Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1886-02-06

Tia state he's besn beoksn By H p10U1
mOOO Of 62W0y00O acres. Multiply -
present development By Ave, and yoo 60
perhaps form some idea Of the Kaneae g
still shining upon our prairie slopes. The
wear lust closed Witnessed the f1rst actuals
permanent settlements in the counties along
90 ~, western frontielrn mot settle
menu by wandering stockme0
or occasional frontiersmen, but By
practical, BODYBUILDING farmers and bu.1
ness men. The line OF organized counties
now extends 400 miles, from the Missouri
river to the Colorado line. The scientists, ]
know, are still discussing climatic change1k
and questioning whether the western third
of Kansas is fit for general farming. But
the homesteader in Cheyenne or Hamilton
counties entertains no doubt about this ques-
ton. He has no weather-guage or barone-
tel, but he sees the buffalo grass vanishing and
the blue joint sending its long roots deep
into the soil; he sees the trees growing On
the high divides; he watches the corn he has
planted springing up, and waving its green
guidons of prosperity in the WIND; ne sees
the clouds gathering and drifting, and he
hears the rain pattering on his roof-and he
knows all he cares to know about climatic
changes. He is going to stay.
PROPHECY FULFnLKD.
On the It'll of May, 1856, great American,
learned, sagacious, and confident In his.
faith that right and justice would at last pre-
vail, said, in speech delivered in the city OF
New York:
SIN the year of our Lord 1900, there will
be 100000 people in Kansas, with cities
| like Providence and Worcester-perhaps
like Chicago and Cincinnati. She will have
more miles of railroad than Maryland, Vir-
ginia, and both the Carolinas can now boast.
| Her land will be worth $40 an acre, and her
total wealth will be five hundred millions of
money. Six hundred thousand children
will learn in her schools. What schools,
newspapers, libraries, meeting houses Yes,
what families of education, happy and re-
| ligious men and women! There will be
song of freedom all around the slave states,
| and in them slavery itself will die.'
| Read in the light of the present, these elo-
quent words of Theodore Parker seemed
touched with prophetic fire. The ideal Kan
sas he saw, looking through the mists of the
future, is the real Kansas of to-day. The
marvellous growth. the splendid prosperity,
the potent intellectual and moral energies,
and the happy and contented life he pre-
dicted, are all around us. At the threshold
of the year A. d. 1886, fifteen years before
the limit of his prophecy, Kansas has cities
like Providence and Worcester; has moro
than double the railway mileage Maryland,
| Virginia, and both the Carolinas, could then
boast: has land worth, not $50, but $50 and
800 dollars an acre: has wealth far exceed
ing S5CO,OOO.OOO; has schools, newspapers,
libraries and churches rivaling those of New
England; and has 100000 happy, prosper
Gus and intelligent people.
The prophecy has been fulfilled, but the
end is not yet. The foundations of the state,
like those of its capitol, have just been COM
pleted. The stately building, crowned with
its splendid dome, is yet to be reared. Smll-
ing and opulent fields, busy and prosperous
cities and towns, are still attracting the in
teligent, the enterprising and the ambitious
of every state and country. The linn
its that bound the progress and de.
velopment of Kansas cannot now be gagged
or guessed. We have land, homes,
work and plenty for millions more; and Tor
another quarter of a century, at least, our
state will continue to grow. For we are yet
at the threshold and in the dawn of it all. We
are just beginning to realize what great
people can accomplish, whom "love OF
country moveth, example teacheth, company
comforteth. emulation quickeneth, and glo-
ry exalteth."