The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-03-04
Russian Peasants Made Small
Fortune in Three Years.
Invested S1,4OO; Now They
Have More Than $4,000.
WORKED LIKE GALLEY SLAVES
Land, Money, Cat.
tie and Horses.
Expect to Make $4,000 if
Year Is Good.

Plains, Kan, March 4.-The story
of Paul and Bolek Babicki, two Rus
sian farmers who own a farm about
mile and a half from here, reads like
fiction but it is a story in which hard
work and rigid economy are empha-
sized in order to win success When
Paul and Bolek (and they are no re-
lation though they have the same
name) came to America they came TN
the same ship and formed a friend
ship which lasted after they had ar
rived. They found work in a factory
in leveland but Bolek soon found
that life without a mate is rather
empty and married a flaxenhaired
Lithuanian girl.
Worked Night and Day.
The three worked hard to save
money, Paul by working overtime,
Bolek did the same and the hustling
wife by keeping boarders and doing
outside work. Three years of strenuous
labor found them with what seemed
to them a great fortune. They had
saved 81 400 But life in the city did
not appeal to them. They missed the
green fields, the fresh air and the
open country. One day Paul, who
was the better educated of the two,
read an advertisement of good cheap
land that could be bought along the
mainline of the Rock Island in the
fourteen states which the road ira
verses. Inquiry of the immigration
department of the Rock Island led
them to come to Plains, where they
invested $500 of their slender capital
in a quarter section near town. They
also bought two lots in Plains near
school which was being built. They
used $500 more of their capital to
build a small house, a barn and a
we'll Their new life was full of ad-
venture and uncertainty but they let
nothing daunt them and started with
the same hard work that had won
them their first start in the factory
town.
Wife Took in Washing.
The first year they rented some
land and ninety acres were sown TO
wheat and 140 acres to mllo-maize.
In the meantime Mrs. Babicki was
earning SO a week by washing and
housework for people in Plains, and
with this money she bought q COW,
some chickens and two hogs. The
first year was disastrous for their
chops for they were unused to farm
ing methods in a dry, hot country
Paul went back to Cleveland to
work in the factory in order to help
Bolek financially and Bolek stuck by
the farm and got ready for the sec
ond year. He rented more land and
the result of the second year was A.
060 bushels of wheat and LOO BUSH
els of milo-maize. Their hogs, chick
ems and cattle had prospered also IN
der the care of Mrs. Bolek and showed
a substantial profit.
Made Good in Years.
The third year was even a greater
success and at the end of the years
work when Paul and Bolek took stock
of themselves they found that they
had between them, $4,000 as a re-
suit of three years hard labor Their
lots in the town had more than 1ou-
bled in value, they had sixteen good
horses, mostly mares, thirty cows. and
they had sold $3.50 of hog meat. be-
sides killing nine for their own use.
Paul lad married and purchased a
small firm in an adjoining county to
which he will move next spring. If
next year is as good as the two pre-
vious years. Babicki expects to clear
$4,000. The original small capital Of
S14OO together with hard work
brought them in southwest Kansas
about 100000 in less than four years
time