OUR AMERICAN LETTER

Evening Star, Issue 12965, 9 November 1906, Page 4

OUR AMERICAN LETTER

THE PASSING OF JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE. With the election of an overseer of the Chureh in Zion City a few day.- ago was accomplished the pasting of Dowie. There wan nothing sensational in bin exit. No whirlwind or chariot of fire boro him dramatically to ccle tial regions; nothing nearer to the Elijah parallel than a southbound sleeping car, destined to Mexico. One thousand seven hundred and twentyfive votes were cat t for Voliva and six for one B.lLs ; none for Dowic. For the downfall of Dowie the public sentiment is more of pity than exultation, even among those who have always regarded him as an irnposter. People like a lighter. Trie men who laughed when lie was collecting hi.converts by the thousands, receiving their blind homitae and pouring their fortunes at Ids feet, have no word of bitterness for him ns he passes out of power and out of notice. Dowie made Zion possible. The fascination of his per. ona! gifts and s.nmgta of will gave the movement its r.inaikable inception. Xbe triumpliant Voliva of to-day could not have carried through the enterprises that owe their origin to Dowie. FARM LAND INVESTMENT.

A pamphlet just issued by the Department of Agriculture shows that a man who six years ago. for purely speculative purinvented in's money in Middle W t-.-c iarm lauds lues realised good returns un the investment. The pamphlet makes no 10ierence to statistical details, Ixdng designed solely to show a prosperous condition in agricultural communitie , but the iore;o ng deduction may ho drawn from the puhi.idled facts. Farm invcslinonts have always been regarded as pre-eminently safe. When itcan be demonstrated that in addition to tins one can make 50 per cent, on an investment of iix years’ standing, there scorns to be no good excuse lor sinking money in ■wild-cut .schemes and tontine enterprises.

The general increase in farm values since 1900 throughout the United States :s placed at one-third, but in mm sections of the Middle West and Smith k is much more than that. In tome parts of Texas the advance is invert at 100 per cent. The average increase in Minnesota is shown to 'no 25 per tent., in Oklahoma SO per cent., in Joh-u 30 per ce.nl., in Missouri 40 per cent., in Nebraska 50 per cent., laid in Kansas 51 per cent. Oenerally speak.ng, the newer the State the greater the increase. Successful wheat crop. , which have been the rule since 1837, are assigned as tue principal cause of this advance tu tile va.ue of farm lands. In this period there Lave been several phenomenal crops, :uid the series throughout the wheat belt has been unbroken by even a partial failure. On the other hand, the corn crop has been very little if auy above normal, and the livctock industry lias not flourished as it bar in other per ods of equal length w-.thin the last decade. However, wheat lias saved tiie day ; and, whatever the cause, the mere fact that farm lands are inciea.sing in juice shows that the demand for them is increasing, and that the country is in a healthy condition. President Roosevelt, in a letter to the National Initiation Congress, e-vp terser a wish that ah the (toveumien; lands reclaimed by irr.gat.on shall be divided ia:o ;anns of 160 acres. The speculators ate watching these kinds which the Ceueral Covemmeu: are endow ing with spcc.al fert. 1 ity. They would like to get pj.«s«ision of extensive tracts, .so as to profit b_v the great increase in value which is certain to come. If the reclaimed hinds are sold first’ hi small parcels to genu no. cull.-calms lliey will slick u> their holdings. No leg;.-.-lation can be framed winch will auloma.i cully keep the speculator entirely out. For ,natty years unscrupulous men have been able to net, around the laud laws anti help, them, elvi-s to the choice pun ions of ihe public domain, with compa.rat.vp .inpun,tv, until the present Secretary of the I ..tenor Opjiartiue.nt got after them. He has p:o----secutod many ami punished some, including one Senator and one Congressman. He i.s demonstrating the; principal that laws an; of no value unless enforced. * A WOMAN'S KNORMOUS RANCH.

Owning a ranch oi 1,000,000 acres —twice as big as the .State oi I’hodo 1.-land, and as large as tit.: entire Stale of Delaware— Mrs H. M K.Jig is one of the richest women in Uio world. By tic purchase of the Lon Laurel-os, which is adjacent to her own ranch at Santa Gertrudes, .Mo King become, the largest ranch-owner in the world. Tiie Los Laurdos consists of 170,0 CX) acre . She has more than 100,000 head of boef cattle, and the St. I/Oiii.s, Brownsville, and Mexico Railroad runs through her property. for more than 100 mile.-'. During the last year oho Las given away 65,000 acres—ss,ooo for the building of the railroad, and 50,000 acres for the town of King> vilie, named after her husband. At one tiino it was culimatcd that it was fitly odd nti.es Irom her doorway to her front gate. Mrs King’s ranch, the Santa Gertrude, is an enormous revenue-producer. While tie most of her land is used ior stock-raising, practically every acre is eusceptible of the highest cultivation. In the last twenty-five years the land has inertia ed in value ;rom 16c and 20c an acre to 15dol and 20do!. It is all in the artesian water belt, and can be irrigated. Such land under cultivation is selling in Texas for loOdol an acre. It is Mrs King’s plan to reclaim all the grazing band she owns, and by boring artesian wells irrigate it and rent and lease it to progressive and practical farmer?. Mrs King is a product of the South-west, and pract.cally all of her life lias been spent, on the Texas frontier. In the early days, when die went there with her husband. Captain Richard King, Indiana roamed at will on the land which she now owns; but far worse than the Indians as neighbors were the border desperadoes—Mexican outlaws, smugglers, cattle-rust Icm, and the renegades of society who sought an asylum in the South-west. Captain King and his wife -fixed ia Brownsville, the very centre

of tiie border tuSuiuiso. Ho soon e*tab» Ibhcd a reputation for ft-arioew.'.-ess and for bi-i abi'itv to take care of himself in a lux-im-is transaction. Captain King, fought hi-- wav through Hie periods of terrorism, and .stories* of iris coniiictG with the band* of desperate men who preyed on hvs roaming herd-; are now told about the campfires by tiie cowboys of his widow. Ho added to l;is land, section by section and tract by tract, until lie had half a million lucres, and his herds had grown from a few hundreds to thousands of head. ecvi nty-thicc yeans of age, Mm King is a* actively cngagi d in the management of her vast property to-day as she was twenty yeans aro. The routine management is m the Ivands of her son-in-law, It. J. Kleberg, but he has no authority to close any important business transaction without the approval of Mrs King. Mns King employ* more than 500 per.-cm on the ranch, a majority of wliom are Mexicans. CROPS AND PROSPERITY. r i’he wheat crop of the United State® is certified now as a bumper, surpassing that. c{ ISOI. The record for 1906 ;s 770.000.000 bushels, surpa-sr.-.g the former record year bv about 25.000.000 bushels. Corn is now bevond the teach of danger from frost, and on it-' wav to vic’d 2.707.000.000 bushels. Tho hav h.irv.st has liecn unusually large. Cotton will he about 1.000, 0C0 bales greater than last y ar. Tobacco is promising to keep step w.lh the general tally, and other important crops ao- not a wiiit behind. The prices of our tr-merximi- surplus oomrmro favorably with its volume. Tho relation of large, crops to busmens prosperity i« cue of “tlto obvious things. Tho “ fatted kir.e - ’ are to stay with us yet awhile. How long will they remain! It is wlioU-fc-onu; in theste times of general prospciitv to consider the return of tho ‘•loan kine. : ’ It may check Urn tendency towards iock!cs*uc^s'. A NATIONAL AI’PLE DAY. The Congrostt of National Apple-growers have just closed their annual session, agreeing to meet in St. Louis next year. They alio voted to establish the ilttid Tuesday in October of each year as National Apple Day. An anniversary of this kind is appropriate tor many re-i ems, and will distinguish a beautiful and boumiiul month, that lias been until now without a day of special observance. How the day was to be obsei"Ve‘d w,us left an opren rpueation. but Nature does its part so generously at tho season named that the ariangi mint of details, will be easy. An apple tree in full bloom is a 1 1 1 . 11 g of fransver.deiit beauty, delightful in perfume as well as in appearance. as it eiiauges from bud tipped with carmine to a luxuricatit cloud of white, in which the bes give a. song of supreme happiness. The appV crop of the Unite*.! .So tos is (Miniated at 63,000.CC0 barrels — a tbiid more than the average. THK COST OF FARMING.

In the United States about all otlmr classes of industiy are figured down to the minimum, but in’ fanning it is not. The fanner's attention is tle\oted almost exclusively to producing a crop, and wanting in special knov. j. ilgc ol keeping accurate account of expense whu n enter., into production, be has no means 01 saving in the cost of production for its inihionce upon proliis. The Government, through the Agricultural Department, ale go mg to help him. Tim txp, rimer.ts the <t, partment >s making upon a number of farms in the country, that will give practical results, with kind values, the cost of labor, the value of inachinc-iy employed. the best seed to use. rents, interest, taxis. and all the elements which enter into the cost of producing farm staphs, will open the eyes of the individual fanner as to th ■ ways and means for sieving in cost of production. SUBSTAXTIAL SYMP ATH Y. At the Convention of ilk> United Mine Workers, held recently, a rule was adopted against the closing of a mine on the day o? the funeral el a. n.-ine worker killed by accident or death from natural causes. Instead of that act of sympathy, it is proposed to donate ouc-haif of the day s wages to the family of the- deceased. Last vear 644 men lust their lives in the anthracite coalfields, and the average loss of wages in each ease, due to the stoppage 01 work as a mark of respect, was about £509. Under the new rule the men will continue working as usual, h.ut the family of the buried miner would receive a gift of £l5O. It is true that money cannot, make up the loss of the bread-winner to the family. Neither can crowded attendance at a’ funeral. But the minds of tno men at work, conscious that every stroke was for the relief of the family of their late companion, would be more apt to fee! the full solemn moaning of the day than if. after the funeral, it wore si>ciit in idleness or [terhaps in a saloon. A day of work for the relief of the helpless is a more substantia! form of aympaimy than a holidav.

a g lowing political movement. The action of a large number of Stale;; during the past Year indicates a steadily growing mo, eiii-.nl- demanding that meinIxir.s ol the Senate he elected directly by the [Hiojile, instead of liy the State, Legislatures in joint session or by the appointment of Governors. 1 hat they should hi at least nominated by tin; ptople by their primaries, and t-onliitncd by tin' L-.gisla-luies, is a i-democratic demand. -V change of this sOit has i-een askr-d for by the Itepnblican party ot Michigan, Vciinont, New ]iaiapshi:e, Illinois, \\isconsin, Nebraska, ami Oregon, and by the Democratic parly of A!a.,ama, Arkansas, Florida. Georgia, Kvntneky, Louisiana. Mississippi, .South Carolina. jcni>p.see, Texan, and Virginia.. The subject i.s being agitated in more or loss degree in every .-■tale in the Union, and it will lie but a short time, wheiw+tic people will b permitted to vote direct for their elif.h e far tie' office of United States Senator. Sene e.f th pr- ■

iiiilhonain- iiicumHr-iiL:' will thrr. invited to sun finwn rd our; othors \v:ll lLnd it impossible to parch;*.* » tboir scats. itii ihfV ijavo in tbe paM. TTIK SKI'TKMK.KiI J-XKCTInXS.

Ark:n:t;ns ularU'-i Stata and (Aunty urti-K-i - until ;ln- n u-d Oi‘m<iwi*v**,ic majoiit .pi—--50.000 fur (l«»ivm<ir uAiuy t>. 37.5 rm-mU-r^ oi ini* luir Lojr A.atinc, aii tan ate lbmociats. Vermont c.h ted a IWpuhih an vernnr iiv 15.0C0 majority, winch is a'f.ui H.COO short of the norm i! Republican maioi ■ ty. Maine elected tin enl re Republican iicii-LMtiosi ny redtned majors.-. (he only i' gmheanoe atlacind to inis or so- hem the fail tliat the Amirican Vederath.ii of I. then, under the icadersinp nf Darijier.s. undertook to d< :ou itc enmon ui tongressmau i.ittlclic.d. hat their mighty Tlioir. only succeeded in n.'ducirn.' the majority a. Oregon elected a Democratic 110Venior on personal grounds, hut every Re. publican candidate for the- I.e a if. la urn; wad returned. tints ensuring the election of a Republican Senator. Tin-re i.-t nothing in tlie e results to indicate that there will he a bolt towards W. J. Bryan m the next campaign for tile Presidency. Ulysses. lleringtot), Kansas, f-'eptember 28.