The Wichita daily eagle., 1897-12-22

L
was looking for safe place to invest its
funds. The sugar mill was failure
| the interest o nthe bonds was never
paid: the holders are suing for collection
but are being fought on the ground thas
the bonds were illegally issued That is
a sample OF the western Kansas plans
for getting even with the plutocrats
They had a ''hoard Of trade" at Ness
City. A three-story bank building with
onyx-pillared entrance was put up On a
| principal corner. II is still there. but is
mostly empty. There was also q sugar
mill in that county, ard 600 in bonds
! The bonus was squandered: the mill was
a failure; the bonds are in the possession
of innocent holders. At the height o.
the boom the streets near the real estate
offices were macadamized anr carpets
were laid on the sidewalks. They tor;
down an old dance hall the other day
| moved it into the country for cattle
1 shed. Under the floor was woman
bracelet and double eagle. They had
been lost during the swell days, and no.
| body had looked for them Another cat
| tie shed Of today was city hall. In ii
| the councilmen formulated a dignified
| invitation to President Cleveland during
his first term to visit the town. 1t was
considered a great stroke OF enterprise
In these days.
Driving across country from Pratt
southward we came across an aband-
oned cabin. Around il had been a gar
der, and a few struggling vines showed
| that it was once somebody's pride. The
| horses rested while peep was taken al
! the interior. There had been two rooms.
one a kitchen, the other the living and
sleeping room. Neither was larger than
SX10 feet, and there was neither plaster
ing nor sheating on the walls. A faded
bit OF newspaper lay in corner-apiece
of villa se paper printed in a little New
Hampshire village-ample evidence of
the nativity Of the family that had tried
and failed. In the living room, behind a
broken door, was a baby's cradle
bruised. rickety and cheap, but an ele-
CANT token Of the pathetic side of the
, trial for a home.
We hitcbed our horses to the hydrant
OF a deserted town, where there were
once fine system Of water works and a
school houses standing empty but for
the half-dozen children who say their
lessons in one Of the half-dozen rooms,
and store buildings Of brick and stone
in which not dollars worth of business
has been transacted for eight years. The
school teachers are, however, better paid
than those of eastern Kansas They get
$35 to $45 month. and have only about
twenty to twenty-five pupils each. The
cattle and the eastern land owners pay
the taxes. In one district where there
are liberal railroad and foreign-prop-
erty ownership, but no residents except
one family, the county superintendent
found no his visit the other day queer
state Of affairs. The school was held
in the settlers cabin, and he found a
realty dressed woman hearing the reci-
tations Of two bright children.
Where are the other pupils" he
asked.
There are none ="
els this the school, and are you the
teacher Of it?'
THAT is it exactly"
"Who are the members Of the board ?"
H'My husband and my two sons They
are out on the range with the stock.
These pupils are my daughters"
She was getting s45 month for teach
ing her little girls. and the railroad and
some eastern investors were paying the
bill. The county superintendent did not
criticise. He thought that such enter
prise deserved encouragement.
Sometimes the railroads get weary of
this sort OF thing. The receiver Of one
branch that runs parallel TO another line
for miles through a country that does
not reed any road at all had the nerve
recently TO pull up the track. 1t made a
great deal of complaint, but he did not
care. The Boston holders OF the bonds,
$40. 900 worth. had concidered them
worth but little, yet when they found the
receiver was to pay the county $4,000
for the privilege Of taking UP the track
they raised the quotations to 125. The
county received it's $4,000 put it in the
general fund to use for county expenses,
the track was pulled up, and the Boston
men were informed that the bonds are
illegal anyhow. and would be contested
in the courts. The holders wish now that
they had sold their bonds at a reason
able figure.
There is pathos In the streets of every
western Kansas town. Many a hand
some brick building stands amid
twenty empty frame store structures.
1t is not uncommon to see a whole street
deserted. These are the emblems of the
past. The present is brighter. The cat
tlemen are doing good business; their
families are enjoying the luxuries OF
eastern education and travel. The
mortgages are beirg paid off in places,
and the outlook is better than in a de-
cade A sturdy farmer who had been
twelve years on farm in Pratt county
talked for an hour about the life. Yes,
We have had it hard, but il hasn't hurt
US. was on the jury the other day, and
q man who had lived back twenty miles
from the railroad for ten years was there
too. He got sick and asked to be ex-
cused.
What reason have you? asked the
judge
well. Tn tell you, your Horor.
think the livin' Is little too high for
me. We ain's had much but butter
cakes and sorghum molasses az home for
a couple OF years. and this fare Of beef
steSk every day an real coffee is too
mucl for me- He was excused.
There isn't any more falling of in
population, nor, to be honest about il,
are many folks coming ir- We have just
got down 70 rock bottom; that's what Il
is. Lots OF men have made money right
along. year after year. out they have
done IL by stock. l tell you. stranger,
the Almighty knew what ne was about
when ne put buffalo and prairie chickens
cut here on the prairiea Tna.'s what