The next point visited was Florence, Florence County, 81 miles from
Columbia. Reports of heavy flood losses had come in from the Lynches
River section. A Relief Committee had been formed by the Honorable
Hartwell Ayer, editor of the Florence _Daily Times_ and a small sum of
money raised.
After conferring with the committee, I concluded that it would be
desirable for me to make some investigation of conditions for myself, and
went down to Cowards, which is located in the flooded district, 16 miles
from Florence. Here, at the recommendation of the committee, I called
upon Mr. Z. C. Lynch, who keeps a large general store and supplies the
needs of over 200 farmers in that vicinity.
Immediately after the flood Mr. Lynch had spent three days in riding
around through the section that had been flooded, noting carefully the
conditions of the crops, and talking with the farmers. He gave me a
positive assurance that he had not met a single case of destitution, and
that, as a rule, the loss in that section would not average more than
10% to 25% of the crop. After this frank statement from a man who is in
a far better position to get the exact truth than I could possibly be, I
decided to make no further investigation, but to await the report of Dr.
Hicks.
After spending two days in the flooded district, under circumstances
which enabled him to come into touch with representatives from every
point, Dr. Hicks returned with exactly the same report as that given by
Mr. Lynch. He said that while the losses had been heavy, and many people
were considerably crippled, there was no destitution and there was not
likely to be any that could not easily be met by local resources.