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Indiana University 
tending the conflict in Kansas tended to overshadow the im- 
portance of less exciting news. Nevertheless, there existed 
a great interest in railroad building, in the influx of foreigners, 
and in the great tide of pioneers flowing toward the different 
frontier areas. Thoughtful persons did not fail to appreciate 
the profound significance of the great changes that were taking 
place simultaneously with the contest over slavery, and there 
is abundant evidence that observers in every part of the coun- 
try noticed many facts concerning the westward movement 
of population in relation to the Kansas conflict that few 
writers on that period since have recorded. 
A moderate correspondent, sent to Kansas by the New 
York Herald in 1856, evaluated the results of the organized 
efforts in the East and South to determine the destiny of 
the Territory : 
In sober earnest, we really think that Kansas may take up the cry 
“preserve me from my friends”, for even at the risk of pleasing nobody, 
we feel justified in saying that southern Fillibusterism and northern 
interference, have in no respect done Kansas any good.^^ 
A writer, signing himself “A Western Man”, declared in a 
letter to the Kansas Free State: 
Any person that knows anything of Kansas, knows that five out of 
six of the inhabitants are from the western States, and four-fifths of 
them are Free State men, and are opposed to the Eastern Emigrant 
Aid Company from the fact that they look upon it as the primary cause 
of our troubles. ... We could have done as well without the Aid 
Company as with it. . . . It is time to speak out and let the facts 
be known.^^ 
As early as April, 1855, the editor of the Kansas Free State 
had noted that most of the incoming colonists were from the 
western states. At that time he wrote: 
The tide of emigration continues to flow into the Territory. A great 
portion of that which is permanent is from the western States. They 
come with good teams and wagons, seeds and agricultural implements 
all ready to go to work, being principally from the States of Ohio, 
Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Missouri."® 
The editor of the Free State became dissatisfied with the 
accomplishments of the New England Aid Company, and was 
afterwards prone to place more blame on its members than 
they deserved. The Herald of Freedom was more radical 
Brewerton, The War in Kansas, 259. 
-“Kansas Free State (Lawrence, Kan.), March 3, 1856. 
“Ubid., April 30, 1855. 
“Ubid., July 9, 1855, and March 3 and 24, 1856. 
