The Wichita city eagle., 1882-02-09
TIE STOCK INTERESTS In WESTERN
KANSAS.


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TIE sr0CK INTERESTS In WESTERN
KANSAS.
An Addrsss Delivered By Hon. z. G. Henri
Before the Cestral KsnSss oteek Bfseders
Assesiatisn, ct nanhsttaz, February
Let, 1882.
Iapprehend that some, possibly many
of the propositions l shall advance Oh
this occasion will subject me to crit.
cism. Not that they are particularly
new, not that the underlying facts are
unknown, but because they initiate
against certain theories cherished by
some, and, If widely proclaimed, make
impossible the purposes of others.
am hostile to any opinion or theory
however plausible or attractive per Sc
if it subtracts from the sum of human
happiness, as l am opposed to any law,
condition, or practice, which prevents
the largest individual liberty or the
broadest general welfare. Kansas is
now an adult. lis growth as compared
with other States has been remarkable.
And vet, venture TO say, considering
all the agencies and facilities available,
its progress has been measurably halt
ing, and certainly painful. The cries OF
its birth struggles reached the Nations
ears, and the force of the sympathetic
impulse which responded is felt TO this
day. 'tPer dspefa ad dsfra" applies
quite as pertinently, quite as forcibly,
10 the years of Kansas young manhood,
as TO the days of its struggling infancy.
But believe we are just upon the
threshold ofan era ofsubstantial growth
aad real prosperity. We are wiser.
prouths, grasshoppers. chinch bugs and
winds have taught us. How mach, and
what, let us sec.
By Western Kansas, mean that por-
tien of the State west from Fort Riley.
But, as the climatic conditions which
mark the wide differences between the
eastern and the western borders of the
State are almost imperccptibly gradu-
ated, what is absolutely true of the
frontier counties may be but mcasur-
ably so of those two hundred miles east
And ] desire especially that this quail
ifying fact be kept steadily in mind by
those who are disposed to cavil at the
positions take.
Western Kansas is particularly adapt
ed to stock growing. The people who
are 10 occupy its vast plains will be
pastoral people-graziers and shep-
nerds. The attempt to sustain popu-
lation then, wholly or mainly by grain
growing alone, must be conceded, am
sure, after ten-years' effort, to be un-
successful. Only so far as the system
of farming adopted is auxiliary to the |
stock interests can il be commended.
Extraordinary statistics have been pub
lished, doubtless approximately true,
which controvert this assertion, but |
they are the products of equally extra
ordinary years, and are OF slight conse-
quence when merged inio the general |
average.
Considering the thousand and one
public and private enterprises whose
fruiiion depends wholly upon the settle
mem of the State, repeat, the rapid
Development of our prairics is not sur
prising. If TO the soil and climate of
Kansas were added rainfall equal to
that of Illinois or Missouri. instead of
one million, twice that number would
rejoice upon the twenty-first anniver-
sary of their State. The newspaper,
the railway and free homesteads are
powerful agencies in building up a
State now. But even more mighty is
the whitening, scorchipg south wind.
The former have more or less whiting
y decoyed thousands of honest. earnest
people into determined effort to set
ile the plains of Western Kansas. and
the latter has as steadily blasted their
hopes and wrecked their fortunes.
can imagine no spectacle more pain
iul 10 an old kansan than family from
the East just entering the State with a
seat full Of railroad literature, bound
Tor & homestead. How clearly he fo--
sees. the experiences which will surely
those bright, smiling, hope
iul faces into circle of sad, sobered,
disheartened natures, lowering around
a few Hhousehold gods which the ''fail-
ure of crops" has not yet forced them
10 sacrifice. To that family Providence ,
an vouchsafe no greater blessing than
and irresistible homesick-
less. No industry, no energy, no en-
erprise can ever make it possible for
IN average 160 acres in Western Kan
as TO yield such support as American
utilization demands for family. The ,
oil is fertile and the climate unobjec-
ionable, but the rainfall is insufficient E
o sustain general farming. Nor has +
here been any material increase in the 9
iverage annual rainfall. The past three !,
ears have witnessed a less aggregate
than any thirty-six consecutive
months in the known history Of the 8
'tate. The decade beginning with 1861 q
aw more water in Western Kansas
han The decade which ended the begin y
ing of the new year. And the opera
ions of 1864 have never been surpassed :,
y the performance of any single year :.
lnee. T.,
The ordinary laws of evaporation M
night possibly supply us with adequate ,.
loisture, Notwithstanding our distance n
rom considerable bodies of water but =.
0 long as the Rocky Mountains border .,
; on the west, SO long will the natural a,
of the atmosphere be lessened. If
A mountain long enough and tall m
nough means desert. If mountain q,
ways. then a desert always. or fo
,nrse irrigation may be introduced n
nd become an important factor, but il
.nains SO only so long as ii is contin-
ed. The basis Of Assyrian greatness eS
as irrigation.
The political ruin Of that vast empire on
yolved its elaborate system of agri- ra
Iiture, and notwithstanding irrigation be
I'd been practiced for centuries, the
'antry at once lapsed into its normal bu
udition Of barrenness and sterility. IL
ever any general climatic changes oc-
r in Our State II will he eHacted nv ga