The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-06-12
Ewes of the World Are on the
SunflOwer State.
Office of Secretary MOhler Is
DeIuged With Letters.
NOSTALGIA OVERTAKES Them
Many Who Have Left Are AK
iOus to Return.
The States Pulling Power as
Sung by Harmon Wilson.

They're a comm back to Kansas;
they're crossin' on the bridge. You can
see their mover wagons on the top of
everv ridee-who's a comm back to
Kansas? Why, the migratory crowd
who left the state some months ago
with curses long and Ioud-They have
found that other sections had their
tales of woe to sing. So they're
hunnpin' now for Kansas at the break
in forth of spring."-Harmon D. Will
son.
Kansas is coming into her own
Kansas is to be even more prosperous
and richer in crops and STOCKS ano
people Her fertile soil and bumper
crops have attracted the world ana
from every section of the country has
come inquiries concerning a nome IN
Kansas land.
In the office of Jacob Mohler, Sec
rotary of the state board of agr1cul-
ture. are hundreds of letters from
every section of the globe-al asking
about one thing-Kansas. These let
tiers inquire about crops, lands. prices
opportunities for investment and
farming chances to work, business
opportunities, the wheat harvest, and
a hundred kindred subjects
TT all indicates that people in all
parts of the country have their eyes
Mohler. as he turned to big letter file
marked kansas queries.
Recently a letter was received from
a representative of a foreign organ
ization in Chicago. A colony OF 40
families, wanted homes on the Kansas
prairies Another letter was from AL
berta, Canada. 1t lamented that
..there is no work here. The labor
market is overstocked and L want TO
go south for the harvest" Az Okla
homan wrote that he had held out for
a long time but could no longer resist
the Call of Kansas"
Many Are Homesick.
Homesick Kansans send many let
ters to the board of agriculture, ask
ing about opportunities to return to
the state they love. These homesick
ones write volumes about their desire
to get back. They tell of their mis-
takes, their hardships, privations and
above all their deep rooted desire to
return. Gradually, year after year,
since the troubles following the boom
DAYS of the early '90's, these wander
ing Kansans have been finding their
way back. Still, there are hundreds
who yearn for home in the sun
flower state and they confess their
sins in leaving with the most penitence
a human can show.
Only the other day a letter came
from a wanderer.
IT was a resident of Lawrence for
many years." said the saddened man,
who proceeded to unburden his sins
and weep on Mothers time as state
official. ct mean to get back to Kan
sas,' continued the letter, "just as
soon as can dispose of my property"
Then Mohler leaned back in his
chair and laughed.
ITS a great thing when a state has
the pulling power that Kansas shows"
he said. Then Mohler recalled the
verse that Harmon Wilson once wrote
concerning the Kansas pilgrim.
Harmon was a loyal Kansan and
freely predicted that those who left
would be coming back when condi-
tons changed" said Mohler. $50, fol-
lowing the period of depression, when
things began to improve in Kansas,
Harmon took note of the return of the
former citizen and the calamity howl
er who was converted to a booster
The verse which Wilson wrote on
that occasion is printed above.
Not ALI Return
Thousands of men from the south
and north and eaSt-even the west
are coming to Kansas to help gather
the wheat CROP" said Mohler AS a
general rule, not all of these harves-
ters return Many of them are i'm