The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-10-12
GREAT PRAISE
OF KANSAS
By a Writer Who Calls 1t the
Brightest and Best
PLUNGE OF ITS AMBITION
Always Struggling Upward for
Greater Things.
PLUNGE OF ITS AMBITION


There is something "superiative7 about
Kansas that is hard to describe difficult
to analyze, impossible TO express in
words The state always goes the
! limit" Its performances have always
! been sensational 1t was the cruciDle
/ from which sprung the anti-slavery real
/ ity Of emancipation which gave liberty
10 a race of slaves. II produced John j.
| ingalls,, the most brilliant debater the
most gifted writer, the greatest master
OF invective that ever sat in the United
| States senate; it produced Joe Patchen
and John r. Gentry, the best and teetest
harness horses the world ever saw, and
the sires OF more champions than any
other state can boast; Kansas produced
in 1901. a sheep that yielded more pounds
of wool than were ever carried by a live
mutton; the biggest hog that ever
weighed in" at the Chicago stookyards
was a product of Stafford county, Kan
sas in 1901, the year Of the universal
drouth, Kansas raised the most valuable
agricultural crop of any similar area in
the history of the world. William Allen
White, the foremost paragrapher, the
ablest story-writer. the most finished au-
thor of polished prose in the United
States today, is the editor Of the Emporia
Gazette, a Kansan amongst Kansans
Gene Ware, better known as ''ronquin."
the poet par excellence of the prairies
now commissioner Of pensions at Wash
ington, is a Kansan. So is Carrie Nation
the most sensational reformer this coun-
try ever saw; so is Nary Ellen Lease. f.
D. Coburn. the secretary Of agriculture
for Kansas, is now recognized and quoted
as the ablest the most lucid and the
most experienced authority on scientific
modern farming in the United States
and perhaps in the world. General Fred
Funston's career is another example Of
the meteoric brilliance Of everything Kan
sasesque His rise from the position Of
a newspaper reporter on one of the small
dailies Of Kansas to the top fight Of mill
tary renown within a few years is with
out parallel in the military history OF
this country-of any country.
You can always get funny about
Kansas on the superlative basis. Its cy-
clones alone would have made it famous.
It's busted booms' of a generation ago
made themes for hundreds of facetious
pens that have since been stilled by the
majestic actualitics Of Kansas splendid
deeds. The wierdest. most grotesque,
most awful newspaper stories" ever
written came from the audacious pens Of
Kansas correspondents. The managing
editor Of one Of the foremost daily news
papers Of Chicago today was at one time
an honored member OF the Incompatible
coterie OF Kansas liars who helped 10
br,iit about the world the startling in
formation 0 which for years made the
world cape and stare at the very men
ton Of the name of Kansas. Even now
the tendency Of every one who speaks or
writes about Kansas is 10 exaggerate.
The story OF the last drouth. as written
by the correspondents, gave out the i'm
preston that the whole state was des-
er, Of shifting. diaphonous and binding
simoons. You might have thought that
the rivers and ponds had gone UP IN
steam. that the crops had blown away
I'm the grasp Of torrid tornado. that the
cattle were blasted rs they leaned against
Tho. cracking fences. and that the breath
Of the seismic furnace had withered the
whole face Of nature And vet as have
indicated. in that wear Of -'drouth the
agricultural Yield Of Kansas was greater
I'm actual value than the product OF any
other state in any year since the United
States began.
The best writer's. the best soldiers. the
best statesmen. the best horses. the best
sheer the best pigs. the best and biggest
ears OF corn and wheat the best and
richest farms and farmers the biggest
gas fields mot including the newspaper
correspondentsl. the greatest ore smelt-
. f,.. = Z
Jest cranks. che foremost reformers. the
wisest agricultural scientist the most
n,odefn system Of faruine the biggest
liars and the most marvellous actual per
forfpances. make up list of Kansas
products which can be safeir set down as
nrtbentiraiiv given. truthfHly desrrihed
end sursrlatiYely beyond comparison in
/ tbe United states
u is certain ihat iu re other similar
araa in shis country ls che efficiency ~ q
population so veil expressed in state
ttife aliesni ambition. ceassisss indus
fif ssrr optimism end an aHaHiantinf
discrimination fa overcome ~ obstacles
/ in southwestern Hahsas faf Instance ihH
-ss IN ultimate SIRE rminthta. fn efarih
90 WsHYfasfHfirs Industries 81 bee been
sfsataf 4haH iR aHF aihff state iH eHt
ssftespaHdiHa srafr ~ uHa Tile is sHt
af fAs peculiar faFis aha1i iiai sfafs ihaf
b. Haf appreciated iH ths easf sfsh ne faf
es chicago Haif iha men HHf afs EN-
Fsssa iH manufacturing af Do iahhiHa
staples ssaaaf sst % Through uhfif heads
uaat ilaHsas Is anything hHf ca asiifHi-
t4fal sfats And SEQ iH the southeastern
counties ~ Kans4s ihafe be population,
~ nearly eaf 8a whlch De- almost y h0tif
dependent upon Factories miuss sa-ii-
ere and mtis rirshura iais, nnfsf
vile ana some az fAs smartssi F.t.ss vest
~ ths Mississippi river are in1asifia.
hives that would flourish 90 there vas
not farm within two hundred miles 81
them.
The whole ~ eastern kansas. includine.
such modern cities as Kansas Cli3 Al
Gibson. Topeka. Lawrence and @ score ~
smaller towns constitutes perhaps the
richest corn and cattle area in this coun-
try. The ;ime Is Al hand when the south
/ eastern cities viii he great metropolis
but as yet the tread 81 population espe-
cialiv 81 emierants. iu Kansas. as Do
Texas. Oklahoma ana Indian territory.
has been toward the farms This is be-
cause farming IN Kansas is no longer
laborious. uncertain deht-iaden. discour-
aging avoVation kansas leads the world
today in the scientific application o. mod
err methods Of husbandry as expressed
in divsrsl6cation. rotation and feasibility