Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1904-01-14
GLORIOUS YOUNG STATE.
Frank A. Faxon. Who Came to Kansas In
1856. Gives Kansas City Business
Men q Few Facto.

Kansas City. Mo-, Jan. THE rooms
Of the Commercial club were filled last
night to hear the address on kansas
by an ex-Kansan," by Frank A. Faxon,
the wholesale druggist. c. d. Parker,
president of the club, introduced Mr..
Eaxon as a man who had early invaded
Kansas with q book of poems in one
pocket and an order book In another
pocket. Mr.. Parker paid a tribute to
Mr.. Faxon's usefulness as citizen Of
Kansas City. Mr.. Faxon spoke In part
as follows:
1T was my fortune to journey to
Kansas with my parents AZ years ago.
l could not have helped 1t II l would
and now know would not If l could.
We came up the Missouri river on the
steamboat Polar Star. and first touched
soil in Wyandotte. The day after we
Travelled by stage to Lawrence. l re-
member well the drive through the
beautiful Kaw valley. 1t was as pleas
ant as q summers dream. We passed.
the homes OF the Delaware Indians, q
race OF men now fast fading away.
The month was May, the weather per-
feet, and all day beneath the radiant
smile of God lay the vast splendor,
cleaning far and wide. Lawrence
was then q hamlet, some two years old.
"Only q poets words could fttingly
describe the enhancing beauty of those
wild and virgin prairies, soon to pass
under mans dominion. What an al
Turing domain now! There under fair
est skies are the homes of nearly
100000 happy people! There where,
according to the old Biographies, was
the great American desert, is now the
broad grain belt of Kansas, not grains
Of glinting sands, but grains OF golden
wheat, of bearded rye, Of oats and bar
ley. From her cornfields alone Kansas
has in single season given to the
world 273,000,U00 bushels Of the SUBJ
stantial grain that stands for bread
and meat. Consider what this means!
One item in the list of farm products
that would load freight train more
than 5000 miles In length, that would
FIJI the cars of seven trains, all of which
wound reach across the state that pro-
duced it from east to west, crop big
enough to load wagon train that
would encircle the globe; and be suf-
Gcient to place ut the feet of every
human inhabitant on earth 4 score of
well filled ears.
In the early days of Kan ,as 1t was
believed that the agricultural resources
Of the state were limited principally
to corn and potatoes, with of course.
q great abundance of good prairie
grasses. Diversified crops now make
each succeeding year sirer and safer
For the husbandman. Those wheat
Belds of Kansas, which fortunately es-
capped the ravages Of the June floods,
Yielded upwards Of 94.000,00O bushels |
d golden grain, worth more than |
'52, 10000, being more than one eighth
If the winter wheat raised in the
United States. Other states are excel
ent, but Thou, Oh! Kansas, excelleth
hem all. Sixty bushels of wheat to
very man, woman and child in the
tate.
"Over S5,500.000 are received an
lually for school purposes. There are
-et 500, 900 acres of unsold school lands
md permanent school fund of moro
han $8,000,000. In the past rs years,
nd Is years takes us back to the early
lie OF the state, the munificent sum OF
5000, 900 has been expended for pub
lc schools. 1t may surprise some of
GU to learn that the largest state nor
nal school in the world is in Kansas,
nd the largest and most successful
college is there, a farm
chool which really teaches farming.
I'm the state are 26 UNCONVENTIONAL
olleges, 30 academies and 20 business
chools. There are 6S public libraries
nd GROWING the brow of that noble
Ill at Lawrence and sending its rays
light and warmth to the horizons
dye is that splendid institution of ;
'arning, the state university, with
S IS professors and its more than
200 students. These are the golden !
'uits that have come from the humble
Ianting OF the common schools less
years ago on the prairie swells.
THE changes in single generation
e astounding. The growth of the
unflower state shows the magnificent
,portunities of this great country, of
hich we are part. Forty years ago
ERE were a few small towns scattered I
roughout the eastern third of the
ate; now there are 11S towns and
ties OF more than 1000 inhabitants
Id ranging up to $4,000 population.
he humble log cabin has given place
the more pretentious and. elegant
anne and brick house, with all the ac-