Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1917-07-26

not much work to do and more time
for leisure. The people were working
about ID hours a day last year getting
their wheat harvested. This year they
4 are not bothered that way, and have
plenty of time to attend Fourth of
Last year the I. w. w. were giving
them lots of trouble. This year there
| Is none of that nuisance.
BY the way, there is very good
story about the I. w. w. and the
way the members of that organi-
ers4 of Trego county and the peo-
pie of Wa-Keeney A large num-
Der of the /. W. w. arrived in Wa
Keeney, sostensibly as harvest hands
and started in by demanding 81 a
tday. That was a pretty stiff wage,
| the farmers thought, but they would
not have objected much to paying it
if the I. w. w. members had been
of any account after they got in the
fields. The trouble was that when
they. got to the harvest fields they
acted as if they were merely the
guests OF. the formers, and not
really expected to do any work. AS a
result the farmers notified them to
skip. Then they went to Wa-Kee-
ney and proceeded to raise hades.
One of them was arrested and put
in Jail. A large mob of l. w. VS.
surrounded the jail, overpowered
the sheriff, released the prisoner,
and locked the sheriff in the Jail in
stead. The~citizens of the town con-
ciuded that it was time to act So
the curfew bell then began to
ring. That meant that there was a
call for the citizens to assemble for
a fire, or some other emergency. AL
so the rural telephone lines were
kept busy and the farmers for miles
,t~flIr rY-d fv-cro rn1 EnIr md
drove into town bringing their shot
guns and other shooting irons with
them. A bunch of citizens of the
the town and the farmers formed
a hasty organization and rounded
up the members of the L. W.. W.
and relieved of his fire arms if he
had any. Then they were lined up
and guarded until morning when
they were ordered to take up their
line of march toward Ogallah, nine
miles away, and they had no break
ing walk. When about half way to
Ogallah the weary l. w. WIS laydown
and refused to move further until
they had had something to eat. Cen
erosity then overcame the indignation
of the citizens and breakfast was
allowed. Then they moved on. At
0gallah they were loaded on the cars
ane clipped out of the country.
That ended the 1. W. w. troubles in
Trego county.
When w. S. Tilton was editor of
the Wa-Keeney World, many years
ago, he decided that the state ought
to do something to encourage tree
planting in Western Kansas. So
'rilton went to the legislature
and got-that body to establish two
forestry stations, one at Ogallah and
the other near Dodge City. The
land for the forestry station was
given by the enterprising citizens
and there were high hopes that
part fo Western Kansas would be
covered with beautiful and flourish
ing forests That dream l regret
to say, has been shattered. May
be politics had something to do with
the failure of the forestry stations,
couple of years ago the state leg
islature refused to make further ap-
propriations for them. They are
marked now by few scraggy
trees that are dying.
Western Kansas is not the home
of trees, and probably never will
be. Trees out there have to con-
tend with enemies from the flrst day.
Drouths, high winds, almost innumer-
able insects that had no wings Ell
ther walked in or crawled. Goph-
ers discovered that there was moist
earth in the tree groves, and they
went and dug with unholly JOY
millers laid their eggs and caterpll-
lers were Matched out to gorge them
selves on the foliage. Borers bor-
ed tree lice never seen in that part
of the country appeared on the
scene of action. Eternal vigilance
was the price of trees; and yet right !
in the heart of Wa-Keeney is a dem |
onstration of what can be done with |
water and care
Through the persuasion of Mr.. |
Yetter and a few others the coun- |
ty commissioners were, persuaded |
to plant the square in the middle |
of which is the court house, with. |
honey locusts. Of course there were |
persons who joined in an anvil Choir |
us. They said the county was just |
wasting money planting those trees |
They never could be made to grow.
Mr. Yetterr agreed to keep them a
live for a certain length of time and
finally won the county commission
ers over. That grove is now real
beauty spot of Trego county, and
the pride of not only the townA but
of the whole county. The trees have
been kept pretty nearly free from
the ravages of insects. The court |
house lawn was sowed to bluegrass |
and today is one of the finest blue |
grass lawns in the state DandelI- /
ons do not seem to travel that far /
west, and so the lawn is free from