Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-06-20
Can ANY STATE BEAT IOWA?

CAN ANY STATE BEAT IOWA?
Under the above caption Herbert
Quick writes in the July issue or the
American magazine. After DISCUSSING
the Development Of the middle west
this we'll known writer tells OF the
hour striking for the discovery OF
Iowa and says:
II was IKE the unwilling Of lovely
picture-a great undulating green sea
enameled with flowers. Not parcheo
bv drought like the regions to the
west Not sodden and swampy IKE
the rain-soaked forests to the east
Not stony and sterile like regions
farther south. Not in the region OF
fuzacious summers of the north-but
lust in the right place. In the heart
Of the empire of corn. the realm OF
wheat, the kingdom Of the paddock,
the pasture, the meadow and good
brown earth, where winter is cold
enough to rest and revivify the soil
and summer warm enough and long
enough to flood the world with pro-
duce. ~ =,
To the unwilling Of Iowa came all
the peoples of America. This gives
the Hawkeye the power to understand
all America. Up along the rivers came
the cavaliers from Kentucky and V1r-
sinia. and the woodsmen of Missouri
and Tennessee. There came also the
southern Hoosiers from Indiana, and
the long Suckers from Egypt. Iowa
was settled as g. southern state. Her
river cities were southern. The first
business life Of Iowa was southern,
their sympathies and characteristics.
South of the @" one still finds the
political and social life profoundly af-
fected by the early settlers of the
Boone and Crockett stripe. Here and
there are the descendants of the
French voyageurs and coureurs de
bois. .,....
But there came sitting in through
Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Wiscon'
sin the sturdy stocks Of New York and
Pennsylvania-andt the New England
conscience in it's migration from New
England gave Iowa to local self-gov-
eminent and the common school. And
after old-fashioned Americanism had
become entrenched in the towns and
on the. farms, there came the best peo-
pie of Europe-Danes, Mortimer,
Celts, Germans, British-and filled the
state with their virile strains and their
democratic PHILOSOPHERS.
God is the supreme OppOrtunist. lie
proved 1t by keeping back the best
lands In the world for the best peoples
in the world, and then turning the
plant over to the stockholders-the
people Of Iowa. ....E
Iowa's wealth is staggering. Her
farms are worth more than all those
Of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con-
necticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Mary
land. West Virginia, South Carolina
Florida, Alabama, Arizona, Utah.
Nevada, New Mexico. Montana and
Wyoming combined. Her farm build
ings are Of more value than all those
in New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode
Island, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana.
New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Oregon.
Washington and West Virginia COM
bined. The live stock industry in Iowa
Is now suffering from depression. but
her live stock Is worth more than all
that of Maine, New Hampshire. Yer
mont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware,
Maryland. Florida. Arizona, Utah.
Nevada, West Virginia, Louisiana and
New Mexico combined.
She Is fifteenth in population among
the states, and twenty-third in area;
but she ranks first in total value of
farm products, in value of live stock,
u value Of farm property per farm,
N percentage Of farm property i'm
proved, in percentage of total area in
farms, in number .of automobiles per
thousand of population, in the value
of her horses, in the value Of her cat
tie. in the value of her swine, in poul-
try, in egg production. in farm nipple.
ments, in tonnage of forage crops-in
spite Of the alfalfa of Kansas and the
west-in corn production. Her wheat
crop is of greater value than that of
all Canada or the Argentine. Her corn
crop is worth more money than all the
iron ore, or anthrac cite coal, or petrol
cum products, or the gold, copper, or
silver of all the United States. Iowa
is poor apple state, she thinks, but
she has more bearing apple trees than
any two of the Pacific states, and in
apple production falls below the
states of New York, Pennsylvania.
Michigan and Missouri only. Her
swine production is worth more than
all the farm crops of any of the eleven
moutain and Pacific states, Except
California The cattle she mar
kets every year are, worth more than
the whole tobacco crop of the United
States. Her women and children sell
more eggs every year than would buy
all the oranges grown in the United
States. .n.E
The swine of Iowa exceed in value
oil the farm crops Of MaineA New
Hampshire. Vermont, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jer-
sey, Maryland. West Virginia. Florida.
Delaware, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming.
Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah.
Nevada or Oregon.
The horses Of Iowa-in spite Of her
,automobiles-exceed in value the total