Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-11-05
JAMES KING ON
The HARD Times
cfTixEN MO SPENT MUCH TIME.
RsriEylNG OTHERS RE.
,SSls CALLS 1894.
4 Il /. 4 I, N THICK !. i OF Y
Rsjst& y snrd or Two of the Times
Mechanics and Skilled
LAsorsts Went Hungry Un-
der lpemocratlc Rule.

y fsstAsRf rEf9 &Nk'VtptD ~ @'ss ssShSsS -
DEF |Demaoratlc Rule.
II sIf any one shows any disposition to
question ths fact that there were per-
iods Of the rear 1894 when families in
/ Ottamwa were destitute and without
food or clothing talk with James
King win loon convince them Of the
! truth. Mr.. sKin 8 during the winter OF
a that year acted in the capacity Of gen
sserSl prersser Of the relief given the
I laborfng men by the Citizens Keller
coMnlittea, and he tells wildly OF the
! bard tinask OF that period
$50 bAd we're the conditions OF
4 1874 sa5ss Mr. King, that meeting
/ Waa held Lin the city hall for the pur-
A pcS q Missing some ways and means
tfo6 cei1ng for the unemployed labor
fdHk nfen Ind their destitute families.
/ ~ r. Biekiey presided at the flrst
| ting, hnsl DR.. D. A. LaForce oc-
CAfptca tie chair at the second meet
l9ng Soliciting committee was first
HpninteN and then an executive conf
tnDattEe ejOmposed of S. H. Harper, q.
n EpGkanan and A. P. Peterson, was
spnnfH to carry out the wishes OF the
ss&ns6xing, which was to provide work
the many laboring men and to give
Tod and clothing to the many VINO
NEEDED them Eber Dixon had charge
Is III the wood chopping on Leighton s
a5rODerty, and / was assigned as over
\ ss4Aer In charge of the other work =:
Pfekler, r. r. Buckley and myself
/ cav 10 it that labor was given to the
needy Il Of the city all that winter.
ssssss NJ Many Pound Stone.
FThe Ottumwa Brick and Construc-
ton Co, had a quantity OF stone at
the foot of Marion street, and WORK
was given to many men crushing THIS
rock for use in work to be done during
the summer.
s.The men were paid every three
DAYS at first, but it was not long until
we realized that 1t would relieve. their
sufferings more to pay them every
night. The result was that A. F. Peter
sons grocery store was made pay
station, not only for money but II was
the place where the necessities OF HE
were distributed to the destitute OF
the city.
Kept I Register.
II kept q general register Of the
names Of men who were out OF work,
and have 1t to this day. Il. contained
the names and the occupations OF
each where they lived and the size OF
the family dependent upon them. me
families ranged from three to six emil
dren and we so arranged things 10
give ali OF the men work for at least
portion of each week. Some OF them
came with teams, and a job of grad
Ing for H. A. Gangs near Clay street
gave employment to number OF them
for time. The stone work was done
at q dollar day by skilled laporers
who under republican times Wouiu
make between So to S. day. we PAID
men with teams Twenty-Five cents an
hour. Some of the work was done Tor
THE city, such as filing In Mechanic
street.
Hunted up Families.
! , "The real condition of many fam.
flies was found when reports would
come to headquarters. All OF these
were investigated by me to give you
J an IDEA OF SCIue VI lAc S1oSo
* Just want to mention one. 1t was
the Childs family on the South Side.
81 went out to their house, and found
the children with barely enough
clothes to cover their bodies, ana
there was no bed clothing at all. a
second hand store provided me with
enough bed clothing to fit the family
ont. Childs was down sick at the
time with lung fever, and the poor fel-
low did not live long enough to enjoy
GOOD times when they did come.
"There were numerous families IKE
the Childs, and through the kindness
: of w. r. Daum, who provided me with
street car transportation all over the
line here. i ran across many OF them.
NV instructions were to relieve the
!: suffering wherever found 1t and 10
appeal to the nearest grocery store TOT
[ the necessities of life. All OF them
gave literally.
.. "There is only one thing that | can
add and that is that the voters OF TINS
county should realize that the repuo-
,1ican party is party of prosperity.
and see to it that there is no change
n the administration OF the party ina.
eiyes good times and plenty OF WORK.