The Topeka state journal., 1902-01-22
TAPP To CROCERS.
Wichita Senator Talks About
Kansas and Future.
Arid Land Line Will Soon Be
Obliterated.
TO BANQUET TONIGHT.
Visiting Merchants to Be Given
Feast.
Attendance at Meetings of Asso-
citation Increases.

4
| took an optimistic view of the outlook
/ for Kansas for the future. He said:
There was time during the past
year when the clouds deceived us, and
| rain became a reminiscence, but KAN
/ sas has survived and proceeded in its
course to the stars through difficulties.
| According to the figures of a news
paper man of my town, the wheat crop
| of the year just closed was so immense
| that if ground into flour and baked into
| one grand, monster doughnut, the COM
| bined armies of Spain. Belgium, Dem
mark, Norway, Sweden, Greece, Bull
| Saria and Roun1ania could be put into
| the bole in the center of it, horse, foot
| and dragons, and it would take them
| thirty-three years, eight months and
| seventeen days to eat their way to
| liberty.
And that is not ALL my friends. He
| has calculated that the same crop could
be baked into bread, and after giving
an efght-ounce loaf to every human be-
ing on all the continents of the world
and on all the islands of the sea, the
Sunfiower state would have enough left
to give two loaves a day for every day
for over three years to every man, Wo-
man and child within her borders.
Gentlemen, there is a great future
for Kansas. / do not claim any special
gift of prophecy, but I predict that
many here will live to see no arid land
in Kansas. The climate is changing
under the supreme law of adaptation. [
well remember when logical cultivation
it has advanced sixty miles toward the
setting sum- Last year Barton county
was one of the greatest wheat produc-
ing counties of the world, and Rush
county, still further west, produced
one and one-half million bushels of the
same cereal. If the climate does not
change rapidly enough to accomplish
my prophecy, the genius of the great
American people viii accomplish it. If
the laws of nature do not aid us in
reaching our destiny, will repeal
them or nullify them by establishing an
irrigation system that will make the So
called arid west blossom like the rose.
Our prosperity as merchants depends
largely upon the prosperity of the man
who tllS the soil and while they sue
ceed we succeed. and no longer! 1t is
our duty and should be our policy to
stand by the man behind the plow and
see that legiSlation-both state and
tional-Shou1d be as much in his favor
as any other industry. A part of every
dollar we can secure for him by belt
and freight rates for his products, or
by a wide awake market for the COM
moditieS he has to SELL will come to us
and in turn go into the pockets of all
the people. For that reason we must
necessarily take an interest in reciproc-
ity, the Nicaraguan canal and the other
great quest tionS which in nay way af-
fects the farmer.
II am glad to say that in Kansas the
laboring man of skill has never been
paid better wages, or the uns killed la
Dor has gotten more hours work than
now. In my town there is a labor en-
ploying panic, every man is doing some
thing. The hammer and the saw are
making music in every street and alley.
Bricklayers, stonemasonS, carpenters,
foundrymen, teamsterS and every class
of industrial energy are working over
time and the Peerless Princess is red
olent with the scent and perfume of
pine and paint.
Gentlemen, some of you may think
these strange utteranceS from a Popu-
~ VII T.
what we Populists always wanted to
accomplish, and more than that, it is
the condition which we wish to main
tain"
J. M. O'Brien, of Humboldt, Kan, read
a paper this morning on the dangers of
the proposed parcels post bill now be-
fore congress, to the retail merchants
of the country towns.
Mr. O'Brien set forth the purposes of
the bill and asserted that it's passage,
besides running half the small retail
merchants, by throwing business that
belongs to him 1egitimately to the mil
lionaire department stores of the cities
would increase the postal deficit many
times that caused by the action of the
second class rate on paper back books.
The committee on legislation today
recommended that each county be al
lowed one member each on the 1egisla-
tive committee of the organization, and
that in addition to this that, Shawnee,
Sedgwick, Wyandotte, Atchison and
Leavenworth counties be allowed two
members each.
The committee also recommended
that per capita tax of so cents be as
sesSed on the members of the organiza-
ton for the use of the legislative COM
mittee to be used in securing measures
wanted by the organization, and that
circular letters be prepared and asnt to
all the manufacturers and jobbers trib
utary to Kansas grocers and merchants,
asking their cooperation and influence
in securing such legislation as is need
ed.
After a discussion this morning, the
members of the association voted to be-
come a chartered organization, and
charter papers will be taken out at the
office of the secretary of state soon
M E. Burns, editor of the ST. Joseph
Journal of Commerce, read paper dis
cussing Franklin McVeagh's famous
epigram, Get big or get out"
Elisha Winters, a national organizer,
spoke at the meeting last night ON
1.-The Coming Triumph of Federated
MerchantdOm."
The delegates to the convention will
banquet tonight at Metropolitan hail. |
at AIS Kansas avenue.
In addition to the list of delegates
published Tuesday the following names
We're registered on the books of the
secretary at noon today:
Thos. L. Morris, Eskridge; G: E.
Work, Mayetta; P. B. Kemp1er, Ellin- |
wood; L. S. Evans. Dodge City: r. w. |
Evans Dodge City: A. N. Gissel, Dodge !
City; James E. Coffey, Rock Creek; H. |
G. Scott, Horton: John McCreary, Hor- |
ton; d. A. We1ch. Burlingame; Wool |
wine Bros, Saffordville Hiatt & Paint |
er, Emporia; ]. c. Conklin. Americus; |
r. L. Hershberger, Eskridge; D. H. |
Stowe, Emporia Isaac Inman, Clifton; /
F. L. Horton, Clifton; ]. E. Ewart, Min /
neapolis; G. A. Rockwell Junction |
City; Frank Williams, Beloit; Chas. |
Pickens, Lebo; Henry B. Mees, Nadeau; |
s. E. Richards, Wakefield; p A. Nc |
Namus, Junction City: c. S. Brewer. |
Abilene; John Cairns, Scranton; Geo. /
Hoggins, Scranton; E. B. Froelich, En-
terprise; w. w. May, Beloit; Edward /