Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 December 1890 — DESTITUTION IN DAKOTA [ARTICLE]

DESTITUTION IN DAKOTA

SPINK COUNTY FARMERS IN DANGER OF STARVING. ,J " William Rroaktn % Says a Man There Cannot Kill a Hen fbr HU Kick Wife Without Violating the Law, All Property Being Mortgaged—A Sad Story ot Sufic ring and Want. [Chicago dispatch.] “A man cannot kill a hen In Spink County, South Dakota, for his sick wife without breaking the law,” is the way William Broakans, a lawyer of Redfield, S. D., who is stopping at the Leland, expressed himself concerning the deplorable condition of the farmers in the county he mentioned. “I mean by that,” he continued, “that 90 per coat of the real estate in Spink County is mortgaged for all it is worth, and nearly all the chattels are also mortgaged, and in this case if a farmer kills one of his chickens, a calf In his barnyard, or anything else he may have on his farm he violates the law. The situation is serious. Many families have left the county and others are leaving. Some of those who remain would like to go, but they have staid so long that now they can't. “I have seen an entire family drive out of the country, taking everything it possessed on earth in a small wagon, the chattel-mortgage shark having claimed everything else. “Hundreds of in Spink County have not provisions enough to last them a week; no money to buy anything; nothing remains in the houses to sell, and they cannot secure crodit Last year the state of affairs among thq farmers was bad, but this year it is worse. Worse, Because tho people of South Dakota who wrote to their friends for aid and secured it are denounced as defamers of South Dakota. “There is little fuel on hand in the towns, and not much in the entire country. There is scarcely any straw or hay to burn, as tho drought left no crops. Thousands of acres were not cut this year. But such reports as this were not sent out to the newspapers. Prosperity apd immense crops are what the men who were elected to office tried I 'to make the outside world believe. “Should a severe winter set In, and Jt Is not at all unlikely, the result would be awful. The roads would be blockaded for months, and, with the scarcity of supplies, the towns would contain nothing but starving, freezing people. And how would the few fare who have secured their supplies? Starvation makes an angry mob of a crowd, and nothing like rule would prevail. And, If the blockade continued long, there might not be any one in the spring to tell the story of the sufferings. “The farmers fear that this is the condition that confronts them, but no such report gets outside of the State, because real-estate boomers send out denials of the true state of affairs. .1 will go so far as to say that the official statistics are falsified, and Judge Howe, who was recently elected from Rediield, is my authority for saying this. People in the other States believe there is prosperity in South Dakota, and for that reason are Ain willing to help those who are really >, *n need. “While at the Farmers’ Alliance convention at Mitchell, S. D., Mr. Ashley, of lowa, told the farmers that the people of his State were willing to help those in need, but as soon as they heard from some family that was probably starving, reports would appear in the local lowa papers denying the state of affairs, and claiming the starving people of South Dakota were imposing upon the generosity of those who desired to help them. ‘lf you want to secure assistance,’ said Mr. Ashley, “you must close the mouths of the real-estate boomer and the Immigration Bureau.’ “This is not the condition in every part of the State. In tho eastern and southeastern parts there is more prosperity, tout there is not a county east of tho Missouri River where many people fn need of help cannot be found. Tho extortions of railroads and money-loan-ers lie back of the suffering. What little wheat was raised had to be sold to pay interest and debts. ”