The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-12-21
CENTRAL KANSAS AND WICHITA.


The history of this country, and the
history of all the prosperous cities
contains nothing discOuraging to Wich-
ita. There are times Of arrested de-
velopment and our city has been en-
during one for years. but just as sure
as that other places endured the same
thing and subsequently took on new
life and grew and prospered, just so
sure will Wichita and Kansas soon
make rapid strides in advancement
In the competition for homes the
state has fallen behind for the past
five or six years, caused largely by
all Of our defects being magnified and
our numerous good qualities over
looked. Thousands Of farmers in Kan
sas have prospered as farmers no.
where else have or could have pros
pered, and yet many have made mis-
erable failures. When soil and climate
are taken into consideration there can
be no question as to the desirableness
of home in Kansas. The extreme
north and the extreme south boast
special crops, but in Kansas the range
and variety are such that nearly every
thing that the soil produces can be sue
cessfully and profitaDly raised. The
climate is such that less time is lost by
inclement weather. and the roads are
good every day in the year, and just
so sure as that this country will in
crease Just so sure will Kansas pros
per and increase in population. Peo-
pie who have lived while in Kansas
and have removed TO other states
universally want to return, and many
do at a sacrifice. An era of prosperity
would bring many people TO the state
and among those first to come would
be those who had once lived here.
Central Kansas is the most produc-
tive strip of country in the universe,
and practically raises the crops of the
state. AS an idea of what has been
done; in 1889 the corn crop of Kansas
according to the state agricultural re
port was 274 O00, 900 bushels, the crop
being excellent from the eastern bOr-
der to the western border of the central
belt. In 1890 the crop was just as
good in the eastern portion but in the
central was failure and but 54,000,000
bushels were produced. This will show
that the eastern one-third of the state
produced not more than 30.000,000
bushels of corn in 1889, while the CEN
tral produced the balance of PA. 100000
bushels or 244,O00O00 bushels. And
this enormous amount was raised on a
strip 133 miles by 200 miles or one
third of the state. And not over one
third of it under cultivation and not
half of the cultivated portion in corn.
There is room in central Kansas for
three or four times as many people as
are now here and living upon farm
lands, and the day is not far distant
tunities will not be long overlooked,
and when the bottom facts are known
they will open the eyes of the world.
The past few years have not been prop
itiouS ones for Kansas, but neither
have they been for other agricultural
states, and while the state may have
had more than hnr share of disaster
there is nothing permanent about 1t,
as it only happened so. Between the
years Of 1874 and 1883 or for fourteen
years, central Kansas did not lose n
single crop, which is record that no
that time we had some light crops.
But no burnt up corn or winter killed
wheat, and this too during a period
when there was less cultivation and
fewer trees planted than at this time.
In the very nature Of things our re-
cent crops ought to have been the best,
but they We're not. But to say that
crop failures will continue is to imply
that the natural order of things have
been changed and no one believes that.
By the early planting of an early
variety of corn good crop would have
been assured every year that our corn
has been killed by the hot sun. And
| that is something that cannot be said
! OF any other corn growing region.
Taking all in all there is no more
! favored place than this and if the peo-
| the time is coming when others will.