Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-02-21
THAT BELIEF.

,~,:.. e"AN ooultv iellef Com
..a.' ..ateee' composed of good citizens.
SGaIeu ;'; lew weeks ago that 81 fam
.iies MS ~ tnat county were destitute and
must be supplied WITH food and cloth
ing, and they sent a letter to Woon-
socket asking aid. Now. Mr. Don q
Needham says thHt ~, snch rppor1s
are base lies and malicious slanders ON
the fair tame of the State. and nlacps
Jerauld county il. Nc list Of those
abLndantly able to care for her own
poor. Don says less than one person
IN two hundred in the ss,,,aIa win npeI
aid: Either Don. is mistaken in his
estimates or the people of his own
county are lying like SATAN. And if
Don is right why is Gov. Mellette out
on begging expudition, for seed
wheat, to- st. Paul and Minneapolis. and
why does the Legislature continue to
send out soliciting committees. and
during their absence pass resolutions
declaring every man liar who saws
South Jiak0ta is not aNunaantlv able
TO care for her own poor? These
things are rather mixeu.-W. News.
Our cothmittee have l,ael. confronted
With the same difficulties mentioned
by Bro. Kelley. They hal the personal
applictions of hearty every person in
the colnty needing holp and from
those applications found that 8s fami.
lies mist have relief FROM some
source. outside Of their own resources.
Gov. Mellette and bur committee un-
derstood the need of aid and Set about
securing the netessary supplies. Our
committee was Informed that supplies
had been shipped to the Woonsocket
relief committee for Ierauld county,
hence the application to that commit
tee.
The Committee found great difficulty
In the way of securing aid, especially
after the statement of Don G. Needham
went out; and its members sincerely
wished that Don G. Nccdham would
come hottie and make The people of
Jerauld county believe that his state
mehts were true concerning this coun-
ty, or supply the aid prayed for. Yet
despite all these drawbacks our com.
mittee is receiving considerable aid
and will be able to relieve much sufI
fering. There is one difficulty about
Don G. Needham's statement and it
should be understood in order to set
that gentleman aud our people i'll the
right light. Jerauld county is not C
desert place nor was the drouth of
last season so severe as to prevent the
raising Of some crops;in fact wehave
no doubt but that sufficient was raised
last year in our county to supply
every person ih it with feed, food, and
seed for one year. Such condition
of things would make Mr.. Needham's S
statement good and there would be no
needy ones but for the fact that this
grainis not evenly distributed among
all our people. Many who have raised
sufficient were obliged t5 sell what
little they had to pay off debts that
were drawing 2 or per cent a month
and as a result are now in q needy
condition. 1t is estimated by our COM
mittee thai 10000 bushels of wheat
will be eduired to seed Jerauld county
in 1890, and Of this, amount perhaps
there is 5000 bushels in this county
but it is in the hands Of the few who
are holding it for a high price, and
there is no law to compel them to di-
vide up with their more unfortunate
nelghbors. They will not sell for any,
thing except cash and this their neigh
bors have not, hence their need of aid
from source that will allow them
credit. We believe the two statements
can be harmonized when looked at
from both stand points. Mr.. Need
ham calculates the needs from aknow-
ledge of what was raised; the commit
tee from a knowledge or what the peo-
pie have left after they were obliged
to part with the crop to meet their
pressing obligations,
Suffering must net go unrelisved
simply to crafty pride in this ccun-
try Of our adoption.
THE SI1RvEY