The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-08-16
WALLS OF CORN.
A Summing Up of Kansas Rec
ord Breaking Crop.
No More Passing the Hat /"
Along the Central Branch.
is A CORN RAILROAD.
Ninety Stations Will Want Fifty
Thousand Cars.
But the Prosperity Is Well Dis
tributed This Year.
Something About the Carnival
at AtchisOn.
is A CORN RAILROAD.

ocrat has the following letter from
Atchison:
A corn crop of 300, 900, 900 bushels! The
number IS amazing. 1t breaks all rec
Ords for Kansas. 1t is beyond the com
prehension of the rest of the country
The crop is practically made" as the
experts agree. Stalk growth is over.
The tasseIs have done their fructifying
work and are turning dead brown. The
ears are bending and the silk is black
ening. If no more rain should fall there
would be an inch or two on the end Of
the cob which would not fill out. If
too much rain should come the kernals
would remain soft longer than they
ought. An unusually early frost might
cut off here and there a late maturing
ear. But the great bulk of the crop is
beyond harm from any but the most
unusual conditions. If the favorable
season shall be rounded out with the
ordinary amount of moisture and with
the usual time of frost, then 800, 0O0, 900
will be 100000 900 bushels too small for
the grand total Of the corn crop of Kan
sas.
only something far out of the ex-
pected course of nature stands between
Kansas and realization of the corn crop
of BOG, 000, 600 bushels. An ideal season for
corn making is near its finish The
rainfall has been so distributed that all
parts Of the state contribute to the gen
eral result of crop without precedent
Prof. Cottrell, of the State Agricultural
college, is just back from three weeks
journey which took him to the Colorado
line.
The corn is good everywhere he
said. THE farmers of the western coun-
ties told me they had raised enough
corn this year to feed the live stock now
on hand for five years. They are al
ready arranging to bring droves of cat
tie from Colorado to eat their surplus. ,"
Usually prosperity comes in spots for
Kansas. Some years the spots are very
large and embrace tWo-thirdS or three
fOurths of the state. But crop year
which bestows its blessings impartially
in every county is most extraordinary.
That is what this year of 1899 seems to
be.
When the news first went out that
Kansas had 300, 00O, 900 bushels of corn
In sight skeptical crop editor in Chi
cagO commented:
That is always the way with Kan
sas- Before the crop is harvested she
is going to feed the world. After the
harvest she passes round the hat
This is a great state, in longitude
When the wheat harvest is a record
breaker, or when cattle and hogs mean
bank accounts, it doesn't follow that all
Of Kansas has Jared we'll. But every
where corn is planted this year it is a
IOrty-buShel crop. If a hat labeled.
aid for Suffering Kansas makes its
appearance anywhere in the broad land
of Uncle Sam the coming year let the
answer be stone, and the Sunf1ower
State, with a mighty voice, will say
Amen
1T is a crime for a man to be poor in
such country" a traveller said as he
rode hour after hour between the walls
OF corn IN Kansas one day this week.
, 1t IS a crime for a man to be poor in
such a country he repeated and add
ed; He ought to be punished if he is
And nobody in the car who heard the
emphasized opinion dissented from it
If this world beating 300. 600 600 BUSH
els of corn puts an end n fhA rlariOdi0aI
passing of the hat for Kansas it will
grat1fy a lOng-felt desire of the well
meaning. The contribution business for
Kansas sufferers is old In AtchisOn a
little dilaDidated structure is pointed
out as the place where S. G. Pomeroy
opened his law Office Mr. Pomeroy
came to Kansas in 1854 with a large
party of immigrants from Massachu-
sets. In 1860 occurred the worst drouth
the region has known since settlement
The stories of suffering which the
homes1ck immigrants sent back to New
England friends were purse-moving
The wealthy abOlitiOnistS of the east
went into their pockets with enthusi-
asm- Pomeroy, who had settled in
Atchison, was made the aInoner of the
bounty. Previous to that time he had
been the agent for the investment of
some eastern money in Kansas Atchi-
son and Sumner were rival towns on
the Missouri only a. few miles apart
Sumner had been started by the aboIi-
tionists- Atchison had been founded
a little later by the Shareholders from
missouri The avOwed purpose in the
beginning was to permit no aboIitionists
to live in AtchisOn. But when it be-
came known that POmeroy had Massa.
chusettS money to invest in a mill he
was made welcome in Atchison. One
after another the abOlitionists includ-
ing John James ingalls,, moved I'D from
sumner A big storm blew away most
OF the city The remaining buildings
fell down Sumner became a reninis-
cence oYerrun with beggar lice Atchi-
son, the Shareholders community. flour
ished and made Pomeroy the first may
or on the toss of coin.
There are Atchisonians who still re-
member well the lavish hand with
which POmerOy distributed the aid"
the New England people poured in
during 1860 and 1861. A depot was es-
tablished. The fame of Yankee char
ity spread. People drove in as and 100
miles and more and carried off wagon
loads Of clothing and supplies. Cost Of
transportation from Boston to Atchi-
son was an impressive item in those
days. The New England philanthrop-
lists, to make their money go as far as
possible, sent what the beneficfaries
considered an altogether unnecessary
proportion of beans. The sufferers
took the food, but they showed their
feelings by fastening upon Pomeroy
the name of "Old Beans which he
never lost in Kansas. When Mr.. Pom
eroy built hotel in Topeka the Kan
sas people would have no other name
for it but the Beans House
The settled part of the territory was
divided into districts, each with its
committee, which gave the orders
in Atchison. A long string of wagons
could be seen in front of the store
house day after day, loading with aid
for the interior An old resident of