The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-08-18
RECOGNITION OF KANSAS.

| Kansas-twice as strong and more
than twice as rich: the achievement
of only Is years. Loyal to their state
es all Kansans are. how many of them
realize that great accomplishment? 1t
is probably the biggest continuous all
along the-line advance made by any
American commonwealth in the last
quarter century, and the genuinely in
spring story OF it is told in Hampton S
Magazine, where G. w. Ogden handles
the subject in a manner that will not
only interest the entire country, but
should appeal to the pride Of every
citizen of our own state.
IF the North Pole is ever reached
| says Mr.. Ogden, ''it will be by a Kan
sas man, carrying the. advertisement
of his state. The Kansas press agent
represents, every day in the year, one
million six hundred thousand people.
He has been on the job Is years. and
i'll that time has reclaimed $4,000 square
miles of territory, an expanse bigger
than the kingdom OF many a king. His
name is Foster Dwight Coburn, secre-
tary of the state board of agriculture,
and savants in agriculture stoop to lis
ten and learn. bend toward him from
all quarters of the globe, hand to ear,
when he, the most useful person within
the borders of tie state, begins to talk
"Coburn can get out a crop bulletin
on a part or all of the state, accurate,
dependable. in few days. When Co
burn says the acreage of county or a
number of counties is such a figure, it
isn't an estimate. 1t is a fact, down
to the fraction of an acre.
kansas produces more wheat than
any other state or any tract Of coun-
| try of equal area in the world. It's
crop reports, acreage, and prospects in
f1uence the markets of the earth. Be
cause of this we'll known fact it is
supposed that wheat is the big crop in
Kansas. CoburE says: Compared in
value and Importance with her corn,
wheat is a side issue. and but one of
the secondary items, the worth of which
must be aggregated to even approach
the value of corn. It is our wheat that
makes US famous. our corn that makes
US rich. In almost any year three or
four of the more northern of the states
JOS counties produce more corn than the
entire Dominion of Canada
LAS far back as 1899 the Kansas corn
yield was greater than that of all the
New England states. New York, New
jersey, Delaware. Michigan, Virginia,
South Carolina, Florida. West Virginia
Maryland, Minnesota. North and South
Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, New Mex
leo, Utah. Oregon. Washington, Call
fornia and Oklahoma combined. Five
years later, IN spite of destructive
foods, Kansas produced more corn than
all New England. Pennsylvania, Min
nesota, and Is additional states and
territories.
"Coburn is the original alfalfa man.
1t took him q great many years to
bring the farmers of his state around
to sowing it. They began only about
four years ago, but Kansas now leads
all other states in alfalfa area and pro-
duction, Coburn's returns for 1907 show
ing 74S,050 acres devoted to this forage
Plant.
Regarding the value of Kansas crops,
in his latest report. which he calls
Kansas. Her Story and Statistics Co.
burn says:
The yearly value of the states farm
products is over $3.50. 900, 900, or about
$4,000. 900 in excess of the aggregate
coinage value of all the gold and silver
mined annually within the United
States. TIE value of farm products in
1906 was about $3.50. 5000 and, with
that of live stock on hand, aggregated