"CHICAGO, Ill., Aug. 21. "George M. Pullman, President of the Pullman's Palace Car Company, Chicago. "SIR: I examined the conditions at Pullman yesterday, visited even the kitchens and bedrooms of many of the people. Two representatives of your company were with me and we found the distress as great as it was represented. The men are hungry and the women and children are actually suffering. They have been living on charity for a number of months and it is exhausted. Men who have worked for your company for more than ten years had to apply to the relief society in two weeks after the work stopped. I learn from your manager that last spring there were 3,260 people on the pay roll; yesterday there were 2,220 at work, but over 600 of these are new men, so that only about 1,600 of the old employes have been taken back, thus leaving over 1,000 of the old employes who have not been taken back. A few hundred have left. The remainder have nearly all applied for work, but were told that they were not needed. These are utterly destitute. The relief committee last Saturday gave out two pounds of oatmeal and two pounds of cornmeal to each family, but even the relief committee has exhausted its resources. Something must be done at once. The case differs from instances of destitution found elsewhere, for generally there is somebody in the neighborhood able to give relief. This is not the case at Pullman. Even those who have gone to work are so exhausted that they cannot help their neighbors if they would. I repeat now that it seems to me your company cannot afford to have me appeal to the charity and humanity of the state to save the lives of your old employes. Four-fifths of those people are women and children. No matter what caused this distress it must be met. "If you will allow me I will make this suggestion: If you had shut down your works last fall when you say business was poor you would not have expected to get any rent from your tenants. Now, while a dollar is a large sum to each of these people all the rent now due you is a comparatively small matter to you. If you will cancel all rent to Oct. 1, you will be as well off as if you had shut down. This would enable those at work to meet their most pressing wants. Then if you cannot give work to all, work some half time so that all can at least get something to eat for their families. This will give immediate relief to the whole situation and then by degrees assist as many to go elsewhere as desire to do so and all to whom you cannot give work. In this way something like a normal condition could be re-established at Pullman before winter and you would not be out any more than you would have been had you shut down a year ago. I will be at the Unity block for several hours and will be glad to see you if you care to make any reply. "Yours respectfully, "JOHN P. ALTGELD." Mr. Pullman replied as follows: "THE PULLMAN'S PALACE CAR COMPANY, "OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT