Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-02-19
Affecting Is To Be Held in MinOt to Counterfeit the Gross
" Exaggerated Reports Regarding Alleged
Suffering in North Dakota
Land Agents Interested in Other Parts Of the United
States Have SandeFed this State and Given
Circulation to False Reports

Circulation to
The Minot Commercial club has
taken steps to counterfeit the effect
that the greatly exaggerated reports
regarding conditions in North Dakota
this winter circulated in the east and
south. A meeting has been called for
February %, and localities all over the
state are asked to send delegates.
The following from the Ward Coun-
ty Independent is a sample of the mis-
representations that are in circula-
ton: s@s 81.
t'Rev. VIM G. Hunter received a let
ter from a friend in Decatur, H., In
closing clipping taken from paper
printed in that city. The article was
sent out by some one in Minneapolis,
evidently an enemy to North Dakota.
Listen to the following taken from the
article:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. .-s.s..
d: 1.-TWO hundred persons, accord
+: ing to conservative estimates, ::
have lost their lives from snow or ::
4: cold in the northwest as a result ::
of the extreme winter The death !:
y: list may still be greatly swelled. !:
When winter loosens its death /:
Is: grip scenes in the isolated cabins !:
of settlers and skeletons on the !:
prairies will tell the story of how /:
": scores persisted. Railroad men !:
and residents of the big North Da- :
y: kota settlements based this esti- :
!: mate on past experiences during :
"a: stormy winters. It is next to inn :
/: possible to get news showing the !:
Is: full extent of the disaster. North :
81: Dakota is a state of vast dis /:
&: tances. Last autumn many set !:
s: tiers: lured on by stories of land /:
: agents, went into the Wilds with :
RI: provisions, prepared to spend an.
4: moderate winter and to allow their 4:
Il. cattle to run wild during the sea !:
~: son Of cold, ETC., ETC." *; |:
That is but a sample of the stories
that have been spread broadcast
throughout the east. One paper said
500 had been frozen to death. Of
course they can't get news showing
the extent Of the great disaster. Did
they try to get the news? OF course
they did not. AS matter Of fact, only
three or four persons in the entire
state froze to death, as far as we are
able to learn. One man while drunk
wandered from a neighbours house in
his night clothes and when found the
next morning was all in. He died in
I the Minot hospital. The same fellow
would have persisted from the cold in
Florida this year under similar circum.
stances.
The land agents have told nothing
about North Dakota that is not true.
Of course the weather has been cold
We won't deny it. But it has been
colder right in the state of New York
More people froze to death in the
state of New York this year than in
North Dakota. Who dares deny this
fact? And true it is that the snowfall
has been great, greater than for many
years. But its the salvation Of our
glorious country. It means crops, ii
means money, it means prosperity and
happiness for the people who came
here without dollar, but who are now
wealthy.
The Independent wants to make a
little suggestion to our readers. There
are thousands Of you who came here
from the east You know that these
stories are lies. Why not write te
your editor in your home in the east
and ask him out Of mere justice tc
yourselves and to the best state in
the Union to print the facts. Tell him
the facts. You can do vast amount
of good by doing this. z
The appeal sent out by the Minoi
Commercial club reads in part as fol
lows, and is self explanatory:
Minot, N. D., Feb. Ia, 1907. q
Dear Sir You are doubtless already
aware of the grossly exaggerated and
in many cases absolutely false stories
which have been published during the
winter regarding the climatic condi
tons and loss Of life resulting from
the same in North Dakota These
stories have not been confined toxtlle
metropolitan daiiies, whose love Of the
sensational induces them to oyersteI
the boundaries Of truth, nor to Tie
papers whose locality makes 1t profit
able for them to publish any facts
which would turn away emigration
from the western states. The reports
have been published and spread broad
cast over the entire country through
the columns Of the smallest yiIag,