The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-04-27

ing that two persons were killed, many
injured and an immense amount OF
property destroyed.
/ Soon after this l noticed an article in
, another Chicago paper. giving an ae-
count of sinking of the earth in But
I ler county. Kansas; being well acauaint
+ ed in southern Kansas and especially in
I Wichita, / investigated these reports
/ through reputable parties and others
: whe live here but were visiting there
at the time. These parties ali agree
/ in saying that there was no cyclone at
all and only high wind. such as visit
Chicago half dozen times gear:
! The sinking of the earth WAS simply
nothing more than the falling in OF an
abandoned sandpit, from which sand
had been mined years ago for building
purposes: The above facts constitute
| the entire foundation for these sensa-
tienal reports, which must eminaie in
the imaginative brain of some reporter
who is unlike George Washington in
the fact that he cares not for the Ninth
commandment, but persists In circulat-
Ing reports about Kansas. which are
| wholly without foundation in fact: but
a fair sample of the stories published
by eastern papers:
Why so many people in the east are
SO willing to sling their slurs at the
people of Kansas without knowing the
truth as to the statements they make
is beyond the comprehension OF the or
binary individual.
Certainly no state in the Union has
made greater progress in all things
%
mankind. Her schools, churches and
charitable institutions would do credit
to a commonwealth hundred years
her senior. The push and energy and
morality and hospitality CT her people
is proverbial
As state Kansas is yet In her in
fancy, but before the end of the next
decade she will have demonstrated to
the world that as grain and fruit
growing state she has few equals and
no superiors. 1t should be remembered
that only about 25 per cent Of her soil is
in cultivation, yet the statistics for 1892,
which are the latest / have at hand,
shows that Kansas produced in that
year over $4,000, 900 bushels of wheat,
distancing California and other famed
600 bushels; more than both Dakotas
and more than a bushel each for every
man, woman and child in the United
States. These statistics furnished by
the agricultural department at Wash
ington. D. c., also show that Kansas
for that year was the fifth state in the
Union In the production Of corn; hav-
ing grown las, 00O, 900 bushels and fourth
in the production of oats, the crop Of
that year being A 900, 900 bushels. 1t is
also a fact worthy of considera ton
that the Kansas corn crop for the year
mentioned was nearly equal to that of
Illinois, and more than double that Of
Illinois per capita.
AS to live stock interests an idea OF
what Kansas is doing may be gained
by perusing the report of Mr.. Coburn,
secretary Of the state board of agrl-
culture, which says Wyandotte county
Kansas, with the single exception of
Cook county Illinois. can truthfully lay
claim to the greatest beef and pork
packing and curing establishments in
the World. The stock yards at Kan
sas City, Kan, which are located in
Wyandotte county, received last year
100000 cars of live stock. including 49,
600, 900 head of cattle, and Il, 000, 900 hogs
The grain inspectors at this same Kan
sas town inspected 1900 cars of wheat
and $4,000 cars of corn; yet only small
per cent Of Kansas grain and live stock
reach this market as heavy shipments
are made east via st. Louis. and south
via Galveston. There is no question
that the grain and live stock interests
of Kansas, when age is considered, sur
passes that of any state in the Union,
and If her development is as rapid dur
ing the next two decades as during the
past she Will have outstripped every
competitor in the race for commercial
supremacy. and there Will be no bright
er star in the galaxy of state.
Those who attended the worlds fair
at Chicago and examined the Kansas
exhibit are aware of the fact that the
mineral wealth of the state IS extensive
nearly all Of the eastern part of the
state is underlaid with coal, zink and
lead ore and natural gas and petroleum
have been found in several localities,
and the great salt mines of central
Kansas now only partly developed are
unsurpassed by anything OF the kind
in America.
The latitude, altitude and climatic
conditions are such as TO Justify the be-
lief that In a few years there Will be
no better fruit country on the CONT
nent than southern Kansas. this belief
is acquisced in by the most prominent
horticulturalists of the country, and
has also been practically demonstrated
during the last dozen years by the lead
ing fruit growers of that section.
All that is necessary to drive away
that prejudice which is so common in
the east is a personal examination Of
the great grain fields of the Sunf1ower
state. HENRY KNOX.