Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1894-09-06
GARNETr, KANSAS, SEPTEMBER 6, 1894.

and awful verities ~ the religion of Christ-th
Indignation of the little lady (who is evidentl
paid to eulogize Mr.. Pullman and his methods
will be readily apparent.
The "Arcade,' costly and beautiful struct
ure designed in Paris, the palatial Florenc
Hotel, the turreted and glistening-spired green
stone church, the well-kept, fragrant flower
beds and tufted lawns delighted the eye.
Pass down the "Arcade walk" from the librar,
neatness, dispatch, system. One can purchas
here everything or anything in the way of DIR,
goods, groceries and supplies, but, whether yol
buy paper of needles, yard of calico or
pound of bacon, you purchase from Pullman
Pullman is absolute monarch, owning the land
the houses, the gas and water privileges, tn,
street railway, the churches and with the ex
ception of God-fearing Rev. Carwardine) thu
ministers, one of whom took Pullman for {
text, clothing him with the language of Scrip
ture, exclaiming, 'Thou hast made him little
lower than the angels" and has crowned him
with glory and honor.
Walking down through the spacious hall and
coming out on the other side-Fulton street.
the scene changes. This part of the city is not
intended for the inspection of visitors or the
prying eyes of one interested in sanitary i'm
provement. Here we find the. Blocks" as
they are called, brick and stone buildings, three
stories in height, hallway running clear
through each story From three to FIVE hun
lead for, Ia, oh 10
occupied these "Blocks." In one building,
eighteen families were crowded i'll one hallway.
In one hallway, nine families were found, and
it was quite common to find five, seven and
twelve families supplied with water from one
faucet, washing dishes i'll one sink, and in near
ly every instance the water supply in the same
compartment with the closet, the rent for
three or four dark, crainped rooms being $1,000
per month. We gave the rooms thorough in
spection, spoke with the groups of pallid chill
dren, and questioned mothers, who freely took
us through their rooms and opened the doors of
empty cupboards. Want, grim and awful, ev-
erywhere, pinching the faces of old and young,
and tugging with bony hand at the heart-strings
of the unemployed
Fifteen minutes walk brought us to the brick
yards. The beauties of the model village were
here apparent, Six hundred families in a state
of slow starvation, living on land submerged
by water three-fourths of the year, in shelllike,
cheap shanty houses of four rooms, paying
$500 per month rent for shelter that cost the
company $500 apiece-four and five families
living in one shanty, waiting for the dole Of
charity helpless, homeless, hopeless, sunburned,
honest, intelligent American skilled workmen,
emaciated, wild-eyed with hunger; white-faced,
puny children, too sad from hunger to smile OF
play-inade old and care-worn in their infancy;
starving mothers, holding lean, uncanny
babes to the breast from which the fruit of life
had been dried by lack of nourishment. Twelve
hundred families in condition of such destitu-
ton that were the hand of Charity to be with
held for even tweuty-four hours, terrible suffer
ing and death-death in its cruelest, mos,
phastly form-would be inevitable.
A visit to the Relief station found the supply
of provisions almost exhausted The building
was surrounded by motley crowd of men,
hunger and anxiety stamped on every face,
waiting to draw weeks rations, which had
consisted, for one family, of 24-pound sack Of
-four or meal, one bushel of potatoes and eight
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