New-York tribune., 1909-09-25
Five Great States Need Nothing
but Settlers.


AIiegl entes but would be astoUnded IL told
that taey know practically nothing OF the West
and Southwest sections OF their own country.
Was Hst. ample knowledge contained in the
physical biographies Of their school days-Ind-
fans. tAe borndless plains, cowboys and all that
sort - t.IiEg?-- Probably. roo, they have read
s. The - ming OF The West: they may even
have made a dash across the continent to at
tend : ErzterzlaI convention ia san Francisco.
xnd a sH" events the newspapers have kept
them IN constant touch with the making of
Western and Southwestern history Not know
their eNh country, Why they know it ilke a
book
Tfe average man especially II he has trav-
-lIed q little thinks he knows all about Mis-
sour Possibly re is fairly familiar with 81.
Louis bat IN reality what does he know OF
the ~ City state Itself beyond what he has seen
from 3 windoR: Not one out % thousand
New Yorkers knows that Missouri-possessing
SO hearty f0rty-four million acres that the differ
ence doesn't matter is the champion apple
state O. the Union, annually produces and sells
sbout s.;e1poOro worth OF poultry. eggs and
Feathers s the second state in its yield OF cot
ton 81 = rs second also in mules and beesWax.
third logs honey. Eooseberries and the num-
Der of y farms. fourth in unencumbered farms.
In Eor>as and "a corn. hfth in population and
IN livestock raising ana sixth in the value OF its
Earn sroilcts ard the proportion OF its popu-
iatiou l-voted to agriculture, more than a. per
sent - 5 nearly 631t0 square miles being
=tyeT ., - asr.cGlture.
Adjoining Misscuri tho west as another
state - which tie average Fastener thinks
he ias noting more 10 learn. As = matter OF
fact re reincsrnatlon Of bleeding Kansas"
into Kansas tie bolntiful has been 4 meta
morId .,sis scarcely appreciated by few save
thos- interested from a business point Of view.
Equal. as a matter of fact that reincarnation
Oagift - and vii have not little 10 do with
the lls@. AID prosperity Of many thousands OF
EneD women and children born far 10 the east
q p ..Cstner Or waters" Why? Because Kan
sas 1--ls people alI doesn't need anything else
that .er could thiuk Il in . thousand years.
TIE state las something like two million ciu-
zens. Her natural riches would support and
max Moderately wealthy a population four
time t.at size. or say twice that Of as pros
pergl~ q state as OHIO.
Ar4s.usss. the kes stone shaped state stretch
ting s>l,.-eard from ,.e Missouri border, needs
Deoyie IS much as Kansas. but she appeals, per-
Eaps. 70 .0se -of another class Of ability and
desires. and. Tie Inducements she offers are un-
auesr'o' 1'iy o. different order.
AHd lot Tor tiat marvellous commonwealth,
;he neG' Oklahoma. The Twentieth Century
stat" can you grasp the fact that it was
only sei zlseel ears ago that those famous one
Burs3f--d thousand homeless men crossed the
5order ~ ahat MS tlen little more than an
Indiau uniting ground. and that to-day its tax
able s-a,th amounts 10 SS00Oe0Oo0. the annual
DH0dLet % farm ard mineral lands TO more than
S5tbN1tEND and tl4at il Las 5000 miles Of rail
ara tn0r- t.au 100 pOstofices2 The his
tor ei as other state in the Union records any
such rtIs3ts % growth. One stands amazed at
IT, reIilgstion that iu Jess than score Of years
Wl-aJ 81 -se best Uas a cattle range Is now a
stat A1-s farmers last year received 500
v9b'ssi fyr their products
T. -al1 that ~ the nearly two million people
wt.o axe acctled in Oklahoma within the last
tg,caty years. not one man Of energy and ntel-
gence has failed 10 prosper. OF these two mill
ions. The farmers have prospered most and to-
aay K out of every ten Of them own their own
homes Fruit culture. truck growing poultry
raising dairylng and stock feeding-these have
made thousands Of fortunes for those who might
tbr.ugi.out their lives have farmed in poverty
had they Iot had the courage 70 seek the riches
Of ID. great Southwest AS in other states OF
this s-cti9F. fruit growing has proved immensely
profitable and 81 this connection II is almost
beyond credence that twenty years ago there
were lot 4 dozen fruit trees in the whole OF
OEIall ma While to-day they number into the
rnnIl51s And yet this fact If merely typical OF
the r-s ions growth in every way.
-Oi..sho,uas best agricultural land can be pur-
ehssed fos far less money than that OF similar
qua'ity p any other state. The soil OF the en-
are reglsn Is Immensely rich: therefore prices
are SD only upon location and improvements
70 So IN acre one may obtain land that is
fully e.iaal- IN earning capacity TO land in Ohio
Indiana and Illinois costing $3.50 an acre. In