Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1913-06-19

1t has been the misfortune G
i. Kansas from the beginning to hav
In her population not large bu
active element whose one means Q
+ publicity and emergence from oh
security was the. invention and dis
semination OF some tale OF woe. de
scribing what impends or will hap
pen next week whereby dire poyert.
Will stare US in the face and tn,
state be in danger OF depopulation
Probably no other commonwealth
has ever been afflicted to the sam,
: extent with pests of this type, some
OF them too, officially or otherwise
on the payroll of the people and the
God-favored commonwealth they
scandalize.
/ Were 1t not for this Kansas would
today have twice the present num-
Der of prosperous people, twice her
number of improved farms and
twice the number OF happy homes
that are now here. Had 1t not been
thus thousands OF people who sought
change, untold millions of capital
seeking investment and thousands
of families lured. by spectators to
the Canadian northwest, the DESC
late, arid stretches of sand, mesquite
and cactus In Texas, the barrens and
alligator aquariums of Florida, and
the mighty outpouring OF foreign
emigration to the pampas of Argen-
tine would have been impelled to-
ward Kansas by sheer force of CRAWL
tation.
1t is not what the uniformed,
our envious competitors, or the lex
peFts@ of speculative interests hired
to deride our prospects may say,
that kills, but the succession of
calamity tales In one form or an
other advertised by our own peo-
pie. 1t is the idle gossip and CAB
BILE, the exaggerated statements of
alleged alarming discoveries and
conditions that put a deadly blight
on the community and the common
wealth, and make some region re-
mote seem preferable.
In face Of the prodigious crops
raised, marvels of the world, there |
has never been one of them ma
ture9, no matter how great, that i
between seed-time and harvest was
not the victim of repeated assaults
and attempts at assassination by
talking, writing, printing and tele-
graphing exaggerated declarations
# deferred rainfall, hot winds,
frosts, hail, chinch bugs, green bugs,
hessian flies, army worms, grass
hoppers, San Jose scale, hog cholera,
electricity" and well nigh whatso-
ever else suggests death, calamity
and famine. Although we have
seemed confronted throughout the
present season, taking the state as
a whole, with one of the greatest If
not the greatest wheat harvests in
our history the same sort of cam
paign has been and is being waged
wheat being the particular target
at this time, as this is the wheat
to fix Kansas in the
public mind as continuously the
prey Of crop failure and cemetery !
Of buried hopes. Is 1t not an evil
bird that befouls its own nest!
AS a rule this is by no means
lone maliciously, but seems from l
lesire to appear important and very I
much up to date by disseminating /
news that others do not
POSSESS, and perhaps, as is often the :
ase, securing by such means a men, y
ion by name in some newspaper, v
'artly 1t is the result of unfortu- g
late habit which inclines all OF us
o deal in questionable gossip, ut q
erly inconsiderate of the harm it =
nay do when repeated, magnified a
s it is sure to be, and Interpreted q
lways as applying to Kansas as h
7hole, when If at all 1t may per- n
ain only to part of some county,
neighborhood, the fields of some I,
ne inefficient farmer, or, exist only g
4 the mind of an irresponsible in 1,
ividual so imaginative that he sees a
ouble. A mean story told at ID
ounty seat in the afternoon by Bill "
ones or Assistant Professor Dor
ms on a given neighborhood is
Fad at breakfast in the worlds l.
ewspapers next morning and again