Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-12-25
STATE IMMIGRATION CONVENTION
To be Held at Wichita January ID, A.
D., 1890.

To the Editor of the Eagle.
The sum of wisdom is agitation. The
work undertaken without enthusiasm
will not provoke the best thought of the
worker nor arouse the outside world
Every successful measure that has
pounded for recognition has had force
sufficient behind it to enlist the sym
pathy of people of similar minds
awaken the general thinker, arouse the
indignation of enemies to the ''idea'
promulgated, until the recruited forces
like swollen stream made UP of its
tributaries, bears every thing in its tide
and resistance becomes impossible.
The railroad building of Kansas, the
establishment of the infant industries
of Kansas, the building of the private
institutions for public good in Kansas,
which can be seen all over the state, are
proofs of the enthusiastic devotion to
the cause of Kansas.
| In the early history of Kansas the
thought was state sovereignty. Then
came immigration, railroads, homestead
ing and pre-emption. All this was
marked by practical enthusiasm. The
measure of our success marks the inten-
sity of our thought, and the ratio of en-
thusiastic labor when we sum up final
results on any undertaking that has been
carried to completion OF abandonment
Though we may not always
have been successful, we at
least have deserved success.
All earnest people, Jealous in common
cause, working for general benefit to
community or state, hoping only for IN
direct profit which every citizen may
share, can not but be worthy of success
even If mistaken in the method en-
ployed or short-sighted in the results to
follow.
AS a private in the Kansas Immigra-
ton Bureau we urge on the Kansas
newspaper world the necessity of instll-
ing into the people of Kansas their duty
in this immigration movement. There
is no class of people that will reap any
greater indirect benefit than
this same newspaper hierarchy,
and without intending any offense we
beg to suggest that every newspaper
man in Kansas that approves this immi-
grafton movement will not do his full
duty unless he not only urges his city
and county to have delegates at this
meeting, January Is, 1890, but has some
one, in his behalf, get report Of the
meeting to send forth to his subscribers
This is a Kansas movement and we
are all Kansans, moved by state pride,
to advance our state to its proper place
in all that goes to perfect statehood, and
the general results of thinking during
the last year has reached the unani-
nous conclusion that the one thing
demanded by Kansans at this time
is people, yet not merely people but
farmers, all else will follow. There is
no honest industry or business that will
not follow in the train of the man who
makes hill Of corn grow where corn
ne'er grow before. The farmer is the
subsoil of our civilization, the founda-
ton of our prosperity, and the rocks
whereon we build. And if we reinforce
and recuit the agriculture of Kansas we
create and susta i'll ali other
honest labor, and if we fail it will be our
own fault, and the deep damnation of
our lack of enthusiasm will bear its own
punishment. And on the other hand if
we labor and succeed the results at
which we aim will carry the contlnu-
ance of the blessing with it.
Time was when we all talked land
mo LOTS and were contented and pros
porous by reason of it. The railroads
had lands for sale and did all the neces-
sary advertising, and we desire to state
that the advertisement of Kansas farm
lands, since the railroads quit, has been
incidental, not primary, since the rail- |
roads sold their lands. We (kansans) |
have freighted our ship with booming
towns and put in the farms for ballast |
We must reverse the load and get full |
cargo of farm lands and let the town |
lots alone. To add to the towns is not |
wealth, but to build up the country is
wealth and finally builds up the towns. !
WE WANT A FARM LAND BOOM.
Time was when everything seemed to |
come our way; when the ''Kanzan" was |
the favored of the gods: when luck and |
labor were almost convertible terms; |
when debts melted like snow under the |
sun and fortune smiled on every Kansas
and during that happy Pc
Rod the .kansan' was the nectar sip
per" and the ambrosia eater" of the civ
llized world. The people came to us
without studied effort, the prairies were
alive with new farmers, all hopeful and
buoyant; the sun rose on the most ambi-
tious and sank on the most contented
people of the west. Sweet, then, was
the hum Of the Kansas hive. All over
the state there was peace, plenty and
happiness.
There was JOY in TIL home, content in the
field,
Abiding trust in the providence of God,
That be who sowed would have yield
Bountiful, from the fresh broke sod.
Then II seemed we could never be de-.
pressed. AS we rode over the vast
plains and observed the signs of new
and vigorous settlement our hearts
echoed
Never again, no, never again
SHALL the EYE of the Traveller behold
That naked, bouudless, treeiess plain
The charming vision of the kansan old
20 break the green sod toll fret and die
The PIONEER came Wi h IN wearied brain,
And the vision that run to the western
SKY.
Forever was Ger on the windsweps
plain.
We must work, still work, forever
work If we intend to grapple with The
rivals above Us, below US. and around
as. There is new and tempting field