The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1908-01-29
BIRTHDAY OF KANSAS
By FREDERIC ]. HASKIN.

more than half. and making for Ameri-
can history one Of the most thrilling
chapters of daring and fortitude that has
ever been written Buffalo BIZ Cody
was one Of these riders and won his
spurs IN brush with the Indians when
! he was only fifteen.
Kansas has proved one Of the most
valuable of the Commonwealth erected
! from the Louisiana Purchase. for, with
/ the exception of a small corner of the
Southwest. then belonging TO the Span
| ish province Of Mexico. Kansas lay in the
purchase that Jefferson made under such
opposition from the conservative element
! in Congress. In this one part Of that great
territory there is salt enough alone to
supply all tie world for 100000 years.
From fourteen salt blocks 4.775 barrels oP
salt are taken a day. In Cherokee County
is the largest lead and zinc mine in the
world On Christmas Day. 1888 the first
fgas well of any Importance was discov-
cred, and soon afterWard boring for gas
and oil proved Kansas fertile IN these ngt-
ural resources. and gave her two other
items 10 add to her rapidly growing list
Of riches. Fifteen years ago when Judge
Wellhouse planted 5000 apple trees in one
season and arranged for more. he went on
record as the largest apple grower IN the
world. and raised Kansas to a more
prominent place among the fruit growing
States
II was in 1859 that Kansas made her
worlds record Of raising 263 SIS. 32l bushels
Of corn, and though the last agricultural
report shows that her share Of the ma
tons crop was 195.075,C)J bushels. she IS
making competition lively for the others
In 1883 she raised II per cent or the
cOuntry's com. IN 1901 s per cent Of the
corn and u per cent OF the wheat, and in
1901, which was accounted a very lean
year. she raised 91.0i50D bushels Of wheat.
Shawnee County has made a record Of
lOi bushels Of corr. 10 the acre OF Kan
sas' 52,900,0G0 acres, where there are
neither mountains nor swamps-an area
equal 10 that OF ali New England-there
are still 10000 acres OF public lands,
clam0ring 20 be planted in alfalfa that
viii bring seven tons TO the acre. and may
be cut FIVE times a year.
Kansas is prohibition State that Is
proud Of what she has achieved. The
law went into effect on May /, 1851, and
in 1891 the legislature passed four laws
Strengthening the existing prohibition
laws. As a result OF these. Kansas has
the smallest number OF paupers 10 her
population Of any State in the Union
only one TO every Leland the smallest
number Of drunkards. Gov. Hoch de-
clared that there were a quarter OF a
million Of young people VINO had grown
up In Kansas without ever seeing a
saloon. The effect Of united effort against
liquor traffic has brought together the
various church people Of Kansas more
closely than are the different denOmina-
tons OF any other State. and has had
much the same effect Oh the political
parties. The State gave women tho right
of suffrage in school and municipal ques-
lions ia 1854 and the following year the
first woman mayor of any town in the
world was elected IL ATgOnia- This p-O-
gressive woman was Mrs. Medora SalteT,
and the next year five other women were
holding like Offices IN the State,
While Kansas has been marvelously
prosperous. there have been enc or two
distressing times TO mar The serenity Of
her progress since the days that QuantrelI
and his men swooped over the border
and met the JayhswKers on their own
ground For there have been great
dr0ughts. From June. 1859. to November,
lSaa. not a drop of rain fell. and 3000
people. disheartened. left the State. In
1887 there came another drought. In 1873
there came the plague Of locusts, when
these insects suddenly darkened the sky
one day. devastating tventy-six counties
and rendering 12.9S9 people destitute. But
these are old tales. Irrigation commits
sions and a natural supply OF water in
reach of artesian well tools makes Kan
sas independent of droughts. Because her
natural resources are proving practically
inexhaustible, she faces her future Sc
renely and awaits that time when every
homestead viii have been taken and the
lurid light she cast on middle century
history be forgotten in the clearer light
OF industrial progress.
To-mcrroU-Claims Against the