The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1883-09-27

The majority of the men you SEQ in
hose works, and the majority of the
men you see working in the broiling
sun Oh these streets, are men who have
been misled with the idea that this is
the place to make money, and that a
man is foolish to plod along in the
East. They never knew what seeking
work meant before, and to wake up
dead broke, q thousand miles from
home and friends, is an experience but
little relishsd. They hunt situation,
are placed in a gang, and by the slow
process of about so cents day, net.
they make q "stake" with which to
leave place they will damn in all
their future years. Thus it is that these
ranks are ever changing, ever full.
The boy frem the comfortable Ohio
home, followed by his mothers prayers |
is the same, in that smelter, or in |
that ditch, as the one from the COW
trail in New Mexico, or the criminal
from the prison walls. At home, work
seeks you-and between hunting the
tiger and being hunted by the tiger,
there is vast difference, with its sig
niticatiOa reversed in this case. There
is vastly more difiersnce between rich
and poor, here, than where you came
from, my boy. A "Iaboring man" is
at the foot of the social ladder. A ne
gro from South Carolina can work as
well as you, and he can get job much
more readily. So, my boy, don't be
deceived by glowing letters of profess
sional newspaper correspondents, who
wear plug hats and sleep in palace cars,
and are provided with money, and put
up at first class hotels, who never see
but one side of life, and write for you,
as they do for Vanderbilts and Goulds.
We are standing on the. State line,
and you see that quite portion of the
city lies between the bluff and the riv-
er, which here makes bend and flows
north into the Missouri. This part of
the city is called West Kansas City, or
Kansas City, Kansas. Across the riv-
er are the new towns of Armstrong
and Armourdale, connected with this
side, as you see by street r, R., and
tenement houses in rows are being
built. l built fence around block
OF five, and know the size of the lot to
be 10 feet front by 80 feet deep. The
houses are one story without cellars,
and cost about $500 each, and readily
| rent for $40 per month. No chance
for garden, and hardly room to plant
flower. Those large buildings be-
tween US and Armourdale, just across
| the river, are Kansas elevator, foundry
and fertilizer works. / board about
| half mile from the latter, aud when
they put in fresh mule, or a wagon
| load of stale hogs, it makes the atInos-
phere take oa sort of hazy, thick,
substantial character, which is follow
ed by the damuadest stencil you ever
smelt This large elevator on this side
| of the bridge is the Arkansas VAL
| ley ;" it is I15 feet high, and its work
! ing capacity is 500, GOO bushels, its full
storage capacity, 100000 bushels-just
think of it, my boy. That weather
| boarding covers net work of tinabers
so close together that a man must turn
edgewise to go through. They can
unload and elevate car of wheat in
| No time. A man gets in to car with
something like a road scraper, the
chain Stacks and tightens, and about
| 100 bushel comes out Of the door every
time. The buckets catch it and dump
| it into the bins above. Look a little
| to the right of this elevator, and one
block west, and you see the famous
atock yards of the West. That large
brick building facing us is the Stock
Exchange" You see throng of men
passing out and IN, sitting and stand
| ing, and all earnestly bent Oh business.
Some are fashionsbly dressed and wear
costly jewalry, while some are almost
| barefooted. You nor I could tell which
class has the most money or the most
stock. That building is full of offices
and banks, and to these commission
men the bulk Of the stock is consigned
for sale. Here you can buy fancy
carriage team, the finest matched
heavy or light mules you ever saw,
saddle horses or ponies, or thousand
head of cattle, without getting from
your seat, ! am indebted to the cour-
teous Secretary for the following fig
ures, showing the immense business
transacted here: Total receipts of stock
since opening the yards in 1870, to Jan,
1882: Cattle, 1922 POI; Hogs, 1861.
SOC; Sheep, 457, ,7l9; Horses aud Mules,
SS,614. For the eight months OF the
present year: Cattle, Els, 966; Hogs
900, 1876; Sheep, 69,024; Horses, 1887
That city which lies to your right front
across the river is Wyandotte, the
county seat Of Wyandotte county, anc
is place OF seven or eight Thousand
. inhabitants. There are no very large
enterprises being carried forward there
but you see, on this side, just across
/ the bridge from Wyandotte, two i'm
: mense stone structures, each Of which
, Gli liliDJS ifGu iAOuS&uu TO HltGel
f hundred men. These, my boy, are tn
. packing houses" In these two build
r ings, in the eight months of this year
z have been killed, and canned and pack
! ed, 38,0S3 cattle, and 500, 887 hogs. Il
S there, my boy, one man kills u hog
!. per minute, or 450 per hour, or 1900 il
= ten hours. The hogs are ia the pen
/, boy slips chain around hind leg
S he is swung up an6 out, man drive
:, knife into his throat, he passes o
If without stopping, falls into and feat
1 through vat Of scalding water,
g thrown out and passes through revolv
e ing scrapers, man whips out hi
: tongue, h8 swings round, and anothe el
9 with Just tive strokes, takes out tn
d bowels. and so, and y hogs are killec
d and packed, and made into sausag,
n while common butcher would /