The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-04-29

1895 .................. $4,000 554 90
1895 Observation-Disclosures. 64,001 566 o.
1917 Observation-Disclosures. e3I,Uyv teU,VF
| 1898 Observation-Disclosures. $4,000 9290
1t will be seen that 1896 was dead low
tide in the commercial conditions of Kan
sas and 1895 in Nebraska; 1892 was higl
tide in both states. The recovery in Ne
braska has been more rapid than in Kan
sas, but if the sales of the first thre'
months Of the current year are kept VI
/ the total will pass the million mark il
both Of the states.
F. D. Coburn, secretary Of the STATE
board Of agriculture. confirms the storie.
of Cancelled mortgages that were told t.
; me by Mr.. Breidenthal, the bank com
missioner, at Topeka the other day.
! There has been wonderful clearing
| off Of financial obligations among The
farmers of this state" he said. Il can
| not give you detail statistics, but judging
! the whole state by several sample coun-
! ties I am familiar with. I think It safe
| TO say that not less than 5000, 600 900 OF
| farm and home mortgages have been paid
/ off in Kansas during the last few years.
/ The farmers Of this state are now in a
most gratifying conditio nof prosperity
and contentment. OF course we have our
share of welIs-perhaps more
than you find inkolder communities of the
east-but many of them are actually pros
! pering in defiance of ordinary economic
laws. It has been difficult for anybody to
court disaster during the last two or three
years.
Ever since the panic of 1893 the people
| have been skipping and saving and sell
ing everything that would add a little to
| thei rincomes, but they have caught up
now and are buying the things that they
have craved all these years. Many of
! them are building new houses and barns
and getting fine cattle, horses and hogs,
which accounts for the mortgages that
are being filed in the court houses these
days. Almost every farmer is replacing
his old machinery with up-to-date i'm
provements. The manufacture of agri-
cultural machinery are swamped with or
ders. The men are getting new buggies.
/ carriages and harness and their wives are
getting new furniture, pianos and cook
| stoves. They are putting furnaces and
running water and other conveniences in
their houses and barns. There is where
is paid off. The whole trend is toward
economy in handing crops. During seven
years Of adversely they have learned a
good deal, and now they are taking ad-
vantage of the first opportunity to better
their facilities and provide themselves
with whatever makes life worth living
Nor viii they ever be caught again. It
has been a valuable lesson. a. valuable
experience for the community as well as
the individual-ths ordeal they have
passed through-and the results will he
Of lasting benefit Many good people have
fallen. but the survivors are the nobility
of Kansas"
The prosecuting attorneys throughout
the state are usually the autocrats who
decide whether a community shall be
wet" or dry" and their action IS gen
orally governed by public sentiment.
Sometimes it affords political issue. and
candidates are elected with the under
standing or upon pledge that they will
carry out certain policy, and thus the
majority rules. As I have said. the great
majority Of towns are dry but many
alternate between the two conditions ac-
cording TO circumstances. When the en-
torcement Of the liquor law is lax trag-
edy-a shooting scrape. a murder. a case
or Wlfe-beating, 4 fatal accident that can
he traced to liquor, the embezzlement of
money by some fast young man-wi-I so
shock The moral sense of the Community.
"a. '''e s''l''t.s VIII DE shut M for a year
u" wv 'ul the erect and the recollec-
','" "i So'h events soon die away, and
10 1-fr- ,,r,
'.'7 .'''i-AlhS PAGES gradually open. first
Tue 'd'N G'or ana then the front door,
~ sun 'niHS else occurs to c,ose them.
ileF say the best hotel in Texas Is 70
-,"',' al be-ton. town on the Santa
Fe road, and it is kept by "sover sancti-
,''u S'N-gES rs the oro2rietors are poau-
'E ''i.e'- several years ago woman
ID" '''a- pace and ner husband quarreled
'"7 'eSl way OF eNnou0Ging the
@-.'','1 > 10 d sunday school class. and
"V'e s.lo''fn that they se0a-ated and
were ma ~ divorced THIS family con-
--''5'>N "aS taken up by the town. which
"eS soon oi>.lnct'y divided between the
S''e-'''S Oh the husband and the a.
'S OF me VIE. The result was a
large crop Of divorces. and seven hus-
''i.-ess women, including the original
.-S ~ me oommo-on joined together
-', .s'-'.' 'Ae town hotel. One Of them
ND -'e ''N,'@' ah''ner was 0ar'or maid.
'',-'a mace Ip the bods. and 50 they
Wv '0ea me work among them and ran
me e--a'..Shm-ot upon the cooperative
'..'' '7F would not employ a mar about
patrons were men. of course. Peop-e saw