_Gentlemen_: Your attention has already been called to the great destitution that exists in and around the town of Pullman and you have furnished some relief there. I have made a personal investigation of the conditions there and find the suffering is very great for want of food. I respectfully appeal to you as the officers upon whom devolves the duty of providing for cases of this kind, that you do the uttermost in your power to furnish immediate assistance to those people. Very respectfully, "JOHN P. ALTGELD. "Governor. "Aug. 21, 1894." Before leaving Springfield to investigate the condition at Pullman, Gov. Altgeld sent the following telegram to Mr. Pullman: "Aug. 19, 1894. "George M. Pullman, President of the Pullman's Palace Car Company, Chicago, Ill.: "I have received numerous reports to the effect that there is great distress at Pullman. To-day I received a formal appeal as governor from a committee of the Pullman people for aid. They state that 1,600 families, including women and children, are starving; that they cannot get work and have not the means to go elsewhere; that your company has brought men from all over the United States to fill their places. Now, these people live in your town and were your employes. Some of them worked for your company for many years. They must be people of industry and character or you would not have kept them. Many of them have practically given their lives to you. It is claimed that they struck because after years of toil their wages were so reduced that their children went hungry. Assuming that they were wrong and foolish, they had yet served you long and well and you must feel some interest in them. They do not stand on the same footing with you, so that much must be overlooked. The state of Illinois has not the least desire to meddle in the affairs of your company, but it cannot allow a whole community within its borders to perish of hunger. The local overseer of the poor has been appealed to, but there is a limit to what he can do. I cannot help them very much at present, so unless relief comes from some other source I shall either have to call an extra session of the legislature to make special appropriation or else issue an appeal to the humane people of the state to give bread to your recent employes. It seems to me that you would prefer to relieve the situation yourself, especially as it has just cost the state upward of $50,000 to protect your property and as both the state and the public have suffered enormous loss and expense on account of disturbances that grew out of the trouble between your company and its workmen. I am going to Chicago to-night to make a personal investigation before taking any official action. I will be in my office in the Unity block at 10 A. M. to-morrow and shall be glad to hear from you if you care to make any reply. "JOHN P. ALTGELD." The following letter was addressed to Mr. Pullman by Gov. Altgeld.