The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1881-09-05

West has Its proper charms anu certain
undisputed advantages, but it has many
unpoetic experiences and some very de-
cided drawbacks. We have lately seen
some people in the West who couldn't be
induced to join in very loud chorus
chanting its praises. This is partly their
own fault and partly their unavoidable
misfortune. The summer just ended has
been hot and dry in the West, So it has,
We may say, here in the Ohio Valley, In
Kansas, up to the LIST Of this month they
had not u rain worth speaking OF for
two months, The country was parched to
an extent rarely seen in this region.
Water for stock and for ordinary domestic
use was scant in even the well watered
parts OF the State. The gardens were n
dead failure, the wheat harvest was not
half n crop, late corn was ruined and the
price OF aIvegctablcs very high-sO high MS
to put them beyond the use OF very many
farmers,
The life Of n Kansas farmer, take one
year with another, is not surrounded with
the comforts OF farm life in this country.
His crops are more uncertain, the climate
much more variable, and the excuses Of
heat, cold and storms fur beyond anything
known hereabOuts, A big crop generally
results in low and unremunemtive prices.
Corn is the great crop, and in good year
sells at twenty cents per bushel, This year
ii is worth fifty to sixty cents In the in
terror Of the State, because there is so little
to sell and because farmers themsolvC must
buy It for the feeding Of their stock. This
is an unnatural market for those who have
surplus to sell, but 1t Is the only market
that produces II high priCeora paying price
for those who merely raise corn to sell, In
good years, when the market is gutted, the
railroads IRE the only parties benefited,
unless perchNnce the hog and the cattle
marketsshould cxperiencean unusual boom
in prices. Then the farmer may make
some money.
Money has been made in the West by
stock raising, because Of the large areas Of
uncnCloscd prairie land on which stock
could be herded and gracd chcaply. But
that day Is well nigh passed. These areas
are now fcwand far between. The country
is being wired off into enclosed farms, and
small farmers must devote the land to hay
and pasture, or to crops II to crops, they
must rent pasture, and II to pasture, they
mnst buy winter feed.
This region Of country produces every
thing that the West will produce, and in
addition the crops are much more certain
and prices more remunerative. 1t Is n re.
gion Of agricultural variety-good for wheat,
corn, oats, hay, potatoes and all the fruits.
1t isa region Of pure air and water and
consequent good health. No suck health.
ful compilations arc seen In the West M n
rule. 1t takes good atr, good food and good
wNtcr to make the blood that enriches the
complexion. A land Of excessive heat,
long droughts, devastating storms, poor
water and violent cold spells Is not land
to he preferred for farming purposes.
But, says some one, many persons have
done well in the West. This is true-thcrc
is no denying it. Seine people will dowell
anywhere almost OH the habitable globe.
Such persons are to DC met with every.
where. But who shall say but they would
not llave done just MS well and IN many
cases fur better in region so highly favored
as this one Part Of their success is often.
times due TO the rise in land. A farmer
who enters farm in Kahsas ut govern.
ment price, and holds OIL to it until the
country is settled up all around him, there.
by gaining IN advance Of $l5 to $50 per
acre, has certainly done well but who shall
write the story Of the intervening years in
the way Of toll, deprivation, unrcmunca.
tive prices and pcrchahcc poor health.
OF course every habitable country is
bound to be settled sooner or Inter, and
were It not for the spirit Of emigration TINT
prevails like MI instinct among so large II
number Of people we might need to urge
and stimulate removal from the thiCkly
settled regions TO the new and spatsely set
tied regions. The truth Is that emigration
generally is Ovcrstinulated by fabulous
Misrepresentation, in addition to this nut
tiral instinct for change. The railroad COIN.
panics OF the west, those having large land
grants, have left no stone unturnpd to
stimulate emigration. They have ruined
thousands Of people who were doing well
enough at llome by their deceptive circu.
lars, especially those who were luret into
emigmting into Western Kansas,
world of physical suffering and financial
wrecklng has followed In the wake of That
emigration.
But the people are now there, in pnrsu.
nnce Of their destiny, and much of their
is matter Of the past. II Ia, Der.
Iaps, well for the country at large that the
hack ground Of the picture was not seen by
hese etnigmnts, There must be pioneers,
md tte world Is not likely to run short of
hem The only question for each family
o determine IL as to where life is of most
worth TO them In all that constitutes de.
irable existence,
Much Is said Of thegood fortune Of those
Who have been exceptionally prosrerops
n the far west--in fields Of adventure ike
'olorado-but, on the other hand, little IL
card of the fate Of the ninety and nine
Tho have persisted without the realization
their hopes in those ''iar billy regions"
'Ou htat Of the few who have. struck It