The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-02-18
ouR rRANsMIssoURI COUNTRY.

OUR TRANSM1SSOURl COUNTRY.
1t is fortunate for the west that the
disturbance in trade relations east should
occur when we are in greatest need OF
new blood and more capital The
causes leading to the general upheaval
and the read adjustment which must now
take place, it is not our purpose to DIS
cuss, 1t is sufficient to know that such
conditions exist, and that in the new Or
der there will be an ali round shifting
Sf scenes, if not an actual revolution In
home branches of trade. To cite an ex-
ample: There is neither business logic
nor good financiering in shipping raw
cotton to Lowell to be woven into
the cheap fabrics worn by the peo-
ple of Texas. 1t Is paying
double freight on cheap, bulky article
to ship our oats to Akron, o., simply to
be ground and shipped back to US. 1t is
\ clear waste to pay freight on live hogs
or cattle to the eastern limit of Kansas
when the packing can be done as cheaply
1t home. Not only this, but the profit
Of milling and packing is lost to the
place where it rightly belongs, and the
skilled labor is kept and supported at the
unnatural centers a. useless expense.
The fact that these things have been
done for decade, or score OF years, Is
no justification for its continuance. The
tendency of trade is westward, and has
been for generations. Buffalo, Cleveland,
Chicago and ST. Louis have each
served their day as the western outpost
for manufacture, but there is no law
which gives a monopoly to such points.
The west is new and crude in her
primeval grandeur, so was the older
west at the points named, and at
period not very remote. 1t is not the
business of trusts or combined capital to
place limits, nor can ill-conceived de-
velopmert of great industries on our
western prairIes.
1t happens now that the conditions are
made for general readjustment. There
has been no time in our history that so
manv causes have contributed to focus
and bring about this event than the
present. Hence we repeat, 1T is fortult-
GUS that the field is ripe for harvest in
the Missouri country. To talk OF
our resources would extend these
thoughts beyond proper limits. The
question is, will these great, fertile
prairies be peopled by numbers who
must be supplied with everyday COM
modities, and will capital choose the ex-
pensive plan of supplying them at long
range, or will it take the more profitable
course of moving Mahomet to the
mountain? The bare mention of it sug
gests the answer.
Preparatory to this new relation,
the west has not been idle. Local
aid has been voted to railroads;
great trunk lines with convenient feed
ers have been construc ted till scarcely
township is ought of sight of whistling
station. Points of natural advantage
have been chosen, and cities and trade
,enters have been located with special
reference to the cheapest and quickest
transportation. Industries have been
btdTJeu All d sllldil way. bApciiiiOuto
have been made, showing what may be
done with requisite capital. Schools,
churches and other enlightening intiu-
ences have found their way to every
neighborhood, and last, but not least,
we have secured from the gov
eminent the necessary appropriation
for building ii harbor which is to
serve as the natural outlet for our sur
plus. The long haul by rail to eastern
Atlantic ports is an expense at once alb
normal, and a heavy tax upon the
farmer, the merchant, the manufacturer
and the miner of the west. 1t Is the
saving of these extra costs that will soon
begin to tell in the savings and the ac-
cumulated profits of our people.
This is the vertable tiood-tide for
Kansas and the entire west. VIII we
meet it with wholesome, business like
energy, or will we suffer the wall and
the plant of the Socialist to divide our
forces and scatter the treasure which is
knocking for admittance?