The Newport miner. [volume] (Newport, Wash.) 1899-current, 1912-03-28
IheSunflower Man
BY M. QUAD
Copyright. 1912. by Associated Lit
erary Press

as " illiam HObSOn APPEARED i'll the vii
lage of Grafton in d certain middle
state and engaged quarters at the inn
for several months in advance. This
was something never heard of before
and created quite sensation. Then
the report went around that Mr.. Hob
son intended to build and operate a
large wooden mill there. and that was
sensation No. . Then d county consta-
BILE had his suspicion aroused that the
stranger was fugitive from justice.
and that was sensation No. 3. The
fourth was not far away.
Mr. HobsOn was man of middle
age. He was quiet and kept to him
self With all the pumping they could
do the villagers could find out very lit
tie about him. The most that could be
extracted from him was that he had
made an important medical discovery
and would furnish particulars later on.
On the list of May. after looking
around bit. Mr.. HobSon leased ten
acres of land Of Il farmer near the
town, and the fourth sensation came
when it was known he intended to
raise sunfiowerS. No human being in
that county had ever heard Of any one
growing more than hundred head
and here were to be thousands and
thousands OF them. What could be
done with them? How Gid they fit
into IA medical discovery?
Men and teninS were hired, the
ground prepared. ami SunfoWer seeds
were brought in and planned. The en-
terpriSe WAS dis liSSe>l il hundreds of
homes and give 'iberai spa i'll the
county papers. but AIr. Hon$2l would
not interview His reply w;S wait.
When the stalks were k!lra itI&h chat
field was good to see. Ii was Il !.ovelt,
that drew. .-
Just about that time aiIno|t every
person in the county received cllcu-
lar through the mails. 1t wa* about
the new medical discovery. an: the cat
was out of the bag at last. Sunnower
tea would speedily
Cure Indigestion.
Consumption in its first stages.
Cancers and tumorS if not too far
advanced.
Neuralgia and rheumatism.
Fevers rising from biliOuSness.
Clear the system of malaria.
Strengthen the weak and make the
strong stronger
For six weeks the SunfiOwer crusade
went on. Mr.. HobsOn did not seem
greatly interested. SO far as could be
ascertained, he was not the man put
ting out the advertising. nor did he
ever say in so many words that sun
flower tea would cure complaint of
any kind 1t was not known till the
sunf1owers began to turn their yellow
faces to the morning sun and hang
their heads in modesty what he pro-
posed to do with the crop. Then indi-
viduals began to come to speak for
seed. 1t was so much seed for 80
cents and no smaller orders taken.
Mr.. Hobson had 400 orders booked and
was still writing down names when
merchant of the town went to money
lender and said:
''See here. Carter. there's a chance to
make 81 1000 right under our noses. and
We are sitting around like bumps ON
logr"
what is it?''
''This part of the state has gone era
zy about sunfiOwer tea. That man
Hobson is raking in the money as fast
as he can reach out his arm. It's
quarter a head for sunfiowers. but the
mob is paying the price and glad to
get EN-
"But Hobson has got the only sun
flowers for a hundred miles around
"All the better for us if we buy him
out and corner the supply. Why not
raise the price to 30 cents head?"
But is the tea any good?' persisted
the cautious capitalist.
""Hobson has got more than 100 I'M
solicited testimonials. Deacon Good
boy says it cured him of kidney trou-
BILE after he had suffered for fifteen
years. Let's buy Hobson out"
Only one thing on the face of this
earth made Mr. Hobson willing to
listen to an offer. He had trouble
with his heart. and sunfower tea
would not cure it.
During the next three days 100 peo-
pie came per day to buy and take sun
flower heads Some had driven dis
lance of twenty miles. The stalks
covering three acres had been sold
and carried away by this time. when
New York wholesale druggist ap-
. peared on the scene-that is, he said
he was from the big city. and he GER
tainly smelled of drugs. He wanted
the balance of the crop at $2.OOO.
Then Mr.. sHobson did mean thing.
Had his heart been all right he would
never have thought of doing such a
thing. He sold those seven acres of
sunfiowers as they stood to the mer-
chant and capitalist for $500 and
was missing the next day So was
the New York wholesale druggist. In
three or four DAYS the news got
around. and buyers became scarce
What were seven acres of sunf1ow-
ers good for to the buyers?
YAH