The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1896-01-16


spOnse of the Southern States to
Appeals for Help in Behalf of the Ne
braska Drought Sufferers-"The
South to the West.''
baltimore Manufacturers Record.I
Under the above caption the Manu.
faeku,ers' Record of December 28,
1894, says:
Reports from Nebraska bring tidings
of great distress and of thousands of
people in dire need of food. The corn
crop-Nebraska's main staple-failed
almost completely, the yield for the
whole State having averaged only six
bushels an acre. The suffering reported
promises to increase and these people
must be helped until another crop can
be raised. They cannot leave and
come South; they are without ready
money, and their lands are not salea-
BILE. Help must be sent to them. In
many times of distress, when Affections
have come upon every part of it, the
South has received the most ready and
liberal help of other sections. This
year it has been blessed with an
abundant grain crop, nearly one half Of
the total corn crop of the country hav-
ing been produced in the South. Its
corn-cribs and meat-houses are full
enough for all and some to spare for
others. Because of these conditions,
the Associated and the United Press
sent out dispatch on December 26,
embodvinga suggestion made by the
editor of the Manufacturers Record,
that the people of the South contribute
and send to Nebraska solid train-load
dispatch was as follows:
Associated and United Press Dispatch.
"BALTIMoRE, December Oath, 1894.
In view of the great destitution re-
ported from Nebraska, because of the
almost total loss Of the corn crop-the
main crop of the State-Mr. Richard
H. Edmonds, editor of the Manufactu-
rers' Record, suggests that solid train
of corn and meat be contributed by the
South and shipped to Nebraska. Mr..
Edmonds says that the South has been
blessed with an enormous corn crop
this year and that its meat houses are
filled to overflowing. Out of this abun-
dance the South should gladly avail
itself of the opportunity of sending a
Christmas greeting to those who are in
dire distress in the Northwest. Moth
ing that the South could do, would, he
says, do more to cement the feeling Of
friendship between that section and the
West. Nothing else would SO impress
the country with the blessings which
the South this year enjoys in the abun-
dance of its supplies of grain and pro-
visions.'
This telegram sent out at the re-
quest of the editor of the Manufactu-
rer's ReeorA, Immediately received a
warm response, and in a few hours
thereafter kilograms and letters of COM
mendation were received from Hon.
Hoke Smith, Secretary of the Interior;
Vice President Baldwin of the South
ern Railway; President Hoffman ofthe
Seaboard Air Line; Governor Crounse,
of Nebraska, and many others North
and South. The newspapers ola Sec
tions gave quick and ready response
to the appeal, and at the request OF the
Manufacturer Record, Governor
Northen, of Georgia, undertook to
gather at Atlanta all the contributions
that might be made by the people of
Georgia. Similar arrangements were
made for contributions from other
States, and in the aggregate upwards
of $4,000 worth of foodstuffs were
shipped from the South to the West.
While the South thus gave freely
and abundantly of its hounteous crops
to aid others in distress, it set in mo-
ton forces that are destined to have
wonderful effect upon our entire
country. 1t helped to break down the
barriers that had stood between the
sections, and by this one act the South
made deep impression upon thous-
ands and tens of thousands of farmers
in the North and West. Its influence
is illustrated simply by one case-that
of the great colonization work which is
now being carried out in Georgia in
the settlement of 100000 acres of
land purchased by the Grand Army
Colony. Mr.. P. H. Fitzgerald, presi-
dent of the Soldier Colony Co., the
organizer of this movement, in letter
to the Manufaetx,ers' Record, tells of
the influence of this contribution of the
South in bis own case and what has
been the outcome Oft. He writes as
| follows:
THE AMERICAN TRIBUNE SOLDIER
! COLONY COMPANY.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND, Dec. 80, 1895.
r. II. EDMONDs,
Editor and General Manager Manu-
facturers' Record, Baltimore, Nd:
DEAR SIR-I see the Manufactu-
rers' Record has given space at times
to our Georgia colony. 1t must be re-
membered that one year ago, when at
a loss to know where 1 could best To-
cate this colony. CHANGED to read your
article headed 1.-THE South to the West"
I became much interested in it. 1
read it over time and again and watched
the most worthy efforts you were put
ting forth. Yet, like others Of the
North, I was skeptical as 10 just what
your efforts would be and your ability
to send such productions as corn, -four
and provisions-articles most needed
in suffering Nebraska. On page 342
Of your issue Of January 4, 1895, it
was said:
Nothing would open the eyes of the
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