A. Bergstrom for seven years in Pullman said he could not get his old position. He had five children, the eldest ten years, and they had no money, no food, no trust.
Frank Mass had been three years in Pullman, had three children and nothing to eat.
The wife of Pat Mullen, of Block E, room 1, appeared with a child in her arms and a toddler at her skirts.
They had been in Pullman twelve years and had four other children. Her husband could not get back to work because he was on the strike committee. She did not know where the next meal was to come from.
Though wretchedly poor these people were clean and neat. They are all of the better class of laboring people.
John Cedarland sat at a table and stared stolidly at the visitors, while his wife with a baby at her breast and two at her heels stood by. A neighbor who had given them of her scanty store, said the man was sick and the family destitute. On Sunday she had given them a piece of meat, and wood with which to cook it.
A reporter slipped a quarter into her hand and received a look worth $8.00.
Two of John Smith's collectors, out with furniture bills as a matter of form, told the governor that two-thirds of the old men were still idle, and that the condition of these men was deplorable. They had called at one place where one of the children was celebrating its birthday and all there was for the feast was bread and onions. The collectors chipped in for a few luxuries.
Mrs. Peter Camp appeared with two children and reported five more, and there were scores of similar cases, all destitute and absolutely without food.
On his way back to the city the governor would say but little.