Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1899-08-25


81 is IA crime for man TO be poor in
such country traveller said as he
rode hour after hour between the 'walls
of corn" ia Kansas one day this week.
at IS crime for man to be poor
in such country" lie repeated, and
added. lie ought to be punished if
he IS
And nobody in the car who heard the
emphasized opinion dissented from 1T.
If this world beating 0,000,O 600
bushels of corn puts an end TO the pei .
odical passing of the hat" for Kansas.
it will crafty long-fet desire of the
well meaning. The cOntri button bust
ness for kansas-suiferers is old. In
Atchison LITTLE dilapidated structure
is pointed out as the place where S. G..
Pomeroy opened his law office" Mr..
Pomcroy came TO Kansas in 1854 with
large party of Immigrants from Mas
sachusetts. In 1860 occurred the worst
drouth the region has known since set
! Element. The stories of suffering which
the honesick immigrants sent back To-
New England friends were purse-m Y.
ing. The wealthy aboiItiOnists of the
East went into their pockets with eu-
thuslasm. Pomeroy, who had settled
IN Atchisou, was made the almoner of
the bounty. Previous TO that time he
! had been the agent for the investment
of some Eastern money in Kansas.
Atchison and Sumner were rival towns
on the Missoul only few miles apart.
! Sumner had been started by the alb pli
tionis'S. Atchson had been founded
little ,ter by the shareholders from
Missouri. The avowed purpose in the
/ beginning was to permit no abolition
i,ts to live in Atchison. Bat when il
became known tha: p,meroy had Mas
sachuSettS money to invest in mill he
was made welcome in AtchiSOn. One
after another the abolitouisis, includ.
ing John James ingalls,, moved up from
Sumner. A big storm blew away most
Of the city. The remaining buildings
fell down. Sumner Lecame a remni..
cence overrun with beggar lice. Atchi.
son, the shareholders community, flour,
ished and made Pomeroy the first May
or on the toss of coin.
There are Atchisonians who still re-
member well the lavish hand with which
Pomeroy distributed the "ald" the New
England people poured in during 1866
and 1861. A depot was established
The fame of Yankee charity spread
People drove in seventy.fve and l0(
miles and more and carried of Wagon
loads of clothing and supplies Cost o
transportation from Boston to Atchisor
was an impressive item in those days
The New England phlianthropists, tC
make their money 60 as far as possible
sent what the beneiiciaries considered
an altogether unnecessary proportion
of beans. The sufferers took IT,,
food, but they showed their feelings by
fastening upon Pomeroy the name o
"Old Beans" which is never lost in Kan
sas. When Mr.. Pomeroy built hote
in Topeka the Kansas people woulC
have no other name for it but the Bear
House"
The settled part of the territory wa
divided into districts, each with its com
mittee, which gave the orders Pomeroy
filed from the big aid depot in Atchi
son. long string of wagons could bt
seen in front of the storehouse day after
day, loading with laid" for the inter
Tor. An old resident of Atchison, who
assisted in the distribution, tells of one
applicant who got wagon load of this
cnarllN ana tnen ana there spent 80 O
his own money for luxuries before he
left town.
Pomeroy continued this lavish dlstri
button of the contributions from tn,
East until the spring of 1861. Tha
same year he was elected to the United
States Senator by the grateful settlers
The hat has been passed for Kansas {
good many times since that demoraliz
ing first time.
The corn road" has no place by tina
title in the railway guides. PerhaP
the general officers who preside hun