The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-04-07

comparison ike an insignificant min
now while above the foan-crested bill
wearied wing, scared the horrid mon
tsers o fthe air, many OF them ten
times the size OF the condor Of the
Andes
The Receding Waters.
'.Then came the period of receding
waters. the gradual drying up OF the
fountains of the great deep, and Kan
sas, covered wit hthe slime deposited
by the WtaerS of ages, became dry
land, fitted for the habitation of beasts
and men.
Even in those prehistoric ages.
separated from US by untold aeons,
there must have been some of the
characteristics that mark the Kansas
of the present. AS the waters re-
coded, and We're gradually gathered
INTO the oceans and CUFFS and bays as
we know them now, the mighty sau-
rians that sported in the Kansas
waters might have gone with the
ebbing tides and found safe homes in
the greater ocean, but with true Kan
sas spirit they stayed on, hoping that
1t would be Wetter in the spring, until
they finally left their bones as a rich
harvest for fossil hunters Of the ages
that were yet to come
Following the age of waters came
the age of huge mammals. and vege-
tatlon TO correspond with the char
acter OF animal life then existent. The
lordly mastodon, with frame SO huge
that he shook the earth as he walked
tAen rOamed over the plains of Kan
SdS IN size often ten times greater
Ln1n the largest ASiatic elephant it
follows of course that nature supplied
MN with provender in proportion 10
his bulk and appetite. Bluesten fifty
Ieet IN height swayed and bent in the
preezes that famed the teeming earth
ana sunhOWers a hundred feet tall
opened their broad disks to meet the
semi-tropic sun.
What a period that would have
Deen for the TeraciOus real estate
agent and the newspaper man whose
devotion to truth and exactitude of
information know no variableness or
shadow of turning, What crop stories
ne could have turned out; what mar
vicious tables Of statistics showing the
wonders of production.''
A1r- MeNeal then discusses the state
history fro nCoronado down to the
present and concludes as follows.
Born, as it We're. amid the stress
and storm of conflict; springing. like
Athena, from the brain of Jove. full
armed and prepared for battle, the
subsequent history of the state strong
~ shows the effect of prenatal in
huences in the strenuous character
and radical trend of her people. IN
tenseIy patriotic. hopeful even fam
bOyant, they admire the spectacular.
and tend to radicaIism as the sparks
70 fly upward. They have never shown
excessive mOdesty in refusing to pro-
claim their own virtues, or their mani
fest. abundant and varied resources.
and during occasional periods of dis
aster they have even seemed to derive
some satisfaction in advertising their
own calamitieS- To be a [ the head OF
the procession. no matter which way
it might be going, has been their man
fest desire, and Kansas has gotten
more advertising at the top of the col
uTnn and next pure reading matter. in
proportion to her age, than any other
----
great crops, but when Kansas comes
in with whatever crop may happen to
be her speciality that particular year,
the others go into eclipse and Kansas
becomes the center OF universal atten-
ton If Providence frowns and the
clouds of adversely lower. if the land
is scourged with locusts, Kansas points
with melancholy pride to the fact that
none of EN- can show UP as many
hoppers to the square foot as this
blessed state: and in the moments OF
dlrest disaster she calls attention to
the superior quality Of her sackcloth
and ashes.
Kansas Development.
The development of Kansas indus
tries and the growth OF her institu-
lions are Part Of her history out of
them other gentlemen have been dele
gated to speak. The story OF Kansas
is UNIQUE, and her development along
many lines without a parallel During
q capitol surpassed by few state cap
itols either in commodiousness or eie-
gance of finish She has built and
equipped charitable institutions that
take rank with similar institutions in
the Oldest and Wealthiest states in the
Union She has built and equipped
state institutions of learning that call
forth the warmest compliments from
experienced educators of this and 9TH
er countries; and all these have been
paid for as they were built, without
4 leaving any burden of debt to succeed
I ing generations. She has rapidly
growing fund for the support OF public
/ schools which has already reached the
/ enormous total of nearly ten millions
/ of dollars Perhaps no state OF the
same population has fewer niliiOnaires,
and not one Of equal population can
show so few paupers- With generous
! humanity the various counties in the
state have provided homes for the in
digent, but in many cases they are
only occupied by the custodians en-
ployed to care for them. BY way OF
example may be cited the case of a
county which. at an expense OF some
$4,000, provided a home for the indi-