The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-05-05
Stories of an Inland State.

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his eyebrows back on his shoulder-blades
It was true that Mr Albert Watson di,
possess uncommonly agile eyebrows. Mr.
Albert Watson was man who was''al
ways new" This was also an invention
Of Superintendent Riggs. Watson was ;
man slightly over five feet IN stature. Hi
bones were small, his complexion delicate
his eye mild and coniding; his voice sof
and melodious; his forehead high; hi
hair sleek with much grooming; his liner
immaculate: his hands Ike queens
II he would have allowed you to study
him when he talked 10 you in his low
musical, confding way, you would have
| seen a perfect gentleman dressed fauitless-
ly, moving gracefully and perfectly at his
ease
His. origin was obscure He came into
| the west on the wings Of the boom, looked
| the field over with a languid eye and re1
| solved on action.
| He started an immigration company; bor-
rowed money for a trip to London. adj
| vertised there, and for fee brought back
| to this country some twenty young Eng
| lishmen, from the middle classes of the
! tight little isle. Il has always been a
mystery as to just how he secured these
young men. 1t was local report that they
| were oilers, second sons, unruly and d.so-
| bedient children, and their parents sent
| them to America believing, on Mr.. AL
| bert Watson's suave assurance that Amer
| lea was a rustling place and that he would
| place them at good salaries on big ranches
and farms where they might learn the
practical branches of modern agriculture.
At any rate he brought back twenty Of
these young men, who were keen for ad-
venture as all young men are. They were
rugged out in a most preposterous style.
supplied with several suits of clothes, a
whole shce-store full of foot-gcar and a
bear trap or two and repeating rifles to
use on the Indians they expected to meet
and be forced to overcome.
When Mr. Albert Watson arrived in the
west with his charges he began TO d:stri-
butte them among the western farmers.
They were to work for their food and lodg-
ing.
The trial was disastrous. The experience
of Walter Brown, one of the Engl:shmen,
is typical of the others usage.
Walter was placed on a farm belonging
to John Gibson. Farmer Gibson was in
the habit Of having his hands turn in at
9 o'clock in the evening and turn out
again at in the morning.
Judge of his surprise, then, when this
Walter on retiring the first evening, said
to the farmer and his family:
Il am very fatigued. Please to call me
tomorrow morning at TO-
Farmer Gibson was knocked speeches.
and the boy escaped. But the next morn
ing promptly at o'clock Farmer Gibson
called him. The young man arose reluc-
family. He took an 'interminable time TO
prepare for breakfast and irritated beyond
all control. Farmer Gibson yelled up to
him:
What on earth are you doing?"
MY good man! / am cleaning myteeth."
At noon that day Walter Brown was
discharged.
In day or two all these young men were
back on Albert Watson's hands. Some
soon became disguised because he would
do nothing, and left in disgust, struggling
TO get back to England.
Six, however. remained with him, con-
demn.ng their parents for having been
duped and determined TO make the impos-
ter support them until they could get
aid
1t was at this point that Watson's eye
brows began to work and he evolved the
Hastings Farm and Improvement COM
pany. He wrote an elaborate prospectus
on the scheme and had 1t printed The
scheme was succinctly this: A company
mad been formed owning several large
farms in New York, Kansas and elsewhere
whose purpose was to farm on such
large scale that the profits would be enor-
nous The affair was a stock company
capitalized at $4,000, owning in all TO-
600 acres. 1t would be under the contro,
OF careful, conservative and experienced
board or directors and would be Differed
throughout
In setting forth the assured profits of
the extensive affair the single article of
pork was dwelt upon with great persist
ency. The prospectus showed by a series
of most elaborate tables that single sow
would produce in a year, two filters of
Pigs each litter containing six pigs on an
average, or twelve pigs a year six OF
which would be sows. Starting then with
thousand sows, the company expected to
have at the end OF the first year thirteen
thousand hogs, of which seven thousand
would be sows. By the end of the second
year these seven thousand sows would
produce $4,000 hogs. of which 1900 would
De sows. AT the end of the third year
these sows would produce 1905, 900 hogs. of
which 10000 would be sows At the end
OF the fifth year the company expected TO
with becoming modesty that an estimate
of only twelve pigs to a sow a year was
indeed too small. as sows frequently pro-
duced filters of ten and twelve
1t was then shown that 2O.0oo.ooo hogs.
each weighing in the neighborhood of 30o
pounds, With pork at 81 hundred pounds.
would bring in at the end of five years the
enormous sum of s240 900 in normal
times. But the company did not intend that
normal times should prevail. With 20
600 900 in hogs in their possession. they
could control the market easily, as the
annual production of the country was only !
about 40o00.000. BY holding back these |
20co,co0 hogs a scarcity in the market |
" ould be created and the price OF hogs |
easily shot up to IS a hundred, making !
in all $3.50. COCO from an original capital
stock of $4,000
The prospectus concluded In this wise: /
The tremendous result OF this mul;ipli- 4
cation has tendency TO awaken the ludi- /
crous in majority Of people. II Will be 4
said at once that the idea is preposter- !
ous. The same sheer combatted the genius 1
Of Robert Fulton when he claimed the /
steamboat was practical; the same charge l
Of impracticsbility met Morse in his in /
vention Of the telegraph. and Edison in !
his institution of the telephone. This is a |
period of comhina ton. Small OUTLAWS of 1
the individual do not bring large returns, |
as we all know. But when the individuals |
combine. the multiplication of profits keeps |
pace with the multiplication OF figures. II I,
IS only the idle and unthinking portions !
Of modern society who do not know that |
a pound or a dollar mark before numerals |
does not hinder he pure arithmeticsl |
growth OF those figures when multiplied. /
Do not understand that we claim proceeds
Of siSO0Ho.coo in five years. The hogs must /
De fed. Corn here is now % cents a bushei. 4
md iris sNneniifi-re mus, h srh.rzc.AA 1