Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1898-04-08


gold debts, had no little effect in bring
ing gold quickly to par with silver.
What 1t meant was that there would
be no demand for gold In the United
States for two years except as people
might voluntarily desire 1t. And thus,
two influences were operating to take
the demand from gold and thereby
lower It's commercial value. The great
est of these two influences was silver
In competition with gold to supply the
demand for money. The Rocky and
Sierra Nevada mountains continued to
fill with miners and all attending peo-
pie that are attracted by great ill.,
dustry The population Of Colorado,
Utah, Montana, Idaho, Arizona and
New Mexico doubled In the year 1901.
The wholesale houses Of Chicago, st.
Louis, Kansas City, Omaha and San
Francisco felt the impetus Of the new
business made by the active and pros
porous people of the mountain states.
A stream Of white metal, the money
Of Washington, Jefferson, Jackson and
Lincoln, was flowing through the mints
and percolating among all the people,
everywhere. A government of the peo-
pie had been for twenty-eight years
without primary money that would
stay with the people-but the past waS
gone and government of the people
and returned.
Farming was again profitable. The
price Of farm products was advancing
rapidly. AS they had fallen with sill
yer so had they advanced again with
that metal. Corn was so cents per
bushel and still advancing. Country
merchants were ordering literally of
the wholesale houses-their customers
had money with which to buy. 1t was
now discovered that the overcrowding
cities were having their population de-
pleted from two causes: first, the i'm
migration to the mountain states had
made tremendous draft on every
trade, profession and occupation: Sec
ondly, the fact that farming was again
profitable had caused a second move
ment to set in toward the country
During the year 1901, the streets OF
most of the cities looked more or less
deserted. The people that once crowd
ed them. looking for work, were gone
but 1t was an ominous silence. The
millions Of Heretofore idle hands were
making wealth that was to later re-
| feet its influence in these marts OF
trade and centers of commerce. The
orders for merchandise and manu-
facturers' articles, from mines and
farms, were now pouring into the
cities, with a scarcity of clerks and
other employees and wage-earners to
handle the business High salaries and
higher wages became necessary to hold
| old employees or to get new ones, sc
| great was the desire of these to engage
in the more profitable or tempting op-
portunities Gin the mines" or to move
| their families to the better air and the
broader influences to be found on farms
and In country life. The advance In
farm products had made farming de.
sirable and profitable. Strikes had be,
come a thing of the past Gold ant
silver were at par. Gold, finding itsel
in idleness, with everything advancing
except itself, had come out of hiding
and invested itself in those things thai
were advancing. 1t was again in cir
culation, among the people, the frs
time, excepting in California, for forty
years.
On Saturday, May 4th, congress.
passed a bill, that was signed by thu
president, making 1t unlawful for an!
person or corporation, except continu
GUS lines of railways, to own or hol(
more than 800 acres of land for any
purpose. The bill provided for com
missioners to set value upon all sur
plus lands, of each holder, to be pait
for at once by the government, or re
ferred to a jury, If demanded. Thi'
land thus forfeited by its owner, To-
value received, to be thrown open TO
sale by the government. This bill
caused over 5O,0OO,O0 acres of land il
the United States, belonging to citi
zens in England, to be thrown open tt
occupancy by Jan. 1, 1902, made it pos
sible for thousands to find homes ant
useful occupations, and had foreve'
put an end to landlords and tenantry II
America. BY 1902, the miners whit
had made a stake were returning from
the mountains and buying 320-acr
homes for themselves and families
Nor were they the only ones VIII
sought life among the trees and flow
ers. Merchants, professional men ant
others became gradually imbued witt
the desire to own country home, un
til it became fad, the fashion. Chill
dren were healthier. their minds be
came broader, the young men hand
somer and broader shouldered AM
more manly, and the women faireI
better color and more beautiful.
was life. 1t was man-making and wo
man-making. And they all knew II
In 1903, by reason of rising prices, tn
people had discharged all their indspt