The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-08-28
K A hSAS
What Are They Going to Do
About 1t?


About 1t?
Here is a piece from the Phila-
delphia North American" of Au-
gust 19, so apropos, says the Geo
b Peck Dry Goods Co, of Kansas
City. in one of its unique adver-
tisements, so optimistic, and.
abo+e all. so absolutely truthful
that it is with pleasure we pass it
along to our friends.
The Optimist.
Within the last TWO weeks a good
many Eastern eyes have been focused
on that grassy quadrangle which
geoSraphers call kansas
A good many Eastern minds have
been more or less alarmed by the daily
reports of continued and unprecedented
heat and lack of rain.
A good many Eastern lips have fear
fully framed the words, What do you
suppose they'll do?
Being fairly well acquainted with the
brand of humanity that has made the
Sunflower State a center of progress
dom OF its arid stretches which pro-
duce billions n crops and been lost for
half day in one OF its forests of corn
I think I may undertake to answer
the query
Before doing 50 I wish to remark
that through no fault of mine 1 failed
to be born in Kansas.
Whatu they do about it?
Well. if the old scorcher1no in the
sky burns their corn to husks as dry
those with which the prodigal re-
substance in the New York OF that
day. they'll get together and invent a
new breakfast food
They'll call it Sunrise Soother. or
something equally tempting. and be-
fore long the whole world viii be one
big Oliver Twist holding out an empty
bowl and asking for more
And next summer they will have
found a way to grow corn that pro-
duces a patent moistener at the root
and a suushade on top You needn't
laugh at this, for folks who have made
Garden OF Eden and have unaged 10
turn the worlds rfdicule into emerald
envy can do things!
II the heat dries up all the loose
water in Kansas, they'll bring the
Colorado River to the surface-it flows
under the western end of the state. you
know and already has been tapped in
several places-and dig an inland sea
on poor plat that isn't worth more
than Sl00 an acre
None need TO worry over what they'll
do.
\ people that has plowed aridity into
an asset that makes Wall Street sit up
nights; that has proved the hen is
mightier than the sword; that has
grown nliloodles of gold dollars out or
sand that only used to sprout prairie
dogs and sage brush, are not going to
frown in the face of a few advance
blasts OF the celestial subway,
Whatn they do about it?
First of all. they'll ask Coburn, the
man who put the CAN in Kansas. to
figure out how much this hot spell has
them pipe about the damage, for
they've Weathered Sockless Jerry and
Carrie Natiou-and then they'll relieve
the pressure on the bank vaults by
out a little of the reserve
surplus and set out to make next year
tire biggest crop year ever known IN
Kansas or this country or this world.
for that matter.
And when they've got all this fixed
up. they'll begin blowing where they
left off when the drought sort of dried
them up and when the sun began to
get the best of them for hot air
They'll prove to anyone that if the
heat hadn't granted them this hiatus
they use the choicest diction in Kansas
many of their barns and silos would
have burst and some of their best citi-
zens could have found no room for
their profits
They never ye. have got discouraged /
out in Kansas They are not ac-
luainted with the word. Unlike their
in the East, they don't have
to be shown.
Kansas shows you,
And il will be a bright and happy
for this fright |
aned old world when enough of the
Kansas spirit has spilled over the
edges of that extraordinary state to |
oaptize the rest of US with the same
brands of crankinesS, courage and
sense that have made her
mighty fortress of real A-nericanism.
LEIGH MITCHELL HODGES.