Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1904-04-27
Advantages In Kansas Land.


has just returned from an extensive
visit in Illinois, makes the following
observations In regard TO the advant-
ages to be derived from owning a farm
in Kansas in preference to eking out
an existence IN the sucker state. This
article should have appeared last week
but got in too late:
II have come to the conclusion, while
| visiting in the old home state, that if
the people there could all have been
lifted up out of that mud and cold the
day left there and set down in Kansas
so that they could actually see the great
difference between the two places,
| there would be but few of them who
would be content to live there again.
The fact of the matter is that all that
keeps them there is that they don't
know any better. Just think Of it.:
long cold hard winter followed by six
or seven weeks of almost impossible
/ roads on account of mud, and then
compare this with our country where
we never have the long, nor the cold
winter. and never have any impossible
roads on account Of mud; and then
follow this up with the fact that we
have just as good land as any they have
and land that will produce as much and
do it with one half the expense as any
thing they have, and then tell me if you
can see where they have any advantage
over us. But some say we have dust
storms. Well. yes, we DO; but they
never get so bad we can't travel; soms
may say we have drouths. Of course
we do, but we can take our country.
throw in the dust storms, drouth and
every. other disadvantage you can
mention, and then give those fellows
good start and beat them two to one
when it comes to farming. A man
back there who has 100 acre
farm with part of it, say one-fourth, In
grass must then hire a man to help him
farm the rest. while here one man can
farm the whole quarter and not have
to hire any help. Then we will grow
just about as much per acre as they do
aud, taking the last season for an exam
pie our corn for instance, sold for nearly
as much as theirs, we raised corn on
$50 land that averaged nearly as much
as theirs, that sold for 50 cents shelled.
They raised corn on 500 land that sold
for 46 cents. They had to hire lots of
help and pay big taxes, work IN the
mud aud cold to gather their crop. feed
their stock about three months longer
through the winter than we had to feed
and when you count the cost and the
value Of their land we are from my
way of looking at it, good reach
ahead of them to Say nothing about the
aggravat1on of pulling through their
mud to do the work.
There are III that state large num-
Der of small farmers who are living on
land that would sell for a good big
price. They have small farms that
will barely make them living; they
are, most of them at least, trying to
raise a family Of children, and no
doubt hope at some time to give them
start in life.As it now looks they have
little to build their hopes on, for it
takes all they can make to keep them
going aud no prospects of getting
enough ahead to buy more land, and
about all can see IN store for them is
a bare living, and when their children
| are grown up to turn them out to rent
land at big rent, they cannot hope to
ever be anything but renters. If these
men could only get up courage to sell
those little farms, take the proceeds, go
west, buy farm that would be as good
acre for acre as the one they now own,
then they might hope with their added
acres to be able some day to still add
more acres. But most of them are re.
signed to their lot and haven't got
enough courage to get up and pull sour
from their old friends, and try to make
their way in the world. OF course with
the older ones of the family they are not
to be pitled, but it Is hard on the chill.
dren who are forced to drag out their
lives in this way land eventually have to
rent land 20 live on, whereas if they
had the opportunity, they and their
parents might together be able to own
many acres instead of the little farm
they now own. have great many
friends In that state. In fact most of
my own family reside there. but with
all of their high priced land, and in
| view of the fact that most of my kin
live there honestly wouldn't go back
there to live il they would give me two