The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-07-26
Wj(Ili9 Eagle
~ ~ nII-RnOCK Editnr
THE TARGET AND BULLs-EYE.


harmful effects of such willful SANDER
Kansas holds, today, the most promis
ing outlook of any state in the Union
There could be nothing possibly added
to her present condition and future brill
liant prospects. The debts assumed in
boom were largely for money which was
expended in improvements Of farm anc
town, which improvements were lndls
pensible and are still worth the purchase
price. Without the mourning of these
debts the states resources would have
remained undeveloped for years.
In other words the debt of Kansas is
her capital, it is that with which she
purchased her stock in trade from which
her present and future surplus wealth is
to be realized. Kansas is not only geo.
graphically the central state but the most
envied because of her unquestioned adj
vantages of climate, of soil, and in the
unsurpassed wealth of her productions.
Being such a center she is the natural
target for the east and west for the
north and south. Anybody, with or
without occasion, from the Atlantic to
the Pacific, and from Chicago to Calves
ton, has a free permit to fire at the
central state. And Wichita being the
central city of Kansas becomes the bulls
eye of the target. Being the central city
of the central state leaves Wichita the
central city of the United States. And
were not both Kansas and Wichita bull
let proof, both would have long since
been hopelessly riddled and ruined. All
shooters, of whatever calibre, find Wich-
ita and Kansas in the exact range Of
their sight-taking, and like the Tribune's
Topeka correspondent, shut their eyes to
every fact and fire away. Smooth boreS
like Gallagher, charged with mortgages,
wide-mouthed, muzzle-loading blunder-
bnsses like PETER and Simpson crammed
with calamity, and mOrtars loaded with
stink-pots like the Tribune correspondent,
have kept up an indescribable fusilade
at the central target, from which it was
not possible that the Bulls Eye should
entirely escape.
As all targets have a foundation
made to resist the force of all missiles
directed against them, so Kansas has
foundation in her agricultural supremacy
capable Of withstanding all the ISLANDERS
that may originate in the brain Of I'M
principled men, whose business is solely
to destroy instead of to build up. Re-
gardless of what has been said or what
may be said to injure the state
of Kansas, it must be admitted as a fact
that Kansas this year is producing more
grain, more fruit and more vegetables
than were ever produced in any previous
year in the history of the state. The
wheat crop alone is estimated at between
fifty and ffty-four million bushels. with
no end to the corn, the oats, the hay,
the fruit and the cattle and hogs
Wichita is the center of this wheat
district and which is probably the
best in the country. The Arkansas val
ley holds the same relationship to Kan
sas as the San joaquin valley does to
California. The eleven counties tribu-
tary to Wichita in this valley, this year
produced one-third Of the wheat crop Of
the state, and one-half of the wheat
harvested IN the central belt, which is
composed of thirty-five counties.
We also find these eleven counties
raised within 2,O0o, 900 bushels as much
wheat as was raised in the seventy-five
counties that compose both the eastern
and western belts. Reducing the area
TO the seven counties that adioin Sedg-
wick county and we find these eight
counties have produced one-fourth of
the entire wheat of the state.
If there Is any valley in any country,
or in any state that can make as good !
showing, then the Arkansas valley will
forever hold her peace But until that
is done she must be considered the great
est agricultural valley in the United
States and her people must he heard.
Two millions five hundred thousand
acres Of farm lands in these eight
counties have not been touched and
are only waiting for more farmers to
cultivate and add to the immense pro-
auctions of the valley.
While unprincipled persons are circula-
ting stories and doing everything posi- |
bic to create an unfavorable impression
against Kansas, il still remains a fact
that the farmers of this state are raising 1
more than they can properly take care
of. Newspaper correspondents NAV
abuse this City but still Wichita Will not
be moved from her location in the center
of the great Happy valley" and no
doubt continue to be the Bulls Eve as
long as Kansas remains the target: and /
as long as Kansas remains the target
Wichita must continue TO be the center I
Of attraction.
FARM LABOR NEEDED.
The most serious Inconvenience expe- /
Jienced this season by the farmers OF .