The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-06-01
a GRAIN MARKET.
What 1t Means and What is Necessary
to Establish It.

| y
within two hours byrail in all directions
has u, 900, 600 bushels of grain tributary
to her? Has any growing metropolis
ever been similarly situated? We believe
not. There is a great harvest for Wich-
tia, and she must not fail to reap it.
What we need and what we must have
is elevators. 1t has been the policy of
our people to push out and develop bust
ness. Here is a business fully de-
veloped, only awaiting the proper
facilities to take care of it.
These, with a well organized
chamber of commerce, would make this
city one of the recognized grain markets
of this country, which would mean to
Wichita just what grain market has
! been to St. Louis, Kansas City, Minneap-
| oils and other western cities, the very ell
/ ement Of their success and growth; and
/ it would mean much more to Wichita, as
| those markets in their infancy paid trib-
ute to other and larger markets, while
Wichita today, by reason Of her geograph-
ical location, can supply more import
states directly than any other grain point.
Properly inspected and graded grain to-
day can be shipped direct to Memphis and
all points south and east of Wichita at a
less freight cost than via st. Louis.
A great deal Of Kansas grain is now
shipped to Chicago, thence by lake
to New York, and by water to
the coast towns of the south; while
Wichita from her location and rail
road facilities can reach the same points
by but little if any greater rail haul
than from southern Kansas to Chicago.
Shall such a condition Of affairs con-
tinue? Shall we continue to send our
products north when we know they are
needed and ultimately go south? Not
only have we a great southeastern mar
ket, but Texas and Arkansas are large
customers for all we produce, yet they
draw largely from st. Louis because Of
her well organized grain market.
And we have still another field that we
should occupy unmolested. The west
Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Ari-
IONA need the products of this country, a
large portion of which in past years they
have drawn from Kansas City, the same
grain having been shipped from Kansas
to Kansas City and then shipped back
across this state because we have never
centralized our supplies at home, graded,
inspected it and let the consumers know
that it could be had upon business
basis. This is a,matter Of vital import
ance to our city, and we feel its import
ance is not fully understood.
Grain is never handled in large guam
titles until grades and inspections are
agreed upon, and grades and inspections
are made by organizations known as
boards of trade, or chambers of COM
merce. Shall we continue to ship our
grain to st. Louis to be graded and in
spected to be re-shipped south when we
could reach the destination point direct
at a saving of 5 to z cents per hundred
pounds in freight?
Last year was a wonderfully product
i've one for Kansas, but take the last fif-
teen years land that about covers the
agricultural existence Of Kansas and
they show no failures of crops,
and but three half crops in
what is known as the grain belt.
What state in the union, what portion
Of any state, can make a like showing?
We believe there is none. The immense
business now awaiting facilities at this
place viii steadily increase, as but hardly
One-third of our rich bottom lands are
now in cultivation.
By their energy, pluck and iberality
our people have established a live stock
market that enables the farmers of west
ern and central Kansas to sell their hogs
for more than they bring in central Ohio,
Indiana or Illinois, because the hog pro-
duct does not have to seek an eastern
market. The same, to a great extent.
can be done for grain. We have not
only the direct home demand referred
to, but with the gulf to the south
of us, but little over seven hundred miles
distant with two trunk lines of railroad
leading to it and others building, we are
as near export as Chicago or St. Louis.
The question is shall we continue to |
send our grain hundreds of miles out of |
Its direct course that it may receive a /
trade mark, or shall we go into the bust
ness ourselves and supply the home trade /
direct and export the balance? When |
we are able to do this what viii be the /
results? We viii have laid the founda-
ton for a larger city than the most Wis
ionary have predicted. We viii have /
forever settled the inequality of the prices
of our products. One of the strongest /
used against our state is that /
we are too far from a market. 1t is
granted that our soil and climate are .
but that transportation to a
market eats up all the profits of the pro-
Queer.
Let us take hold of this matter in a
business way and send our stuff TO its
most direct market. then those argu-
ments fall to the ground, and land in