the entire coun- try. There is scarcely any hay or straw to burn. as the drought left no crops Thousands of acres were not cut this year But such reports as 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 block aded for months and, with the scarcity of supplies, the towns would contain nothing, but starving, freezing people, And how would the few fare who have secured their supplies? Starvation makes an angry mob of crowd, and nothing like rule would prevail. And if the blockade continued long, there might not be any one in the spring to tell of the suifarings.
 "The farmers fear that this is the con. dition that c0nfru.ts them, but no such report gets outside of the State, because real estate boomers send out denals of the true state of affairs. will go so far as to say that the official statistics are falsitied, and Judge Howe, who was re- gently elected from RedheId, is my au- thority for saying this. People in 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, S. D., Mir. 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 genero. sity of those who desired to help them. If you want to secure assistance said MT. Ashley, you must close the mouths of the real-estate boomer and the Imm- grafton Bureau.
 "This is not the condition in every part of the State. In the eastern and southeastern parts there is more prospe- rity, but there Is not county east of the Missouri River, where many people in need of help cannot be found. The extortions of railroads and money loan CTS lie back of the suffering. What little wheat was raised had to be sold to pay inter est and debts."