The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-01-29
THE FAMINE IN CHICAGO.

New York and Chicago that were
united a short time ago in Negotiating
Kansas, have now turned to berating
each other. It is somewhat of a relief
to read the following editorial in the
New York Journal:
while the sympathy of the Ameri-
can people is flowing through one chan
mel toward the starving people of far
off India, portion of it should rush
out through another channel in the di-
rection of nearby Chicago, where 10O,-
900 people are credibiy reported to be
also enduring the agOnies of starvation.
1T is almost beyond belief that in a
country which last November stood by
the present state of things to the ex-
tent of giving Mckinley a majority of
81, 929, there can be such appalling des-
titutiOn. unless the amount of Mr.
Hanna s campaign fund has been gross
ly exaggerated. If the vote selling
business was not done on a much mar
rover margin than has been generally
supposed, the profits would surely not
be exhausted within three months of
the election.
But such speculations, however Gu
rious, must be Overpassed in consider
alton of the dreadful fact that nearly
one in every ten persons in the second
city of the United States is suffering
from lack of food-a city which four
years ago was able to spend more than
1000, COO on a Worlds fair. 1t would
be bad enough if the sufferers were of
unSkilled labOrer and his family But
the situation in Chicago is no ordinary
situation. Besides the unskilled laborers
there is widespread misery among those
! who in Europe would be said to com
pose the middle class. The bureau of
associated charities reports that it has
urgent appeals for aid from skilled men
in all the trades. Men who wear ago
say the bureaus agents, owned their
own homes, small shopkeepers whose
stock is their ALL and who can sell
neither stock nor shop'-these in thous-
andS are forced to ask for charity to
keep from starving and freezing to
death. The dull times have compelled
such corporations as the Illinois Steel
company to discharge all their en-
plOyeS but their officers and directors
The building contractors can give no
employment, for nobody has money to
invest in buildings. This is the dismal
picture painted by clergyman:
AT every turn one finds the most
abject misery. People crowd to our
| services and beg for food for their chill
dren. This is our fourth hard winter
in succession. and we are no longer able
to give. There is no work that we can
get for the men. We need outside help
and we must have it at once. Hundreds
are suffering and need help, while, to
my knowledge, there are many families
that may be said to be actually starv-
ing. Our stOrekeepers have little cap
ital and can not carry the people. Ev-
cry day we see little children eating
Whatever Iney can PICK up IN our alleys
and we can do nothing, for their num-
Der is too great
No wonder the county agent, superin-
tendent of charity, fears bread riots if
we have any kind of bad weather.
Charity begins at home. And before
we devote our means to the relief of
England's wards in India, we ought to
fill the empty stomachs on our own
doorstep. The situation in the United
States is not so bad as it is in India
but it is bad enough to awaken interest
in the causes of it while we are miti-
| eating their effects If we have any
blood in our hearts, we should make it
| our business to discover why a social
| system which enables one family to
| throw $3.50, 900 away on a ball and sup
per compels thousands of our families
| equally deserving to struggle with star
| Yation the whole year round"