The morning call., 1891-09-15
Thirty YEARS, HISTORY.

There is no part of the United States which
will bear as close study at the present time
as the State OF Kansas. In an agricult ural
point of view it is one Of the finest States of
the Union. It's surface is almost all level
or rolling prairie, covered with alluvial
deposit Up to the Tooth parallel it is
freely supplied with rain, and beyond that
line the spread of settlement has been fol-
lowed within the past few years by in
creased precipitation. 1t is deficient in in
terror watercOurses, but its eastern boun-
Diary is washed by the Missouri, and the
whole State is well supplied with railroads.
Admitted to the Union thirty years ago,
when it had barely population OF 100000,
it has grown so rapidly that it now contains
nearly 100000 people, among whom the
percentage of llliteracy is remarkably
small. The climate is excellent and the
death rate low.
It is astonishing to discover that this
State, so exceedingly favored by nature
and with such brilliant record during its
brief history, should now be trembling on
the verge of bankruptcy. According to the
new census tables the total assessed valua-
tion Of real and personal property in 1899,
exclusive of railroads, was 500 593 ,911, and
the total mortgage debt. exclusive of State,
railroad and land contract debt, is $685.
4S5 10S. The property embraced within the
State is mortgaged for over so per cent of
its assessed value. Tho bulk of these mort
cages is on farm lands. On these the aver
age mortgage Indebtedness is Sc 65 per acre.
This is on land which the Government was
glad to sell few years ago for 81 25 per
acre. and for which the land grant railroad
companies were unable to find purchasers
at So per acre for choice localities. The
picture is astounding
1t enables people TO understand much that
appears obscure in the recent political his
tory of Kansas; the proposal that the Gov
eminent shall store and advance on corn
and potatoes; the defeat of ingalls, by
crank who promises to become the laughing
stock of the Senate; the proposal to adopt
permanent stay law. and number of
other queer notions which have seen
the light in Kansas, aud have aston
ished the world. Men who are in des-
perate circumstances constantly dream OF
desperate remedies. The people of Kansas,
finding themselves crushed by an unbear-
able load Of debt r8nsack their minds for
plans of recHperatl0n; nothing but actual
experience will convince them that there is
but one road which leads out Of debt-and
that is payment In the impossibility of
comprising that they devise all sorts of
schemes, which appear TO be new, but
which, after all, are only reyivals of the
plans that New England tried in the first ten
years of our national history, and which the
States of the Northwest tried in the FIVE
years before the war.
Kansas is another example Of the danger
of good credit 1t was so promising State,
it was inhabited by so excellent class of
people, that for many years after its admis-
sion to the Union capitalists thrust money
upon it. A man could buy farm, stock it,
buy seed and put up house and barn, all
on credit. The merest trife of money suf-
feed to start him. 1t was reckoned that his
first crop would get him out of debt, and
there were cases in which it did so. But
there were other occasions, on which crops
failed or sold for so low price that the
grower did not earn enough to meet interest :;
in these cases a new debt had to be piled on
the back of the old one. Sometimes there
would be a succession of bad crops and low
prices for wheat and corn. So the debt
grew year by year until. as the census
shows, many farmers now find themselves
mortgaged for considerably more than the
land cost originally, and perhaps half as
much as it would sell for now. Sooner or
later the evil will cure itself by liquidation.
Legislatures may stay the hand of creditors
! for time, but some day the end must come
and land which owes money must change
owners. The period Of reconstruction will
| probably be long and painful; the process
| will be diversified by occasional spurts of
| good fortune like the one over which Kan
sas is now rejoicing; but the soil will always
| be there and will continue to yield its in
crease to its owner for the time being.