Omaha daily bee., 1897-08-16
VIEWING THE IMPERIAL WEST
Impressions of a Phllndelphinn Bc-
NnMM Tic Mississinpi.

| Nond the Mississippi.
| Mr.. Joseph II. Paist. chief clerk of the
| select council of Philadelphia, made tour
! of Iowa, Nebraska and the Black Hills last
month, and gives his impressions of the coun-
! try and its teeming abundance in the col
umns of the Philadelphia Star. The visit
was not Mr. Paist's first to the imperial west,
nor will it be his last, for he has pledged
himself the pleasure of visit to the Trans
mississippi Exposition next year. About a
score of years elapsed between his first and
his recent visit, and the mighty develop
ment of the country during that period as
he observed 1t on all sides, far exceeded
his ideas of western progress. And what
, he observed filled him with unbounded faith
in the future of the great west.
In his letter to tho Star Mr.. Paist says:
Iowa and Nebraska farmers now look
upon their golden grain fields with supreme
confidence. Last year the waving wheat
with it's full-kerneled heads meant re-
turn for time labor and money of but little
beyond the outlay. The tllers of the soil
who had voted for Bryan dollars were dis
appointed They had been taught by him
that silver dollar meant a dollar in re-
turn for every bushel of wheat they pro-
| duced
"These farmers looked upon Bryan last
fall as their Moses. In his doctrines they
! believed implicitly and worshiped him as
idolators do their idols.
Strange. indeed, that those of Iowa and
Nebraska who had been so long of repub-
lican faith should have so suddenly dis
covered that the political ills could be cured
by Bryanism. and that such wonderful vi
tality and purchasing power could by him
be put into silver dollars. Strange because
these states are so largely agricultural and
the farmers so intelligent,
THE DREAM OF '96.
at was drcam-the dream Of 1896 The
great crop of wheat and its bounding up
ward has to a degree demonstrated the er-
ror of their newborn faith. They are in
cradle Of doubt rocking to and fro, and
should wheat to dollar go on a gold basis,
there won't be enough Bryan republicans
in both states to make a respectable follow
ing.
But II isn't wheat alone that these tillers
of the soil depend upon. or other crops
they cultivate many, and, like wheat, they,
too. are yielding golden returns
"The corn fields of Iowa and Nebraska are
sights to behold, stretching, we saw
them, from the Mississippi river to the
mountains and valleys Of South Dakota,
where they join the foothills of Nebraska.
1t is within bounds to say that in these
great fields there are many thousands of
acres-and such corn. The black soil of the
two states, although farmed so long and put
to corn continually, yield most bountiful re-
turns.
I'm my farmer days in own Bucks
county it common saying: Don't put
corn in the same field two years in success
Sion.' There was a reason for 1t, and the
husbandmdn of the soil evidently had a
good one. But that was Pennsylvania farm
ing on Pennsylvania soil What we are
now dwelling upon Is Iowa and Nebraska
farming on the soil of those states. Penn
sylvanias earth must be fertlized and the
frugal farmer gathers his home product OF
manure, and when it is exhausted he spreads
commercial food upon the ground. The
Iowa and Nebraska farmer simply turns over
the black loan, drops in the seed and ma
ture takes 1t In hand and nourishes 1t to |
ma turity.
"The great sweeping blades, graspng
tightly to the rotund stalks, show how great
the yield is to be. Every stalk promises
two or three ears and when harvest time
comes these western acres will show yield
equal to any of the years of the past.
THE WEALTH OF CORN.
"'Corn is low; never lower said a Ne |
braska farmer. Nine cents bushel. It's |
cheaper than wood or coal and we're burn |
ing it. and will as long as it don't pay to |
haul it And as he finished he waved his |
brawny hand toward row of cribs skirting |
either side of the railroad. II wasn't neces-
sary for him to tell us that they were filed |
with last years crop. They were fairly |
bulging There were twenty or more of |
ihc tiSH'iS Hlieu cIiDo' iHe HtduS vi the |
passengers were poked out of the car win
dows, looking at them with a sort of
what's to become of the farmer look as
the train moved off
Before the sun went to rest a thousand |
of these granaries were passed. Whether
as an advertisement or evidence of owner
ship, upon nearly every crib there was a
lettered board, not the work OF the farmers
boy the village artist. but OF a skilled
sign painter, showing to whom the contents
OF the buildings belonged. There were many
hundreds with Mason & Co. johnson &