Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1888-04-04
KANSAS AND MISSOURI.


The question is often asked: "Why
has Kansas grown so rapidly i'm popula-
ton and wealth, while Missouri has
made comparatively little progressp"
The question is answered falsely from
a political stand point. When hundreds
and thousands Of sensible men pass
through Illinois and Missouri, TO settle
in Kansas, it's done as matter of bust
ness, and politics has nothing to do
with IL.
Missouri now ranks fifth among the
sisterhood Of states, and must soon take
higher rank. She has timber, coal, iron,
zinc, lead and other minerals sufficient
to make her great state, to say moth
ing of her agricultural lands. which are
second 10 none. What can there be in
Kansas more attractive than these
We will try to give our views of the case.
The hOme-seeker is generally a man
who is dissatisfied with the older states.
lie wants to locate where he can COM
mence making a living at once, and
build up a competency i'm the shortest
possible time. He finds that good
Missouri lands are selling at $25 to $35
per acre. In Kansas he can get land
just as good for SIPS to s. per acre. In
Missouri he finds but little uninclosed
pasturage. In Kansas the pasturage is
unlimited. Missouri has long, cold,
damp winters, necessitating good shell
ter and plenty of feed for stock. Kan.
sas has short winters, almost perfectly
dry, and cattle require but little feed
and but little protection, and in fact the
larger portion OF cattle in Kansas to-
day have gone through the past winter
without feed, except what they found
OF the open prairie, and without shelter,
except what they found in canyons and
wind-brakes.
In Kansas the land is peculiarly adj
apted to making speedy returns tor the
labor bestowed OH it. The open
prairie can be plowed in the spring,
planted in corn or millet, and good
harvest gathered in the fall. There are
no stumps to burn out, no stones to be
piled, no brush, no roots. While the
crop is growing the farmer builds his
house and barn. The second year his
land is in excellent condition for any
crop he chooses to plant. His cattle
keep fat with but little attention, and
his land has doubled or trebled IN value.
There is no place where land can be
bought cheaper-at the government
price, SIPS per acre. Suppose a man
with his family moves to Kansas, in
wagons, as thousands do, and he only
has 500, and wants to make a home,
how can he do so? He takes claim of
100 acres of the best land he can find,
and in week he can build a dug-Out
house that is ire-proof, wind-proOf and
cold-proOf. He moves in. The teams
that hauled him to the place can break
the sod, and the land is planted. He
makes enough of a crop to keep his
family and stock through the winter.
and little to sell. The second year he
makes larger crops and plants more
land; his stock increases; his land, which
cost him SIPS can now be sold readily
at IS to SO. He pays for his land at
leisure, or, if he chooses he can home
stead it, and not pay anything for it.
IL there is any place which offers so
many inducements TO the home-seeker
as Kansas, we have not yet found that
place.
The adaptability Of the land to agri-
culture and stock-raising Will soon make
Kansas take rank by the side of ILL
nois. Every official report shows a
large increase in population and wealth.
The dissatisfied young men of the older
states see that Kansas is growing rap
idly, and they want TO get some of the
benefit of the growth. They come here
by the thousands, and every one that
comes helps some. AS the lands be-
come scarce they enhance in value, and
in a short time, when the vacant land
is all taken, farms will sell at $50 to $50
per acre, their true value, which can
now be bought at the nominal price of
So to SO. Looking at the matter in
this light, we do not wonder that the
tide of immigration passes through
Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri
and stops in Kansas.
Business first; sentiment when con
venient.