Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1878-05-25
From tae 'ye tern Homestead
ABOUT DROUTHS.


No one thing has done The State OF Klaus
sas greater injustice than he stories OF the
drouth. which have been so long and per-
sisteuily circulated all over the county.
And nothing could be more untrue. No
Stale in the Union has a climate more reg
Mar aud reliable than Kansas, and in no
State can the average weather OF the scsi>
sons he more confidently relied upon. The
term Drouthy Kansas" as applied to
this State, Is now generally conceded to be
libeliOus misnOmer-a tenn that has
done the state gross injustice. aud never
had any foundation IN fact. All these
drouth stories originated from an unfaYOT-
very large emigration to the state Ia the
spring Of that year. composed almost en-
tITely OF people without means. v no came
10 the State with barely enough To bring
them here, and dependingu their ''sod
crop TO carry then through the winter !;
but owing TO the dry season the sod crop
failed. and the consequence was q large
number of the new settlers were left des-
titute. and were obliged to appeal TO the
public for subsistence. Now, every man
Who has had any experience IN a pTairIe
country knows that the inst crop, raised
upon the newly>turned sod. ~ very unIe-
Liable at best, and that unless all the err
cumstaDces are favorable, and with a
season particularly adapted to It, the crop
rarely amounts TO anything more Khan fod>
der and indeed. there Is never anything
more than this expected OF it. by those
who have had experience on the prairie.
BUT al The same time above referred 10.
there were thousands Of settlers upon the
pTaiTies 81 this STATE who mad no other re-
source for their winter bread than their
crop of sod corn, and tins failing. they
were LET! deslitute. The season of 1860
was dry. it is tTue.-just sueh n dry spell
as occurs every now and then in every
State, and in every part of the world
but is would not have caused failure of
crops. nor have entailed any suffering.
If all che people had been working. ''od
land. or if the new settlers had come
prepared to feed themselves through the
first winter. Such seasons occur. some
times, IN Pennsylvania, Ohio. and. In-
deed, in all the older States: but 10 ons
thinks of pronouncing such States sgticui-
tural failures on that account, and giving
them over 10 intermingble dTouth.
Kansas dOsen't claim TO be absolutely
perfect. ia soil or climate; she doesn't
claim to he another Paradise; but she
does claim to come as neir to this Stands
ard of excellence as anv other spot on the
American continent. We don't claim that
people can live here upon air and water,
but We do claim that a man can live here
if he can live anywhere. We claim to
have one of the most salubrious climates
in the world. but We do not claim that 1t
Is salubrleus enough to enable man
without a pound of any thing to eat, or a
dollar IN his pocket to buy with. TO sit
down upon "A Government quarter section
and live comfortably until his corn grows.
TwRLvE years and more ago thousands
of hoop-skirts were manufactured annual
~ in this country. Now the business is
aead not single hoop>skirt
mandatory being IN operation.