The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-03-25
SOUTHWEST
PROSPERITY
Charles M. Harger Tells of It
in the Evening Post.
WEALTH OF THE FARMERS
Ten of Them Have S250,000
in the Bank.
WEALTH OF THE FARMERS

|
New York Evening Post, Chas. Harger
says:
In the vast region described somewhat
vaguely as the southwest" recent pro-
gress marks the beginning of a new era
that promises unusual economic advance
ment.
A few years ago but one industry occu-
pied the territory of the high plains
southwest Kansas, Oklahoma, northern
and northwest Texas, eastern New Mex
ico-and the Indian Territory That was
cattle raising. The farmer-or the settler
he was then--had made inroads on the
eastern edge, and old Oklahoma was
ready for opening. The cattle man was
king, and the laws of the frontier were
bent to his pleasure.
II was with the return of Western crop
raising success and the rapid rise in the
value of cattle that there camethe change
The immigration that turned to the south
west because of the advertising given in
the opening of Oklahoma and the free
homes of that territory demanded that
there should be given up to farming and
to stock raising on a small scale the
larger portion of the then unoccupied
region.
One day there was banquet of cattle
men in Dallas The plates cost SIS each,
and the speakers We're boastful and i'm
aginative. They had considerable sport
with a bashful young newspaper man who
had been invited that he might write up
the occasion. Finally, they demanded a
speech from him. Diffdently he rose TO
his feet.
You are the kings here" he began
you rule the range, and have fenced it
in with barbed wire. But the man with a
hoe is cutting the wires. You may drive
him akay; you may even kill him. but to-
morrow there will be two men in his
place. The farmer is moving against
you. and your dominion over the South
west is doomed
He received no applause when he finish
ed but he told the truth.
The homesteader has demanded and has
received his rights. He has followed UP
the water courses and has picked out the
valleys as his own. Then he has fenced
in the upland as far as he wished, and the
increase of his heards and focks has
made him well-to-do. Oklahoma has a
population of 50OOOo; northwestern Teas
past five years; western Kansas and east
ern Colorado have gained again many
of the discouraged farmers who were in
the old days known as ''rain-beiters''
and left when their theories of crop pro-
duction failed.
The former plan of railway development
was for the road TO precede settlement;
in the Southwest the settlement went
ahead of the roads. Oklahoma has 1.6o0
miles of railway, every county but one
being reached by the railway lines. The
Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific has
within a year opened a new line across
northwest Texas and western Oklahoma
from Kansas to FL Paso The Atchison,
Topeka and Santa Fe has one line far
Their east, reaching down into the heart
of the cattle country. and there are ru-
mors that it will with one more branch
make this the main line for through
California business. instead of, as for
many years, running to southern Colora-
do and thence south To New Mexico.
The railroad building OF the nation last
year was approximately 5000 miles OF
this the Southwest had the greater part.
Oklahoma led all tie States with $50 miles.
Texas second with 1896 miles. Arkansas
third with 81. Indian Territory fourth
with 1868. New Mexico built 2SO miles in
the year Every line is hustling for more
territory. and every mile takes with it
more and more of the appliances of
civilization.
At one little interior town of Oklahoma
this winter 25,coo bushels of corn were
cribbed up waiting for a railroad to be
built that it might be shipped away The
road has reached there by this time. and
lie business was ready for K; The State
bank of Syracuse. in the extreme south
west part of Kansas. the depositary OF
three Kansas counties, as well as OF a
part of one Oklahoma county, has cap
ital of So. 000 and deposits Of sl500o0. The
voting population Of the three counties
il serves is only 600, and the Territory
contingent has but 100 more. 1t Is a cattle
country. and the deposits show the pros
perity that has been gained out of the
pastures.
]. T. Smith. of the Comptrollers Office
of Texas. returned from Limestone Coun-
ty a few days ago. Speaking of the
peoples condition he said:
Ten farmers in Que community that I
visited have over $4,000 in the bank"
Did they make il out OF their crops?''
Every cent of il. and most of il in the
past three years. The farmers are &C
tualy worried to know how TO invest
their money best"
The variety and the intelligent selection
of crops is doing much for the farmers
They no longer strive TO raise corn or
wheat or cotton exclusively. They raise
alfalfa. sugar beets ION the upper Arkan-
sas River, fruit. vegetables. and are add
ing dairy cows to their possessions In
other words. they are earning their in
come day BY DAY instead OF waiting u
get it all in lump at the end OF year
Yet the staple crops have not been lost
sight OF in the past decade.
II is little wonder that with such re-
turns from staple crops the business
houses are prosperinng and the towns are
growing. There is a remarkable boom in
land values also. IL seems strange that
men viii go inJo Oklahoma and pay 500
for lsa acres % land with Inferior i'm
provements. but they 90. They Pay more
sometimes. As good land in Kansas and
Nebraska and Texas car he bought for
two-thirdds The money. some Of the men
who are selling out are going there Or
out on the plains and buying again
Should there come crop failures Tor two
years. there might be = deprecia ton IN
prices But there VII never b he De-
preston OF former years, for the neS
settlement Is experienced: i, knows how
10 meet conditions and Is building 20 com
bat them. II Is taking along with IL
other industries.
The great rsnges ~ the Southwest are