The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1913-01-04

" HE TIME has come for the es-
Enlistment of a vigorous con-
structive policy on the part Of
the people who live in the Great
Plains Area.
The sctions of an over-enthusiastic
class OF citizens has kept back The
legitimate development of this great
area for many years.
Ten years ago this class Of citizens
in northwest Kansas was telling the
prospective settler that climatic con-
ditions were changing; that there
would be no more dry years, rainfall
was increasing, and that hot winds
were a matter of history. This same
territory has completed its four snc-
ccssive failures in wheat. The result
of these failures has been an exodus
Of disappointed settlers from that part
Of the state.
There are narrow strips of country
where timely local rain or two made
the wheat crop, but these areas are
the exception to the ruls and cannot
be taken as Indicative of general con-
ditions.
What is true of northwest Kansas
IL u uOs III q SSACl al way VI AlCGAAg
every portion of the Great Plains Area
south of the Kansas-Nebraska line.
Some sections for few years enjoy
a period of fairly good grain crops.
Then the good years shift to some
other locality.
In considering the area as a whole.
the little valleys with an under1ow a
few feet from the surface, where al
falfa succeeds and corn is a fair crop,
should not be counted. Here condi-
tons differ from the SO per cent of
the land which lies on the prairies
where water is below the reach of
any known plant life and the only pos
sible source Of supply is from rain.
Leave out of calculation these fav-
ored spots and consider the prairies
and what they are capable Of doing.
It is a known fact to the old timers
on these prairies that grain farming
is unsafe. Dry farming methods hold
some hope for the future, but are not
a guaranteed, guilt-edge security at
| presnt For anyone to induce men
/ unacquainted with the country, to
take a chance on dry farming meth.
! DDS, so far as they have been worked
out for the Great Plains Area, is little
! less than taking food from babies. Yet
! it goes merrily on. There are always
! a lot OF men who are ready to take
! the experiments of the government
| or the state, distort their meaning
! add their own conclusions, and CAPT
talize them at the expense of the
| public.
There are many honest men on the
! plains who tell the truth and try tC
| develop the country along legitimate
! lines, but they are compelled to suf
fer from the misrepresentation OF
| their less scrupulous neighbors. Nc
| honest man will take exception to this
! statement
So far as western Kansas is con
cerned. the facts are in evidence
What the country has done since its
settlement is a matter Of public rec
! ord Kansas is not at all proud o.
! that record and does not boast of it
Had not the impossible been tried the
/ record might have been different.
The Great Plains Area has passed
/ through one of the most trying times
in a generation An almost total fail
ure of forage crops was followed b!
! the severest winter that any but the
oldest inhabitants remember The
net result was a reduction Of the
number Of cattle to an estimated 2;
| per cent of what the country has nor
mally carried. Manp thousands o
head were sold before winter set il