State Welfare, 1874

[W. Gray]

Someone is discussing the pros and cons of federal and state welfare programs elsewhere on the forum.

Back in 1874 when the Great Grasshopper Plague hit in August and September in Howard County and most of Kansas, there were so many millions, billions, and zillions of grasshoppers hitting the farms that everything was destroyed. Besides crops the pests destroyed all the clothing they could get to. There was a 21-mile wide swarm that took four hours to pass over Eureka. Someone in Cedar Vale said you could not see a man 20 feet away when they landed or took off and when they landed it sounded like a giant rainstorm.  

There are also stories of fish growing by leaps and bounds because of the smorgasbord but the fish tasted decided different.

People from across the US donated clothing to Kansans and the US railroads as a whole provided free shipping of that clothing to points in Kansas.

The state had no money to provide assistance but floated bonds and made the proceeds available as "welfare." Howard Countians were able to apply for assistance in the amount of $19.50 per month. However, they had to provide 8 hours labor each weekday to the county in order to draw that assistance.

Some farmers said they could not afford to work for the county and re-institute their farm at the same time. One of the Howard County commissioners, a Captain Harrison Berry, remarked that farmers in the county were going to have to "root hog or die."

The grasshopper genus that hit Howard County is now extinct.