The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1917-02-02
A Letter From Liberal People
Ludington, La.
Liberal Democrat:

here goes. First our party left Lib
eral on No. Thursday a. m, landed
in Hutchinson and went by way of in
terurban to Wichita. There we
stayed over night, took in a couple
of good shows and then went to our
hotel. The next morning we went to
the Midland Valley r. r. to purchase
tickets. At 5 a. M, the time the
train was due to leave, the agent had
not yet shown up. Finally the con-
ductor went in the Office and phoned
to him and told him it was time for
the train to go and as there were
several people there who wanted
tickets, he thought possibly he had
better come down for a few minutes.
He came and even then found that he
had no winter tourist tickets in stock.
So the conductor herded us on board
and wired Muskogee, Okla, to de-
liver our tickets when we arrived
there, which he did. We arrived at
Panama, Okla, at 10:45 p. m, max
ing in all 14-hour run from Wichita
to that point, over a road and on a
train Of which our modesty and re-
spect for the good people who will
read this, forbids us to describe. At
Panama, Okla, we waited until 1920
a. m. for through Pullman train on
the X. G. S. AS soon as we were
aboard we were all ready to 60 to
bed, berths having been reserved for
our entire party. We met Mr.. Corn
wall, General Sales Manager of the
"Long-Bell Farm Land Corporation,
who took every precaution to make
us as comfortable as possible. Mr..
Hopkins and Mr.. Bryson were so
thoroughly tired out that they
crawled into bed and forgot to take
off their collars and ties. OF course
we have learned now that in place of
taking the "Wild Cat" route as we
called it, we should have gone on into
Kansas City, which would have short
ened the trip considerable and would
also have given us the advantage of
a strictly Pullman train for the en-
tire trip. So much for that.
After we Joined the Kansas City
party, our trip was most pleasant
and enjoyable experience. Snow
reached us as far south as Shreveport
La, but south of that the country
began to get green and bore every
evidence of springtime We passed
thru the great Caddo oil field about
l p. M, which was great sight to
all of us. We arrived at Ludington,
La, about 1880 p. m. We were met
by large number of cars, and few
Fords and were hauled to the Colo
ny House." beautiful place, with
four large fire places and three par
Tors. 1t is finished inside strictly
| California style and is certainly a
| place of beauty and comfort and we
are made to feel at home here. The
yard is covered with green grass,
Japanese Umbrella trees and bloom
ing flowers. There are two rows of
gate and they are in full bloom. Our
meals are of the very best and at the
exceptionally low price Of only 25
cents. We have served on the table
all kinds of good things to eat-new
turnips, lettuce and potatoes and in
fact every thing one could ask for:
The finest sweet potatoes In the
world, genuine ribbon cane syrup,
pumpkin pie, etc. The only real dis
advantage to our party is that Mr..
Hopkins, Mr.. Bryson and Mr.. Falls
have lost their appetites land found
dogs" These three gentlemen
have actually been guilty Of eating
IL to II buckwheat cakes, four cups
of coffee and half gallon of syrup
for breakfast, which is their lightest
meal.
Yesterday morning ten car loads
started out to see part of this won
derful country. We left about a. m.
and did not return until dark. We
will mention now just few of the
most important points of interest on
two miles to DeRidder, the county
seat, a town of 5000 people, with all
big modern brick buildings, a stuc-
coed court house with large marble
pillars in front that cost approximate
ly $117,000, and a fine school build
ing costing $4,000, good churches,
electric lights, water and sewer sys
tenn. From there we went to Bon
Ami where we viewed and went thru
one Of the largest mills in the South,
capacity being 100000 feet board
measure per day. We then took a
drive thru the country where we
viewed many of the farms both new
and old. We visited at several of
them and talked with many who are
from the North, and one surprising
thing is that they are all we'll salts
fed and not one did we find who
wanted to sell out of go back north.
On these farms we saw everything
that grows on a farm. Oats are all
up, some of them six inches high,
some on old land and some on the
newly turned sod. Garden stuffs
are all up and doing fine. Strawber-
ries are in full bloom. Birds singing
and all we could say is that this coun-
try is a real country. Corn is doing
fine here. Red white and Japanese
Alsac clover are doing fine here. We
picked the oranges right off the
trees and that is not all we did to
them either. The next day we took
another trip out east. Along the road
we saw some men burning out stumps