The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-01-11

reau. TO be used just as the state APP
preparation is to be used, for advertis-
Ing the states advantages.
M1SSourfS immigration bureau has
issued an official statement that during
! the last year. the first year of the bu-
reau's existence, the state secured fifty
one thousand five hundred new resi-
dents and that four hundred forty
five thousand acres of land avs sold TO
colonists, home-seekers and actual set
tiers. Five thousand families have al
ready settled on farms. The estimate
| is that each family will produce four
hundred dollars annually of surplus
farm products, giving to the state a
total surplus wealth annually of two
million dollars besides the investment
| in the land of four million dollars.
The president of the board reports
| that this activity has increased land
values from three to four dollars per
acre on the average all over the state.
/ Just think of the enormous wealth
added to the state by reason of small
state appropriation of one year only.
Such an increase of Kansas land values
would mean $500, 900, 00O an amount
almost incomprehensible. Mr.. Curran,
the president of the board, recon-
mendS that the. bureau be literally
1 supplied with funds by the state. He
| says that he thinks most excellent re-
suits can be obtained by sending lee
| turers equipped with stereopticon
views to advertise the state. He also
would have cars filled with exhibits
for advertising purposes and sent from
| place to place. He also believes that
it would be a splendid idea for the
board to enlarge its scope and adver-
/ tise the advantages of the state in
European countries The agricultural
| associations of Missouri invariably
| recommend the continuation of the
| immigration board with increased ap-,
preparations, after the first years trial
| The Colorado immigration bureau
| has proved it's value to the state, and
| today is a fixture and the appropria-
lions to be used by the board for adj
lvertising will be increased this year.
| Just consider briefly our wonderful
| opportunities to grow. SiXty-f1ve per
| cent of Kansas land has never been
Iplowed, nearly all of which is good till
able land. Ours is a wonderfully pro-
! ductive state today. We have more
| railroads than any state west of the
| Mississippi river. We rank first in the
| production of. wheat; first in alfalfa,
producing more than twice as much
alfalfa as any other state. We have
about one million acres in the state
of Kansas. This is one of the most
! profitable crops that the soil of any
| country has produced. Kansas is
| among the leading states in the pro-
| duction of corn and live stock. For
| the last ten years Kansas has produced
seven million bushels of wheat more
| than any other state, and our corn
and wheat crops combined are more
valuable than the same crops OF any
| other state Kansas ranks second in
| the production of broomcorn, nearly
all of which is grown in ten counties
! in the southwestern part of the state
| This crop produces from fifteen to If
| ty dollars per acre net on land that
Lean be bought from eight to fifteen
dollars per acre. What other state Of
/ fers such opportunities for the home
| seeker and the home-builder?
! Kansas is today a rich state. She
ranks ninth among the states OF the
| west in total wealth. She is second in
lead and zinc; third in salt; third in
natural gas and is we'll toward the
| front in coal and oil. 1t is the great
/ est manufacturing state in the western
| half of the United States.
| Colorado is the leading gold pro-
ducing state; and the poultry alone of
Kansas is worth many millions more
! than Colorado's gold output and
/ Kansas farm products and live stock
/ are worth about as much as all the
gold and silver the world produces an
nually.
Ours is marvellous state, more than
half undeveloped. Give us an imml-
grafton bureau with good approprla-
ton for ten years and Kansas will be
far the richest state in the world. The
progressive states are those that are
going ahead regardless of the inferior
advantages and advertising what they
have. Because of our superior advan-
| tages, we should be more enthusiastic,
and should remember the New Tesla
ment parable of the man who doubled
his talents though few; while the one
with many, who did not attempt to
improve his, lost his large supply.
Thousands of home-builders are
passing right through Kansas 9nd To-
eating in Colorado. because. not of
better advantages, but because Colo
RADIO is improving her talents Irri-
gated land in Colorado sells for from
one hundred to three hundred dollars
per acre. Better irrigated land in
kansas can be bought for from TWEEN
ty-five to fifty dollars per acre
I attended the Chicago land show,
| which offered the greatest opportunity
for advertising that / have ever
known, and I was ashamed to ac-
| knowledge that I was from Kansas.
The Union Pacific Railroad company
had a small exhibit from Kansas,
about half as much as you and I ordl-
narily have in our real estate ofnces,
Mr.. McDonough, the colonization
agent, stated to US that they had tried
to have a good exhibit donated but
failed as there was no state fund Tor
such purposes. This was all that APP
peared from the great agricultural
state of Kansas in the mammoth COLI
scum where states all around US, not
half so rich in opportunities Tor land
| seekers, had thousands OF dollars
worth of exhibits. At that show the
majority of people who attended were
interested in land. They came to the
advertiser, instead of the ordinary
method of the advertiser having to
hunt for the man to interest him. We
lost a great opportunity. Colorado
was there with her magnificent display
costing MANY thousands of dollars The
state as a whole was represented, and
!. the board made separate appropria-
tons to various districts of the state.
Kansas, the greatest state of all, was