The American Red Cross Bulletin (Vol. IV, No. 1, January 1909)American National Red Cross
History
The American Red Cross Bulletin (Vol. IV, No. 1, January 1909)
American National Red Cross
American National Red Cross -- Periodicals; Red Cross and Red Crescent -- Periodicals
The flood sufferers, who had at first seemed dazed by the calamity, were
now making efforts to rehabilitate themselves. Some were rebuilding their
chimneys and outbuildings; others had secured work; one man had gone to
work on a plantation five miles away, walking that distance twice daily;
the women and children had also begun to pick cotton on neighboring
plantations. The conditions on this little colony illustrated the
situation of the small land holder, who has no resources except the crop,
which he had hoped to harvest as the result of his year’s labor.
The flood also had seriously crippled the larger landowners, who could
ordinarily be looked to for the relief of their poorer neighbors. From
Mr. B. S. Rawls, who has a “general store” on the bluff road that
parallels the river between Columbia and Kingsville, we learned, that he
had lost 235 acres of his own crops, and would get practically no rent
from the 2,000 acres he had rented out. Worse than this he expected to be
“out” from $1,200 to $1,500 for supplies advanced to his tenants.
FLORENCE, S. C.
The next point visited was Florence, Florence County, 81 miles from
Columbia. Reports of heavy flood losses had come in from the Lynches
River section. A Relief Committee had been formed by the Honorable
Hartwell Ayer, editor of the Florence _Daily Times_ and a small sum of
money raised.
After conferring with the committee, I concluded that it would be
desirable for me to make some investigation of conditions for myself, and
went down to Cowards, which is located in the flooded district, 16 miles
from Florence. Here, at the recommendation of the committee, I called
upon Mr. Z. C. Lynch, who keeps a large general store and supplies the
needs of over 200 farmers in that vicinity.
Immediately after the flood Mr. Lynch had spent three days in riding
around through the section that had been flooded, noting carefully the
conditions of the crops, and talking with the farmers. He gave me a
positive assurance that he had not met a single case of destitution, and
that, as a rule, the loss in that section would not average more than
10% to 25% of the crop. After this frank statement from a man who is in
a far better position to get the exact truth than I could possibly be, I
decided to make no further investigation, but to await the report of Dr.
Hicks.
After spending two days in the flooded district, under circumstances
which enabled him to come into touch with representatives from every
point, Dr. Hicks returned with exactly the same report as that given by
Mr. Lynch. He said that while the losses had been heavy, and many people
were considerably crippled, there was no destitution and there was not
likely to be any that could not easily be met by local resources.
MARION, S. C.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account