The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-06-07
WICHITA AS A GRAIN CENTER.

I
dicaJeS the trend Of things. The rail-
E ways were there in force and the attor
i neys Of individual shippers, Of com
panies and of corporate the latter
backed by the Kansas state board Of
| railway commissioners, body witt
I great authority, apparently, but Will
: no power to enforce their findings OF
mandates The railroads not only
fight among themselves but are fought
in turn by cities and sections and by
individuals. The railroads in their
struggle for patronage force each other
through competition, to favor the place
which offers the greatest tonnage. The
greatest tonnage is found at the points
where, from any cause, or by any
means, there is a concentration OF pro
ducts.
Wichita is in the midst Of great
; grain belt. is the center of the south
Kansas corn and wheat fields. For
some years the grain has been diverted
from this point Having no sufficient
elevator and storage capacity this city
could not hold it. ST. Louis and Gal
weston, and the roads terminating at
these cities, have awakened TO the fact
that IL ever they handle any important
per cent Of the grain grown in south
Kansas that such grain must be con-
centrated at some more favorable point
10 them than is, or can be, Kansas City.
In the same connection they just as
readily saw that Wichita was the most
accessible and natural place for such
concentration. Grain stored at Wich-
ita would be equi-diStant from the
Gulf and from Chicago with equal
/ chances or the railroads to haul north
or south or east TO St Louis. With
Wichita as a grain center the farmers
of south Kansas would have to pay for
a shorter local haul, which means more
per bushel for the grain at their crib,
with just as great or greater competi-
ton on the longer haul by the roads,
another added price for their grain.
The opening of deep water at Calves
ton and its export grain trade empha-
sized the demand for a grain center
south of the Missouri river. Out OF
an effort TO secure shipments of Kansas
grain direct to Galveston arose the
late grain fight, the meeting at Kansas
! City day before yesterday, being but
one Of the outcomes or incidents Of that
struggle In the meantime the local
grain buyers of Wichita, and an eX-
porting grain firm at Galveston, and an
elevator firm at Louisville, Kentucky,
all, and almost simultaneously, made
propositions to the Wichita CONNER
cial club for the erection of cleaning
and storage elevators here. The club
finally entered into a contract with W.
+. Caldwell and associates of Louis
vile, David McKinstry of Purcell and
+. d. Stevens of this city to erect a
half million bushel storage elevator
with a million bushel handling or ma
chinery capacity, which contract is to-
be in full force and effect upon the full
fillment of certain conditions, which
conditions tend, or look directly to in
teresting grain raisers and grain buy
ers Of south Kansas in the elevator TO
the end that such elevator will have
their backing and support. which
means assured success and profitable
ness. To this enterprise the railways
centering here, including the manage
mentS Of the four trunk lines, have |
agreed to make Wichita basing point |
for grain rates as soon as an elevator |
OF such capacity is completed and !
ready to handle grain. This cOmbin- !
alton of facts interests, or should in !
tereSt, every grain raiser within one !
hundred miles of Wichita, and directly (
interest him in that it adds to the price |
OF every bushel Of grain raised by /
MIN and to the value of every acre de- |
voted to grain. Such elevator is to |
be public, under the laws of the state, /
and will cost in the neighborbood of |
100000 over and above trackage which |
the railroads have agreed to put in
and maintain.
The certificates which are being is |
sued provide that they can be held as
stock, the holder participating in the
profits Of the elevator, or he can sur
render the certificate to the company a
any time, for which the company will
issue him a due bill on the elevator
good for storage or other elevator
charges. These due bills will. OF
course, be negotiable and as good as
wheat in the mill There is no dona-
ton or bonus about the enterprise out
side of what the Commercial club
agrees TO donate.
This enterprise, looking TO the con-
centration of the grain of south Kan
Sas, At q south Kansas point, instead
OF at the Missouri river, with 4 two
hundred mile local haul, where it is
left practically subject TO but one mar
ket, and that Chicago. is indorsed and
backed by the Wichita Commercial
club, not only. but by upwards of
hundred business and professional
men who after looking carefully into
the whole matter have appended their
names
DEMOCRATIC STATE FARCE
That the Democratic state conven-