27 chapters
29 minute read
Selected Chapters
27 chapters
ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE QUARTER-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE ADMISSION OF KANSAS AS A STATE,
ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE QUARTER-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE ADMISSION OF KANSAS AS A STATE,
In Grecian mythology it is related that Zeus, warned by an oracle that the son of his spouse, Metis, would snatch supremacy from him, swallowed both Metis and her unborn child. When the time of birth arrived, Zeus felt a violent pain in his head, and in his agony requested Hephæstus to cleave the head open with an ax. His request was complied with, and from the brain of the great god sprang Athena, full-armed, and with a mighty war-shout. She at once assumed a high place among the divinities of
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE ATHENA OF AMERICAN STATES.
THE ATHENA OF AMERICAN STATES.
Kansas is the Athena of American States. Thirty-six years ago the Slave Oligarchy ruled this country. Fearing that the birth of new States in the West would rob it of supremacy, the Slave Power swallowed the Missouri Compromise, which had dedicated the Northwest to Freedom. The industrious North, aroused and indignant, struck quick and hard, and Kansas, full-armed, shouting the war-cry of Liberty, and nerved with invincible courage, sprang into the Union. She at once assumed a high place among t
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE CHILD OF A GREAT ERA.
THE CHILD OF A GREAT ERA.
It is not a long lapse of time since the 29th of January, 1861. A boy born during that eventful year cast his first Presidential vote at the last election. But no other period of the world's history has been so fertile in invention, so potential in thought, so restless and aggressive in energy, or so crowded with sublime achievements, as the quarter-century succeeding the admission of Kansas as a State. During that period occurred the greatest war the world has ever known. An industrious, self-g
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
NOT THE HISTORIAN.
NOT THE HISTORIAN.
I am not, however, the historian of this occasion. Very properly the committee assigned to my honored predecessor, the first Governor of the State—who has been with and of it during all the lights and shadows of thirty-one revolving years—the duty of presenting an historical sketch of the difficulties and dangers through which Kansas was "added to the stars," and became one of the brightest in the constellation of the Union. To me was allotted another task—that of presenting, as briefly and as c
46 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THREE PERIODS OF DEVELOPMENT.
THREE PERIODS OF DEVELOPMENT.
The development of Kansas, it seems to me, has had three periods, which may properly be called the decades of War, of Uncertainty, and of Triumph. From 1855 to 1865, Kansas was an armed camp. The border troubles, outbreaking late in 1854, continued until the rebellion was inaugurated. Kansas, in fact, began the war six years before the Nation had fired a shot, and the call to arms in 1861 found here a singularly martial people, who responded with unparalleled enthusiasm to the President's demand
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE PERIOD OF UNCERTAINTY.
THE PERIOD OF UNCERTAINTY.
The period from 1865 to 1875 was, however, a period of uncertainty. Kansas remained an experiment. The drouth and grasshopper invasion of 1860, a menacing memory for many years, had just begun to grow dim when the drouth of 1873 and the still more disastrous drouth and locust invasion of 1874 revived its recollection, and intensified the uncertainty it had inspired. The intervening years were not, it is true, without their exaltation and triumphs. Luxuriant harvests followed the disaster of 1860
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE PERIOD OF TRIUMPH.
THE PERIOD OF TRIUMPH.
The period of triumph began in 1875. While the world was still talking of our State as a drouth-powdered and insect-eaten country, Kansas was preparing for the Centennial, and getting ready for a great future. And in 1876, she sprang into the arena of Nations with a display of her products and resources which eclipsed them all, and excited the wonder and admiration of the whole civilized earth. From that time to this the development of Kansas has never known a halt, nor have the hopes of our cit
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE FACTS OF THE CENSUS.
THE FACTS OF THE CENSUS.
I am not, in thus exalting the growth and prosperity of Kansas, speaking recklessly, as I shall show by statistics compiled from the census and agricultural reports of the United States and our own State. Figures are always dry, I know. But when they tell the pleasant story of the march of civilization into and over a new land, surely they cannot fail to interest men and women who have themselves marched with this conquering army of industry and peace....
24 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE GROWTH OF KANSAS WITHOUT PARALLEL.
THE GROWTH OF KANSAS WITHOUT PARALLEL.
The growth of Kansas has had no parallel. The great States of New York and Pennsylvania were nearly a hundred and fifty years in attaining a population Kansas has reached in thirty years. Kentucky was eighty years, Tennessee seventy-five, Alabama ninety, Ohio forty-five, and Massachusetts, New Jersey, Georgia, and North and South Carolina each over a hundred years, in reaching the present population of Kansas. Even the marvelous growth of the great States of the West has been surpassed by that o
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
TOWNS AND CITIES.
TOWNS AND CITIES.
In 1860 there were only ten towns and cities in Kansas having a population in excess of 500 each; only three having over 1,000 each; and only one having over 5,000 inhabitants. In 1880, ninety-nine towns each had a population in excess of 500; fifty-five towns and cities had each over 1,000 inhabitants; six had each over 5,000; and three had over 15,000 each. In 1885, each of one hundred and fifty-four towns had over 500 population; ninety-one towns and cities had each over 1,000; twelve had eac
30 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
ORIGIN AND CHARACTER OF THE POPULATION.
ORIGIN AND CHARACTER OF THE POPULATION.
The origin and character of the population in Kansas is, in this connection, worthy of special note. Every State in the Union and every Territory except Alaska, contributed to the population of this State. The United States census of 1880 shows that 233,066 persons born in Kansas were then living in the State. The singular fact that native-born Kansans were then living in every State and Territory, is shown by the same authority. Illinois contributed 106,992 to our population; Ohio, 93,396; Indi
54 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE MATERIAL RESOURCES OF KANSAS.
THE MATERIAL RESOURCES OF KANSAS.
The growth of our State in population has not, however, equalled the development of its material resources. The United States census of 1880 shows that while Kansas, at that date, ranked as the twentieth State in population, it was the eighth State in the number and value of its live stock, the seventeenth in farm products, the fourteenth in value of farm products per capita, the twentieth in wealth, the thirteenth in education, the seventeenth in the amount of its indebtedness, State and munici
48 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.
In the following table the aggregate of the corn, wheat, oats, potato, and hay products of Kansas, for the years 1860 and 1865, and for each year thereafter, is given. The figures, prior to 1875, are compiled from the reports of the United States Department of Agriculture; those following, from the reports of the secretary of our own State Board of Agriculture: In presenting these figures it is worthy of note that while, as already stated, the U. S. census reports for 1880 show that Kansas ranke
41 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE AREA OF KANSAS.
THE AREA OF KANSAS.
The total area of Kansas is 52,288,000 acres. In 1865 only 243,712 acres of this vast territory were under cultivation; in 1870 the area aggregated 1,360,000 acres; in 1875, 4,749,900 acres; in 1880, 8,868,884 acres; and in 1885, 14,252,815 acres. In the following table I have compiled figures showing the area under cultivation, and the value of the crops produced in Kansas each year, from 1865 to 1885, inclusive:...
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VALUE OF FARM CROPS.
VALUE OF FARM CROPS.
The value of the farm crops of Kansas, for the five years ending with 1870, aggregated $59,298,414; for the next succeeding five years their value was $135,958,214; for the next five years, $264,334,824; and for the five years ending with 1885 the farm crops of Kansas aggregated in value $503,485,316. Thus during the past twenty years the farmers of Kansas have produced crops whose aggregate value reached the enormous sum of $963,076,768....
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
FARMS AND FARM PRODUCTS.
FARMS AND FARM PRODUCTS.
The increase in the value of farms, of farm implements, and of farm products, (including farm crops, products of live stock, and market garden, apiarian and horticultural products,) is shown in the following table. It will be seen that these values have generally doubled every five years: The value of the farm products of Kansas, from 1876 to 1880, inclusive, aggregated $356,557,802, while their value from 1881 to 1885, inclusive, aggregated the enormous sum of $738,676,912....
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
TAXABLE ACRES.
TAXABLE ACRES.
The steady development of the State is further illustrated by the figures showing the increase of taxable acres. In 1860 only 1,778,400 acres were subject to taxation; in 1865 this area had been enlarged to 3,500,000 acres; in 1870 to 8,480,839 acres; in 1875 to 17,672,187 acres; in 1880 to 22,386,435 acres; and in 1885 to 27,710,981 acres....
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
LIVE STOCK.
LIVE STOCK.
In the number and value of its live stock, Kansas ranked, in 1880, as the eighth State of the Union. In 1860 the live stock of Kansas aggregated in value only a little over three million dollars; in 1865 it aggregated over seven millions; in 1870, over twenty-three millions; in 1875, nearly twenty-nine millions; in 1880, over sixty-one millions; and in 1885, nearly one hundred and eighteen million dollars. The following table gives the number of horses, mules, cows, cattle, sheep, and swine, and
28 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE WEALTH OF AN AGRICULTURAL STATE.
THE WEALTH OF AN AGRICULTURAL STATE.
Kansas is an agricultural State. It has no gold or silver, no iron, and just coal enough to furnish fuel. It is the farmers' and stockmen's State. Its development simply shows what good old Mother Earth, when in her happiest vein, can do. "Agriculture," says Colton, "is the most certain source of strength, wealth, and independence; commerce, in all emergencies, looks to agriculture both for defense and for supply." The growth and prosperity of Kansas afford a striking illustration of what intell
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
COMPARATIVE VALUES.
COMPARATIVE VALUES.
In speaking of the value of the farm crops and farm products of Kansas, I can present a dearer idea of the wealth our farmers have digged out of the earth by some comparisons. In 1881 the products of all the gold and silver mines of the United States aggregated only $77,700,000; for 1882 they aggregated $79,300,000; for 1883, $76,200,000; and for 1884, $79,600,000—making a total, for those four years, of $312,800,000. The value of the field crops of Kansas, for the same years, aggregated $411,09
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PROPERTY VALUATIONS.
PROPERTY VALUATIONS.
The property valuations of Kansas have increased in steady proportion with the growth of the State in population and productions. In 1860 the true valuation of all the property of the State was estimated at $31,327,891; in 1865 it was estimated at $72,252,180; in 1870 it had increased to $188,892,014; in 1875 to $242,555,862; in 1880 to $321,783,387; and for 1885 the true valuation, at a very moderate estimate, was $550,000,000. The following table presents the assessed valuation of all the prop
42 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
KANSAS MANUFACTURES.
KANSAS MANUFACTURES.
Kansas is not a manufacturing State. Its prosperity is based upon the plow. It has, however, coal deposits equal to the needs of its population, valuable lead mines in the southeast, and salt and gypsum in abundance. But the manufacturing establishments of the State are steadily increasing in importance as well as in number. In its flouring and grist mills Kansas ranked, in 1880, as the thirteenth State of the Union; in meat packing, as the twelfth; and in cheese products, as the fourteenth. In
32 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES.
TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES.
The transportation facilities of Kansas are unsurpassed. Only seven States of the Union, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Missouri, have within their borders more miles of completed railway than has Kansas. For fully two hundred miles west of our eastern border, every county except one is traversed by from one to six lines of railway. There are eighty-six organized and eleven unorganized counties in the State, and of these all except fourteen organized and seven unorgani
34 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE SCHOOLS OF KANSAS.
THE SCHOOLS OF KANSAS.
Education has gone hand in hand with the material growth of Kansas. It has been the boast of our people, for twenty years past, that the best building in every city, town or hamlet in the State was the school house. The census of 1880 revealed the fact that only 25,503 inhabitants of Kansas, over ten years of age, were unable to read. The growth of our school system is shown by the following figures: In 1861 the amount expended for the support of common schools was only $1,700, while the expendi
58 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHURCHES AND NEWSPAPERS.
CHURCHES AND NEWSPAPERS.
Churches have multiplied and newspapers increased as have the schools. In 1860 there were only 97 church buildings in Kansas, and they had cost only $143,950. In 1870 the number of churches had increased to 301, valued at $1,722,700; and in 1880 they numbered 2,514, costing an aggregate of $2,491,560. There were only 27 newspapers published in Kansas in 1860, and of these only three were dailies. In 1870 the number had increased to 97, of which 12 were dailies. In 1880 there were 347 newspapers,
40 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
WHAT OF THE FUTURE?
WHAT OF THE FUTURE?
And now, having sketched the growth of Kansas during the past quarter of a century, it is proper to ask, what of the future? I answer, with confidence, that Kansas is yet in the dawn of her development, and that the growth, prosperity and triumphs of the next decade will surpass any we have yet known. Less than one-fifth of the area of the State has been broken by the plow—ten million of fifty-two million acres. Multiply the present development by five, and you can perhaps form some idea of the
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
A PROPHECY FULFILLED.
A PROPHECY FULFILLED.
On the 7th of May, 1856, a great American, learned, sagacious, and confident in his faith that right and justice would at last prevail, said, in a speech delivered in the City of New York: "In the year of our Lord 1900, there will be two million people in Kansas, with cities like Providence and Worcester—perhaps like Chicago and Cincinnati. She will have more miles of railroad than Maryland, Virginia, and both the Carolinas can now boast. Her land will be worth twenty dollars an acre, and her to
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter