The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-11-11
had the same experience with Texas
propositions.
Millions Have Left CITY

Millions Have Left City.
/ Thousands and perhaps millions of
dollars have gone out of this city in
the past few years to pay for Florida
Swamps, alleged banana lands, desert
town lots and worthless mining stocks
Practically all a loss to this commu-
nifty If our association did nothing
more for the next ten years than rid
our city of these fake schemes and
their manipulators we would be well
repaid for our trouble
1t is my duty to familiarize myself
with home conditions as to the number
of dollars and cents produced from
lands in Shawnee county, SO l can
sucker patrons that right here at home
we can produce as much on land as
can be grown in any other part of the
United States with the same amount of
work. energy and good horse sense
For illustration:
six hundred dollars worth of red
raspberries per acre for three consecu-
tive years has been grown in this
county
Two hundred and twelve dollars
was paid for one-haIf acre of straw
t berries by one grocer.
Five hundred and eighty dollars
worth Of blackberries has been pro-
duced on one acre.
one hundred ard sixty dollars has
/ been produced on five acres of apples.
Fifteen tons of cherries have been
taken from one five acre orchard in
one season, for several consecutive
seasons.
-One hundred dollars worth of Ell
berta peaches has been sold from three
acres in one year.
Truck gardening of all kinds is car
rled on very uroftably.
'Horseradish grown in Shawnee
county is shipped from coast to coast
and from Canada to the Gulf Two to
four tons per acre is the average crop
and $4,000 to $4,000 per ton is the
selling price
Sweet potatoes grow to perfection
and Yield from 100 to 500 bushels per
acre. They sell for from 75c to $500
per bushel.
zone grower of water melons has
averaged $4,000 per acre for the past
ten or fifteen years.
the finest ever sold in Topeka have
netted over 100000 per acre.
Products of This County.
Two hundred and fifty dollars per
acre is common for cucumbers, toma- |
toes, cabbage, peppers, pickles, onions
and other vegetables.
These figures are equal to any of
which I have ever read, Ct the greatest
irrigation regions in the United States |
on land usually priced from so to loo |
per cent more than our own lands.
Ninety per cent of the land in
shawnee county VIII DrOQuCe as me
alfalfa as can be grown in any place
in The United states. Numerous fields /
have produced from four to eight tons
per acre, with a seed crop of $500 to
$4,000 per acre. In many cases more |
than 10000 per acre has been made
from alfalfa.
"One dairyman in the county pro-
duces 100000 per COW by feeding |
.falfa he raises on MS farm.
''Six thousand dollars worth of fancy |
with four acres.
-'Seventy-five per month is the sale
of poultry and eggs of another man
living on eight acres.
Two thousand five hundred dollars |
were produced from hogs, milk, poul- |
try and eggs on 100 acres.
These are only q few of the many I
successful growers and farmers in this I
county. All these are facts that every I
citizen in Topeka and Shawnee county |
should know and be as familiar with |
as his daily routine.
Recent government Investigations |
show that IS per cent of the amount /
paid by consumers for farm products |
goes to the producer and 81 per cent
to the broker, commission man and re- |
taller This being the case the pro- !
ducer of farm products in Shawnee
county have received less than half /
the amount they are entitled to and of
course naturally their land and prop /
erty is worth less than half what it /
should be if they were getting the full
return for their produce.
LAS a real estate man it is my duty I
to. favor creating a better market for /
the producers of farm products and
a reduction of living expenses of /
every citizen in Topeka.
Establish Public Market
THE best thing our association i
could do at present would be to back /
the establishment of a public market /
hoCse This would enable the pro-
Queer to meet the consumer and elm t
mate the middle mans profits. The I
producer would get a bigger return for +
his products and the consumer would /
buy at much lower price than he is T
compelled to pay under our present |
system.
These public market houses are a
success IT q great many different cities, /
some in our immediate vicinity, and /
there is no reason why we should not /
encourage the spirit of cooperation
among our producers of farm products !
and the consumers of our city
In 1895 I conducted a retail dairy |
business in this city I purchased milk 1
from the producer at 10 and IL y cents |
per gallon and retaiIed it for IS and /
20 cents Today milk is being pro-
duced at a greater cost and is being
sold to the retailer at IL Il and 10
cents The retailer is getting 81 cents
or u and IA cents more than I re-
ceiVed II 1896 This is an example OF
the advanced cost OF living and the in
creased profits made by the retailer
that has come under my own personal
observation
My father dropped off in Topeka
with me, when I was only knee high
to duck-1ss0. or 81 years ago. This
fact would indicate that 1 am still a
young man. Yet I can remember when
Chas. Wolff. the wealthiest self-made
packer in the state, ran a meat market
X
Mills. the Kansas merchant prince, was
a clerk in his fathers store: when j. |