The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1894-09-29


and of beef. A poor farmer, here and
there, will have suffered the loss of all
things; but there will be no general scar
city : hardly an appreciable diminu-
alton.
The story of these hard times"
with which we had grown familiar in the
East, continued to be told in longitudes
further West But the traveller who
depended on his eyes rather than his
ears would make the same abatement
from the dismal tale of business depres-
sion which he found it necessary to al
low from the general estimate of ruin
wrought by the drouth. In business as
in agriculture this is a great country.
The volume of traffic and of operations
may be cut down per cent; but it re-
mains still immense. The truth is, busi-
ness must be done, production must go
on, the activities of a great people cover
ing a vast domain cannot be stopped.
The temporary lull, induced in great
measure by uncertainty as to what bases
business should be conducted on for the
future, was already breaking into gen
eral activity, as the result of settlement
of the tariff. No doubt the country will
be more generally and continuously pros
porous under some economic regimes
than under others; but on any stable
conditions we shall not fail to conduct
vast business and get the natural bene
fits Of it.
1t struck us as we surveyed the
great interior realm of which Chicago is
the center, that check had been put on
it's development, analogous to the effect
Of the drouth on vegetation. The infu
ence of drouth is noticeable and likely
to be overestimated. The recovery from
it is rapid. Already on the tenth of
September the recent rains had so
changed the surface appearance as to
make the States that three weeks before
looked blighted and burned wear an as
pect of thrift. In similar manner. no
doubt, the checked growth of the towns
and cities, the suspended building opera
tions, the reduction of force in many
branches of manufacture. and otherNin-
dications of sackened speed in the de-
velopment of the Northwest. are but a
temporary respite to an overdriven civil
ization, to be succeeded soon by a longer
and stronger advance along all lines of
durable prosperity.
Our longest stop was in North Da-
kota, and in that part of it known as the
Red River Valley of the North. This is
one imm ense wheat field. The farms are
not now large. half-section being the
usual size and quarter section quite
common. But almost the entire cult
waited area of every farm is given to
wheat, so that the appearance Of the
country is of an unbroken wheat field
We had planned our arrival to be in the
midst of the reaping. But the hot and
dry weather had advanced the maturing
of the grain by nearly two weeks, and we
saw the sickle applied to only single
field. Most of the grain was in shocks.
some of it in stacks. while considerable
quantity had already been threshed. 1t
was anticipated that the yield would fall
much below an average; but during our
stay most of the grain was threshed and
the product found to be of high quality.
mo. hard' is the highest grade; and
to this grade nearly the whole Red River
Valley crop of 1894 belongs.
No prospect on which the eye rests
conveys a stronger impression of ma
teria riches than great wheat harvest
Whether it is the color of the "golden
grains" or the mental associations. that
must be credited with the effect, or
whether it is the blending of both, the
fact is indisputable. To ride on. either
by rail or by carriages hour after hour.
while on either hand the shining
sheaves, gathered in heaps, now little
sparse and anon thick and regular as the
ranks of an army. stretch away to the
remotest verge of vision, under a sky
without cloud and in an atmosphere
singularly pure and serene. is to have
borne in upon you a sense of the
bounty ard beauty of nature and new
consciousness of the resources of your
country.
In the midst OF these fields, at inter
walls, is what looks like prairie fleet.
The absolute plain of the prairie suggests
at once the surface of the sea. And
there on the horizon as we'll as here
in fuller view, is the steam -thresher,
which consists Of a large traction engine
linked by cable band TO the separator
and straw carrier. Eight or nine teams
are hauling the sheaves from all parts
of the field, one team brings water for
the engine, and two or three more re-
ceive the grain which ours from the
machine, and haul it in great wagons to
the nearest elevator. In days ride by
carriage over this country one sees per
haps thirty of these groups of teams.
laborers, and machinery. Very little of
the product of this region is gathered
into harpa Within fwo weeks the grain