Birmingham age-herald., 1895-02-24

in year or two her barns will be over flowing. I Isee nothing in the present situation nor in the history of the state as have observed it for sixteen years that ought to discourage those who contemplate coming here to make homes. In the western part of the state, vast amount of universal specu- lation has caused gscat losses, but that part of the country cannot be excclled for grazing, and irrigation will, no doubt, render it safe and profitable for agriculture. In the greater part of the state, the people are suffering no more than large percentage of the agri- cultural districts of the states. 1t has been brought about as much by the. general national depression as by local causes"
 1t IS probable that few years will see the farms in the great Platte river valley watered by irrigation, but dis tricts that have not an atfluence of wa ter will depend upon windmills. The wells in this state never fail during drought They furnish an abundance of cooland good water Some farmers plan to build little storage reservoirs upon the hilloclls of the prairie. They are made by simply throwing up banks of earth, and then allowing cattle to trample the interiors until hard and watertight bottom is formed. In this manner a farmer VII be independent of the most terrible droughts.
 Taking the years in groups of five the rainfall was at its lowest from 1885 to 1890 when the general average was 22.34 inches. The general average for 1891, 1899 and 1893 was 23.s5 inches. But 1894 now enters the contest with record of but 13. 10 inches. People are now shouting that Nebraska is to be- come arid. In past years when rain falls were enormous they shouted that Nebraska was to become great pond.
 The final quality of these farmers who have remained in this portion of the state is their faith m the ultimate victory of the land and their industry. They have determination to wait un- til nature, with her mystic processes, restores to them the prosperity and bounty of former years. "If man stays right by this country, he'll come out all right in the end"
 Almost any man in the district will cease speaking of his woes to rccite the beauties of the times when the great rolling prairies are green and golden with the splendor of young corn, the streams are silver in the light of the sun, and when from the wide roads and the little homesteads there arises the soundless essence of a hymn from the happy and prosperous people.
 But then there now. is looming the eventual catastrophe that would surely depopulate the country. These be- sieged farmers are battling with their condition with an eye to the rest and success of next August But if they can procure no money with which to buy seed when spring comes around, the calamity that ensues is an eternal one, as far as they and their farms here are concerned. They have no re- sort then but to load their families in wagons behind their hungry horses and set out to conquer these great dis tances, which like walls shut them from the charitable care of other and more fortunate communities.
 In the meantime, they depend upon their endurance, their capacity to help each other, and their steadfast and un- yielding courage. STEPHEN CRANE.