Report On The Flood

Washington, April 6. - Messrs. R. C. Graves and J. S. Menken, representing the citizens' relief committee of Memphis, Tenn., organized for the purpose oL relieving the people of the flooded country rtributary to that city, have arrived in this city. They have prepared the following statement which they will submit to the president: "From Marión, Ark., north of Memphis, to Greenville, Miss., there are now at least fifty tovvns and villages under water, and a territory extending from 100 miles north of Memphis to 200 miles south and five to forty miles wide is submerged and devastated by the floor. Hundreds of thousands of acres of cultivated soil with growing crops are lncluded in this submerged territory, and there are from 50,000 to 60,000 people whose property has been destroyed, and whose business has been suspended thereby. The amount of damage to property is incalculable. In addition to the growing crops, which have been destroyed, thousands of head of working stock and of cattle have been drowned and starved. Small Farmer Are Destltnte. "The great majority of the sufferers are small farmers, mostly negroes, who, wlth the present erop destroyed, and their worklng stock and farm tools swept away, are left utterly destitute and unprepared to begin work again, even after the floods have subsided. The extent of the suffering has grown beyond the capacity of the local authorities, and of private local charities to relieve. The citizens' relief committee of Memphis are now caring for from 6,000 to 7,000 refugees from the flooded district, and they are still arriving by boat loads every day. In addition to this, large supplies of provisions are being sent to various points in Arkansas and Mississippi, where it is possible for the refugees to be cared for on higher ground and In relief barges. The utmost that can be done by these efforts is to measurably and temporarily relieve the present suffering. The mittee have found it very difficult and very costly to reach a great portion of the sufferers in the interior, who can only be reached by skiffs operating with light draft ateamers, that can leave the main river. Memphis tlie Place of Kefuge. Memphis being the only point on high ground for about 200 miles north and south, it necessarily has become the place of refi'.ge for all seeking to escape theflood in'that locality. Thisñood is the greatest and most destructive that has ever devastated the Mississippi valley, the water being 2% feet higher than the highest stage that it had ever reached before. The relief committees are thoroughly organized for the purpose of distributing supplies to the people of the tributary territory. and are willing to do everything in their power to that end, but they have now almost reached the end of their resources, and reluctantly confess their inability to cope with the situation without obtaining relief from the government." Carmack, who represents the Memphis district in the houpe, also signs the 'statement and ?ays his Information by wire and letter from the overflow district entirely In accord with that made by the committee.