The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-21

roslty WIN inc Newf orkor's or New Englander's
moro than sb0,000 in two years simply BY lend,
ing money from people in Rome, Lyons, Cam.
agent Mt Rome, n. V, who used TO canvass
aST m money ybt to s lend o in western KSpsas; lie
nine.slNlh5 OIL ~ was Just sunk at tho rate of
$40 an acre on land that has not been worth 81
an acre Tor ten years, All of us Kansans used
their gold ont with such reckIesSsRprss. to be lent
by Tom, Dick, and Harry to any one that came
est dcfaultod, a middie.agSi mana college
professor, came out here from Staten Island, n.
\. lie had lent all his savings of twenty years
through u wildcat investment company In Gar
don City, and he had met with revcrses in New
nork. 50 he came out 10 SEQ about his iQans.
borrowers had moved away. lie went over
70 inc hotel across, tho. way and shot himself
the loan agent out here the most dreadful roast.
But tho way tho Eastern capitalists, cspec.
our city, school, and county bonds in those
royal boom days was most astonishing. Court
IN fftecn counties or so with bonds sold in
New York, and none of the structures has ever
thrce.story, sioo, 900 CITY Hall Of iron. cut stone.
plate glass, and hardwood throughout: 1t was
paid Tor with bonds sold in Newark, \. j., and
Is as useless in this town of :, 200 people as a soc
costing upward OF 500. 600, were constructed
Fasteners snapped up, and three of the cities
whore they were built have now entirely dis
oRR1 here from 95r &c asw % York a AND { hos SsSd an ID S sSRi
at the hotels, waiting for a chance to bid for
their Eastern employers, for our bonds; You
back East. II we could have. had crops out
here and have sold our grain right alons, at the
every borrowed dollar. And we shall pay back
some more of H. yet, II we nave more OF the
The tide OF prodigality and speculation turned
suddenly in 1888. Grain and cattle began
their rapid descent in value, and the seasons
were nnpropitious for eastern and central Kan.
sas ana ruinous for western Kansas. Tho old
time dearth OF rain came. back to the arid re.
gion, and there were small yields of wheat and
corn. The year 1890 was still dryer, and the
hot winds withorcd whatever grain struggled
Sp.oOo,ooo was defaulted that year. and tales
of the distress of Kansas farmers went as fast
and far as the story of their successes a few
total crop failure in western Kansas. Hun
dreds of thousands of acres did not produce
Then began another vicissitudc of Kansas.
Tho western towns melted away almost as
settlers moved away In prairie schooncrs in six
months, leaving their mortgagcd lands and
R9%Ss' s1 ! ,6 Rss ,o ben hs si'i Sesn lent that Ma dsF aese nPea
schooners.,sometimes $50 in a day-eould be
every day for months, and the people on them
all told the same story, IN different degrees of
to farm on tho arid ranges OF the West. Dodge
City went down to, 1000 people. The popula-
ton Of Mcdwsy' Johnson City, Liberal, Ken
peared: and the abandoned houses were torn
down for frewood.. Coolidge shrivelled to 800
man beings. A long list might be printed of
the communities of 400 and 500 population in
eral towns nothing but tho big stone and brick
public buildings, erected with money lent by
Eastern peopls, remained to tell of the former
The settlers who have stayed bv their land,
determined to find success some day in western
their woful hardships and extraordinary hope
fulness. With hero and there n farmer who
has .prospered by growing alfalfa with the aid
River, the settlers have returned to cattle and
sheep as their financial salvation. Now that
cattle and wool are bringing the best prices
the chances are that by another year they will
more extensively into the cattle and sheep in
dustry., The creameries that are now being
there is money in them, and have helped a null.
titude of settlers to comparatively easy cir
who have stayed by their lands. They have
paid dearly for the money they are now getting.
married and came Vest with some money,
e eap'' The stories q r. the Wheat and corn
kings of tho West allured them. Many
g Some sne on the fs't ma no% ass g 1n .ae f hTSa' the S,'1 Sis
Eastern colleges. and have never dared go East
in nth their IL I RPqvsrfIy' t Or let ba Their 5a Sid friends friends e sno "
the women were school teachers, and here and
there may DO found a woman from a comforta-
band and children in a dugout, and too proud
to write a letter complaining of her, lot. Thou,
in rude shanties and dugouts, and have eked
out a livelihood on 500 and less u year. They
have faced the fierce billiards. in winter in the
cheapest tattered garments, and have shriv-
ellcd in the hot winds from the south for days at
a time in summer. The stories of their expert;
ences in trying to make their lands successful
them. from asking help from relatives and
friends in the Eastern States, and they have
had to scrimp and pinch to a degree that seems
| almost impossible. Such things as magazines
or newspapeFs hnyo been to many d college
weeks has even been bought only BY %curtail,
seventeen years in these dugout homes, miles
from any human, habitation. dressed in calico
their own early lives in their old homes in the
East: listen as If to a fairy story;
No %My bfsmil Iyss Of se ssIa has y r liysa Ga S Sf Sa sinef
University. II never thought 1t possible
once Once. ~ 3o Ias see; ;v,t we q. cane IAN tbo out here %@s s from
Cleveland. We had heard of the profits il
wheat and corn in Kansas, and 1t seemed the
most independent life one could lead. he
sides, my health was frail from long indoor life
and sam the 20 d SF"% so SdEisess ea mS to Ian 1fy w far ebss;
= Nth's ~ 'a' ,''A' - $3.50 - $500
and the real estate men assured me that the
region had ceased to be arid. because of thu
general breaking up of the land. l spent al
my money in land and n house, and settled
down to be n wheat farmer. l have never
grown fifty bushels of grain altogether on the
seventy acres | planted for four years.
AN agent for n loan company came along II
1887 and induced mo to borrow $1,000 on my
farm and house. | was able to make one pay
, ment OF interest to n man in Hartford. Conn
In 1890 he forcclosed and took The land. Ny
wife and l were too proud to let our Ohio friendi
know what a miserable failure We had mad,
out here. SO we moved over on a deserted
farm ten miles away, and together we made
a sodhouse or dugout in the side Of the hill
There is where we have since lived. Three
children have been born to us there, and W,
have managed to keep our family together by
everlasting pinching. Economy is not the wore
for it-that's only Il mockery, OF what we've haC
to do. We have no neighbors nearer thar
seven miles and they are Russian peasants.
haven't. unnecessarily spent one cent that
know OF in six years. All of us have gone bare
foot five months in the year and saved on
brogan shoes for cold weather. Hundreds o
times we have made II sort of porridge of grount
oats and corn that VIC bought for our horse, ant
have had that for our meal. We have not ha'
,,nat NJ nttr hama FOR fhr.p npntha nj "a time