The weekly herald. [volume] (Amarillo, Tex.) 1906-19??, 1908-01-16
FOR GREATER
RESULTS
Col, 4. 7. Groom Tells Of the
Old and The New for Pan
handle Farmers
Col, Groom Champions hester.

championed the cause of "nester,'
past, present and future, as follows:
IL gives me great pleasure to re-
spond to this welcome In the name
OF the farmers Of the Panhandle.
Time was, In the memory OF those
present, that the Panhandle farmer,
or hester, as he was called, was tho
most deteSted OF all ceratlon. He was
pointed out as an outcast, who had
no cattle and was so lacking in APP
probation of respectable life that he
refrained from stealing them.
The cattle baron looked down on
him with contempt and instllled in
TO his cowboys the same regard for
him that a shepherd has for a
coyote,
Cow Thief Was Distinguished.
To be called a COW thief carried
with 1t degree OF distinguished cit
izenship, but TO be called hester
was TO be damned beyond the pos
sibility OF the slightest civil recog-
milton by the cowboy, then policeman
OF the plains. Many can recall the
contempious sneers that these
knights OF the rope cast upon their
first efforts to subdue the soil and
produce crops, as in their lordly
manner they passed through the
I country announcing that "the Pan
handle was not III for farming" and
that each furrow turned was simply
destroying good grass and that It dis
graced any man who would so be-
mean himself by following pillow
In the Panhandle The cowboy was
the spokesman for the ranch owner,
who had not only inculcated this
feeling among his cowboys against
the farmers, but who had brought
the banker in scores Of letters sent
to would-be eastern investors, to
condemn the Panhandle as unfit for
other than grazing purposes. St
Peter will hold some OF these bank
ers responsible for retardinS the de-
yelopment OF the Panhandle until the
low price OF cattle brought many
ranch owners face TO face with bank
ruptcy, when necessity forced a cut
ting up OF ranches and The extending
of the olive leaf and warm hand to
the once despised hester. The bank
err the greatest wonder of public
opinion, had waxed fat on mort
cages secured by cattle and land
found that the danger OF loss from
such collateral was so great that the
wrong impressions that had been
sent broadcast must now be correct
ed, and at last the hester had be-
come a respectable member of the
body polite.
Triumph OF the hester.
say It gives me pleasure to re-
spond 10 this welcome on behalf of
the Panhandle farmer. He has
served his time and stands today
the saviour OF the Panhandle. Times
have changed and the hester has be-
come the honored man, not alone In
the Panhandle but in the whole
country.
The late financial panic caused the
tinanclers OF the nation at last to
take of their caps and bow in the
most respectful manner to the Amer
lean farmer, and plead with him to
hurry his II cent cotton, so cent
corn, $1.lO wheat to the European
markets and with this cash from the
products OF American farms, stay the
panic. American farms in 1907 pro-
duccd the enormous sum of $7.4O0,-
900, 900, the value OF farm property
has increased from 10000, 900, 600 |
in 1900 to over $2S, 100000, 900 in
1907 This increase is ten times
larger than the total capital of all
the national banks in the United
States Is II any wonder when you
consider the figures that the finan-
clers of the country are at last polite
to the hayseed.
In the last three years the Pan
handle farmer has come into his
own. and dotted all over the plains
are happy homes OF prosperous peo-
pie who are busy laying the corner
stone OF one of the greatest agrl-
cultural empires OF modern times |
The builders az these homes are de-
veloping the latent possibilities Of
this great staked plains region
whore formerly the cattle baron
held sway. requiring from twenty to
thirty acres of land to keep one
steer, these farmers are today on less
than four acres are, producing better
beef, more milk and butter, with the
red ink ION the right side OF the