The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-10-03
ASOTHERS SEE us
Harper's Weekly Correspondent
Writes Of Kansas.
The Land of Opportunity Says
Mr.. Mumford.
WHAT 1T REPRESENTS.
Immense Possibilities of Agri-
culture Are Unparalleled.
Need of More Competent Men to
Till the Soil.
WHAT 1T REPRESENTS.

Hearken to the clarion voice OF Kan
sas and learn what self-satfsfaction
can come to those who have triumphed
over difficulty and tred the rough ways
to the uplands of success.
'Privation and vicfssitude in Kansas
have at last Powered into blooms that
smell like prosperity and happiness.
No millionaire. mendicant, Mormon or
mugwump in all our borders; all Is
now buckwheat cakes and pure maple
syrup with sugar beets for its basel
There is nothing In the heart Of Kan
san to vinegar his lips. He is the best
man in the solar system, but the wo-
men folk are still better than he Is; he
has the highest civilization in the
world. the greatest prosperity, and the
most attainable human happiness; he
has the most superb laws of any state
or nation. The mud on his boots that
stuck to them when he first looked IN
hope at the stars is there now, and the
scars of past conflict with nature and
the Missouriau show freshly healed
cicatfices on his person"
Nothing could express with finer ac-
curacy the Kansas state Of mind
jubilation the paean of gratitude and
self approvaEthan this paragraph
from the speech which Topeka law
yer. with his own glance directed to-
ward the spacious armament on high,
delivered before the State Agricultural
association.
In Kansas, where they speak Of
Michigan, New Hampshire and other
eastern state" the eagle does not
scream to any offensive extent. This Is
the note of a more familiar and more
profitable fowl-it Is the homely
chandelier. hailing the dawn of a new
and joyous day. To the critical this
lusty crow will sound hyperbolica1 AMI
perhaps absurd. 1t is nothing of the
sort. 1t is the natural outpouring Of
an honest and perhaps forgivins belief.
have elected to write about Kansas
for the sole reason that it represents
perhaps more perfectly than any other
state the immense present possibilities
of agriculture-of the soil, to which so
many millions of US must eventually
wend our way back. 1t represents fur
Their the very quintessence of oppor-
tunity and bears the strongest posi-
bic witness to the. reward that waits on
honest work. And, Furthermore some
states are q speculation in this year of
grace: Kansas has proved up" 1t has
little of manufacture, little Of COM
merce, a rather inconsiderable amount
of mining, which has enriched so many
other western states.
The state and It's people have con-
quered the primitive problem of sub
sistence. They are now at the thres-
hold of a new era, new state of de-
velopment The period of dire trial is
II. k,-.e ~ Of Of CO. II
pointed hopes. has disappeared, prob
ably forever, from the stage of Kansas
activity. The state will never more be
bothered much for the bare necessities
of life. 1t is coming to the phase of
automobiles. steam plows, telephones
and Golden Lad Jerseys What 1t needs
now, and what 1t has already set about
securing, is light and learning. the
light that makes home something be-
sides a place to eat and sleep, the
learning that enables people to reckon
in terms of something besides tons and
bushels. The attendance at the. state
university has risen in the last five
years from 500 to 2.400. The Kansas
farmers wife Is just as apt as not to
be a college graduate, and In another
decade or so she will be almost certain
to be so. The morale of the state is
high. Prohibition, SO long ago estab-
lished and so bitterly and vainly OPP
posed by many, has come to be regard
ed as the normal condition of man. In
Kansas the great mass of the popula-
ton simply don't think about taking a
drink 1t doesn't occur to them. The
demonstration is absolute There is
whisky. but 1t is sold in places where a
decent man doesn't care about going
to get it. The church In Kansas is still
a temple and not merely an idle struc-
ture numbering an otherwise valuable
building site. L believe there is really
more God in the west-that Is to say,
the 7-dav God of our fathers-than in
most other parts of the country,
though a host of people won't be-
lieve it.
The ideal of Kansas is high and is
steadily becoming higher. And even in
its agriculture the new Keynote is
plainly perceptible. This is the sort
of thing you would expect. 1t is the in