Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1877-08-07
AFFAIRS IN K4NS4S.
LARNED, KANSAS, July e5th =,

Editor oJthe S'Gr:- Half a decade ago, I am
inclined TO think, to day, was at Pawnee
Rock, the station to the east of this and some
ten miles away, and 1 wrote TO THE STAR
relating the incidents OF the trip. Then,
there was not a station house or structure of
any kind to mark the routes en- save the
train came down on, and the empty train
that came down the previous day. Nor was
there within the visual angle on the wide ex-
teI.dipg prairie even The veStige of a human
habitatlOn. / expected to remain over night.
but The inn accommodate ions the train load
ed with railroad ties and rails and Its guests,
question as indicative of the true ruffians of
The border,) did not like, SO started to re-
turn in about half an hour after arrival At
that time the Texas cattle drovers, with their
nerds al Newton. came TO the outer borders
OF CIVILIZATION, (ahd a miserable, quasi or
hall n aIdrlcDt civilization IL was JOo,) aud
sold their hens 10 herdsmen In Eastern Kan
sas, or TO tue eastern dealers in stock, and
there lofteIed about the patrons OF the bag
MOS of The place. At a dance in one of those
vile dens one night. just before passed, five
men were killed. About the same time, in a
like res ort, at v ichita, am tod, fourteen
men were rolled out from low dance house
on one morning.
WONDERFUL CHANGES IN KANSAS.
But since that time in the country-regald-
Ing its aeriC lltural poss blities-as well
m the mora condition OF the towns. a won
derful change has taken place Now happy
homesteads dot the prairIes along the route
TO this point, surrounded with productive
fields and orchards, and most of the comforts
of civilized life. IL was koSsuth, in that
wonderful experimenting tour of the eoun-
try, WHO said that the locomotive was the
great civilizer of the world. 1t has, il seems
To me, treblCd tue numbers of the lima bitants
in both the towns and the country of tuis
noble young state in this lapse of time, and
established greatly improved social and
ethical condition, with its restraining, ele-
waiting and refining influences. Hence the
Newton and Wichita OF to-day are anJago-
nisms in the matter OF the exertiOn of whole
some Influences TO the Newton and w ttchita
OF hve years ago. Their late vicious chsrac-
te1s have gone out on the border. The loco
motive wrought the change. But, whilst |
see that u wonderful change and Improve
ment has taken place in Kansas, see room
for still other and greater change aud I'M
prOvement, 80 much vacant land is there. I
entered the state at Atchison, the extreme
Northeastern corner, and by the AtchisOn,
Topeka and Santa Fee railroad my curse
has been rather diagonally through 1t, and
here am we'll on towards the Southwestern
corner.
THE VACANT LANDS
gin soon 8'ter leaving AtchlSOn, and be-
tween there and Topeka, fifty miles, there
a'e thousands of acres of thess nonresident
laIids. And SO II is all the way down here,
fine settlements and vaca I districts alter
nate The Sac 4 Fox reservation is about
cludes Usage City. A large portion of this
reservation is owned by Don residents. 1t is
a very hands ONE body of land, OF very ex-
think it is, the railroad lands commence
There is land enough yet in Kansas for sale,
aud now is the time to buy 1t, and the state
needs 10 have II occupied and imprO we'd. The
price ana terms are such that the poorest
for life.
SO far as / have seen, the physical confipu-
ration of Kansas Is the handsOmest Of all the
prairie states But a small portion. so far as
have zen OF the state, needs artificial aids
to drainage Nature seems to have done
this work In her own way, and well. In the
eastern part of the state, corn and the o.her
grains seem TO do equally well, whilst the
western part is excellent for whe at, oats, &c,
is abunda1t. The sportsman is also amply
prov dei for. Flowers, curlew, kill deers,
quails, prairie hens, rabbits and hares are
abundant. In the northern part O. the state
antelOpes and buffalo are still 10 found.
The climate throughout the state seems to
he be althful; in the western part, IL espec al
ly.eems to be Of exceeding saluority; asth-
ma disappears there, and consumption does
not appear to originate there; the air is pure
ard irvieoTating.
1.-THE laboring men Of the east and all over
the country who are now engaged in these
vilainous strikes had quietly and vOlunta-
rily left an uuTemunerative employment to
fad their way To these Kansas lands, and
boCehI or located hOmesteads, aud gone to
Work, they would have worked out the only
uue solution Of The labor question that ca n
ne. 10 wit found their own employment on
such c0nf tlo"s as enaolet eAcn la pOrer to
control his OVID time and himself, and sure
am that then they would have saved them
serves Tie everlasting repro lch OF cOmpr. a.
hending no other remedy for their wrongs
than resort To brute force and the CO minis
sion OF all the crimes known to the cata-
logde OF crimes. The capitalist OF theday is
the lineal descendant of him who would
have his pound OF flesh, but that does not
justify any resort to the darkest outlawry as
a means of relief or redress. The strikes
should be pnt down with an iron hand. The
labOrer can get on possibly without the aid
of hyiOcks.
detest politics truly, and do not discuss
them. am happier in considering the hus-
bandman's affairs, q rural economy, away
from where presidential policy perplexes
The people. have travelled twice between
the east and the west this season, aud rave
heard people talk quietly, and have yet to
find where lat policy is Endorsed by the
mass of the republ cans. They say, in sub
stance, IL is condemned by the experiences
Of mankind for the whole historic leriod OF
the world.
have seen some sunsets on the prairies
whose gOrgeousness SURPRISES any l ever
saw and which defy graphic presentation.
An elevated pOsitiC on some OF the e .stree-
less plains" will present the circle of the
horizon very distant. The sun will descend
a clOudless armament, seemingly into the
earth, as il seems 20 descend into the sea
leaving the sky decked with q rich, m atch-
less coloring that disappears as the twilight
fades out into the deeper shades OF night.
l.. 3. A.