Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1908-05-13
Iowa q New Farm State.

of our commonwealth, but the fact
is not appreciated generally. In the
American Review of Reviews for
this month. Herbert N. Casson
writes on "The New American
Farmer" and in regard to Iowa, a
state of new farmers, states as fol-
lows: mo other state has invested
80 much moneys $50, ,OO0, ,OO0-in
labor saving machinery; 80 that it
may fairly claim to be the zenith
of the farming world. Here are 20,
600 women and 100000 men who
have made farming profession.
They are producing wealth at the
rate of $500, ,OO0, 600 year, ne arly
81 600 apiece. How? By throwing
the burden Of drudgery upon ma
chimes.
Iowa is not so old; she will be
lsixty-two this year. She is not SO
large; little England is larger. Yet,
with her hog money, she could pay
the salaries of all the monarchs Of
Europe, and with one years corn
crop, she could buy out the Har-
lvester Trust or build three New
70 k subways.
When the Indians sold Iowa 10
Uncle Sam, they got about 8 cents
an acre. When this money was paid,
there were statesmen who protested
that it was too much. Yet this
amount was less than one-quarter
OF the value of the eggs in last
years nests. Every three months,
the Iowa hen pays for Iowa.
Through the courtesy of Mr..
Harlan, of the Des Moines Histcri.
cal society / obtained the addresses
of nine old settlers, who went into
Iowa with OK carts, before 1850, and
who are still living. / found that
every one; Of them had remained on
the land and was prosperous. The
poorest owned $1,000 and the rich
est $4,000, and their average
wealth was $36, 600. In the furnish
ing Of the homes in one county, so
it's auditor informs me, more than
$25, eco has been spent on the one
item Of pianos: & 81
Ina ANAL. out-of- -ths.way town
called Ames, came upon warmers
fcollege-a veritable Harvard OF the
soil. Here, ON - thousand acres
which fed the wild deer and buffalo
in the days of Andrew jackson, is
a college that equals Princeton and
Vassar combined in the number Of
its pupils. The Iowans pay $780,
600 year to sustain this college.
They pay it cheerfully. They pay
it with a hurrah. Why? Because it
is the biggest money-maker in the
state. One little professor, named
Holden, is revered by the Iowans as
a King Midas of the cornfeld. He
has shown them how to grow ten
bushels more per acre, by using a
better quality Of seed.
"First in corn, first in farm ma
chinery and first in the number OF
her banks! That is Iowa. There are
few Of her villages that have no
banks, but they are conscious of
their disgrace. They feel naked and
ashamed. In all, thero are as many
banks as postoffices, very nearly;
and they are crammed with enough
wealth to build three Panama
canals.
I'm the main hall of the five
domed capitol at Des Moines, is .
life-sized painting of a prairie wag-
on, hauled by oxen. In such a rude
conveyance as this most of the early
settlers rolled into Iowa, at a rate
\ OF two miles an hour. But there ar.
no prairie wagons now, nor oxen
Ten thousand miles Of railway criss
cross the state, and make more
profit in three months than all th,
railways of anci mt India made last
year.
Instead Of being tax-ridden serfs
these Iowans pay the total self-gov
erning cost of their commonwealth
by handing over the price Of th'
summers hay. Instead Of being th,
prey Of money lenders, they have
made Des Moines the Hartford 'oi
the west, in which forty-two insul
ance companies carrv risk of hall
a billion. And so, in each one of ite
details, the story of these "corl
kings is staggering to q mere city
dweller, especially to any one VIII
has cold-storage ideas about farmers
big men. as we'll as big corr
ara grown in Iowa. Here is sampl
group-half educators and hal
statesmen: John B, Grinnell, Henr
Smith Williams. Albert Shaw, Ne
we'll Dwight Hillis, Carl Snyder