Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1901-03-29
OBSERVATIONS ABROAD.
Newton, Kks., March -, 1901
Bro EDITOR STOKE:

Newton. Kss.. March ~. 1901.
Bro EDITOR STOKE:
run across . copy of
this weeks DEMocRAT hero today, and
it is tho first Great Band paper I have
seen since I was there. I have been
over quito big wheat territory since
[ have boon with tho Kemper Grain
Co.. and have just run in hero from .
trip in the Oklahoma grain country.
That couatry q apparently on .
''boom." Farm land around Nav,
kirk, Kildare, Ponca City and Perry
is selling for $4,000 to $4,000 = quar-
ter. At Kildare, = small town, some
wheat land is selling for $4,000 quar-
ter, and not q tree in sight.
1t seems to ms that farm land in
B rt'a County At the going prices is
far better for an IN vestsnent or .
speculation than in the Oklaboms
country. People seem to be going
wild down there for farm land, aud
nothing more or MT 81 much tn sub
stan!iate it than there 10 in Barton
county, the biggest wheat c,unty Of
its size in the world.
Of course they have fiue prosp ect
for huge wheat crop, but no better
or As good as along the main limo Of
the Santa Fe, as We are far ahead Of
them on tho moisture question, and
there is eonsiderab BILE talk Of Hcssian
fly down there. There il, however,
. continuous stream Of people going
into that country, aud tho hotels are
surely reaping harvest. The old
wheat in that couatry is pretty we'll
cleaned out, as they come on the msr-
ket about June %, and they took adj
vantage of the bull campaign last
year and marketed most of their
wheat around II cents. Their people
are all in good spirits and spend their
money freely.
In all the Oklahoma towns of any
size every thing is thrown wide open;
from the 10 cent lunch counter to the
faro bank. The saloons all do a big
business, and there are not as many
drunk men on their streets as there
are in the "prohibition" towns in
Kansas.
By the news in your paper l would
Judge that the city election next Tues
day will have some "giuger" in it.
As it is in Great Bend, it Is all over
the state-not the "Blue and the
Grey" but "Wet" or "Dry." don't
suppose there is hardly a town in the
state but what has revoked the fine
of the saloon. since Mrs. Nation got
in her work with her hatchet. At
Kngman, where the grand jury was
in session and handed down indict-
mens, they continue to sell liq uor
lust the same. and the town derives
no fines. At Winfield, the hottest
fight of all, the jointists continue to
do thriving "back door" business.
Arkansas City, Wellington and espec-
tally at Wichita, whiskey and beer
flow as free as the air you breathe "a
long as you have got the 5 and 10
cent pieces to put up for it. The pic
ture of Cleopatra at the Bath in
Rome, still hangs in the Carey hotel
bar, as if to say, "Carrie, old girl,
you never touched me, although there
is slight cash in the oil painting at
the left hand corner, and there is q
hole about the size of q bucket in the
bar mirror, and crack about four
feet long.
There is one thing 1 noticed differ
emit from Great Bend. in the towns
I have been in, is that where they have
a telephone system, all the depots
have q phone for the accommodation
of the patrons. Even tho little tow1
of Stafford has two depots-Mo. Pac-
ific and Santa Fe-and they both
have phones.
Yours, etc.,
LEO CHAIRMAN