Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-05-19
GREAT WHEAT CROP
The Biggest Ever Known in the
Western States.
PROSPERITY AMONG The FARMERS
This Has Been Increasing for the
Past Three Years.
ITS POLITICAL EFFECT


For the fourth consecutive year KANSAS
will harvest one of the greatest wheat crops
in her history. While it is yet two months
to the time when actual figures can be
given present conditions are so favorabl"
that it can be said the wheat production
of this state will amount to over one hun
dred million bushels in 1900. There will
be a shortage in the wheat of India, France
anticipates a fifty million bushel decrease
in her crop and the English crop is also IN
bad shape, but Kansas, Oklahoma and Ne
braska will yield enough wheat more than
their usual quota to bring the whea- crop
of the world for the present year fully up
u the crop of 1889. and perhaps even more.
The wheat of Kansas alone will feed near
ly one-third of the people of the United
States. and at present there is nothing in
sight 10 suggest the possibility OF failure
The grain is from twelve to twenty-four
inches in height; there are no insects IN
the field; there has been no winter killing.
and the ground is as full of moisture as it
can hold. Twenty-Five bushels per acre
is the Kansas record although many be-
lieve this figure has been exceeded and II
conditions hold as they now Kansas
may make new official record for the acre
age yield of the state The official fig
ures of the biggest crop We're Ii.Wo.oo0
bushels. and in this case it is believed that
the crop was greater than the returns made
it appear. and that Kansas in 1892 raised
1nn.om.tDo bushels of wheat. as she will
this year. The acreage of 1900 is nearly a
million more acres than that of 1892. which
was the greatest wheat crop the state ever
harvested. Along the Kansas line IN Ne
braska the same conditions prevail as in
this state, and in Oklahoma the whea.
fields are but n continuation Of those to
the north. The wheat area of these three
sections is this year over eight million
acres. and in what is called Kansas City
territory the wheat crop will probably ex-
coed 100 600 600 bushels.
Greatest Wheat Crop Ever Seen.
This is the greatest wheat crop this sec
ton has ever seen. and what makes 1t all
the more significant is the fact that it is
the fourth crop of similar character. and
that the prospect for prices is especially
good. The prosperity which will arise from
this condition Is 1t will not be evenly dis
trbuted throughout the grain section OF
the United States, for the traveller does not
have to go far east of Kansas City to real
iZe that he has left the great wheat coun-
try behind him. Ohio. Indiana and Michi-
gan will not have much over half a crop,
and Pennsylvania has but fair prospect. In
the northwest the spring wheat has gone
into the ground under good conditions, and
while there was some complaint of lack
of moisture the recent rains have corrected
this fault. The promised Yield from the
Missouri valley states is so great how
ever that the total production of wheat in
the United States this year will be fully
great or greater imam ever De1Ore. 1 ne
price OF wheat this month would be higher
than 1t IS, eXcept for the enormous ship
ments from the Argentine Republic. From
that country alone Europe has received in
the past three months 10000 bushels of
wheat with no apparent decrease of the
shipments IN sight. This unexpected ac-
tivity on the part of Argentina has put
that country in the second place as wheat
exporter, making Russia third. winch Is an
unusual condition.
Every railroad man who is interested In
traffic conditions in the middle west is en-
thlIsiaStic over the prospect for the COM
ing season Along the Sante Fe railroad
especially the wheat fields form a piano.
rama extending for miles and miles along
the ramifications of the system. In the
Kansas counties of Mcpherson. Marion.
Rice Barton and Rush there are 100000
acres of wheat, and in the eleven counties
north and south of this tier nearly 2,5p,op
acres of the total wheat acreage lies as
green blanket over this section of the state.
In seventeen Kansas counties there Is a
greater wheat area than in the states of
Illinois and Missouri put together
What This Means.
The greatest wheat county In Kansas is
Sumner which has about 100000 acres.
The smallest county, or nearly so, In the
state is that of Rice but one-half of the
area of this county is a solid wheat field.
A crop of wheat in this county, such as is
promised now for the present season Will
mean a thousand bushels Of grain for each
family in the county, which Is thickly pop
ulatcd and divided into small EARNS. one
of the most interesting and valuable fea
lures of this great grain yield IS that it is
not owned and controlled by WHEAT kings,
but is owned by Individual farmers with
small area in their possessions, and thus
the wealth which results from the sale or
this crop is divided more or less equally
among all the people of the state
1t IS difficult to realize the tremendous
change which has taken place m The agri-
cultural sections of the middle west during
the past four years When W. j. Bryan
stumped the country in 1896 he could point
to a record of three four years of most
depressing conditions. Farming was not
profitable, hence business in the cities lam
guished. Mortgages We're plentiful. and the
payment of interest a burden. Men were
discouraged and ready to listen to any one
who would propose remedy for hard
times The political orators of the brya'i
school attributed the misfortunes of the
people to the political policies of the gold
standard administration The bad cond-
tons were evident and tangible; the reason
therefor more or less theoretical in
the minds of many, and a skllful speaker
had little difficulty In convincing his hearers
that they had the remedy in their own
hands by proceeding to the ballot o2x and
overturnng established methods Of con-
Quoting the affairs of the country.
The first great crop of wheat came in 1897
and with 1t came renewed hope among The
agricultural districts and the great CON-
nrercial centers depending upon thu trade
therefrom Business revived in every direc-
ton. not only interest but the principal of
mortgages were quickly paid even before
they were due. banks took in Instead Of
paying out money, homestea1s were i'm
proved and implements purchased, in fact,
life became a most satisfactory existence
to those who coaxed their income from the
soil In Oklahoma, where tn arc were few
titles to land. men devoted the proceeds of
the great wheat crop to the purchase Of
their homes md with these purchases came
credit. stability and prosperity. In 1893
another crop completed the good work
which commenced In 1897 and enabled
those who were not recorped In 1897 to
complete the work of putting themselves
upon sound financial basis. In 1899 still
another great crop was harve tied. The
Kansas banks began to complain Of a pie
thora of money. and the principal topic Of
discussion at the bankers convention that
year was the difficulty of reducing their
cash surplus to profitable basis. Much
western money even found its way east for
investment. and men bought United States
government bonds in 1899 who in 1896 had
denounced them as an invention of the
devil.
Prosperity In That Section.
Another great crop. perhaps even greater
than any of the three which have preceded