700 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (KANSAS.) 



culture show a net increase of $7,485.240 in the 

 value of the year's agricultural product over 

 that of 1900, making the total of these, as it is 

 in live-stock values, the greatest in the State's 

 history. The yield of winter and spring wheat 

 was 90,333,095 bushels, valued at $50,610,505.75. 

 The yield of corn was 42,605,072 bushels, valued 

 at $21,731,215.39. This year's yield of wheat is 

 more by 11,915,183 bushels, or 15.2 per cent., 

 than the United States Department of Agriculture 

 has ever reported raised by any State in any year, 

 barring the Kansas yield in 1900. The yield of 

 corn in the State was cut down from 134.523,677 

 bushels in 1900 to 42,005,072 in 1901. Oats and 

 rye each had increased value for 1901, amounting 

 to $1,405.195 together, although the former crop 

 fell more than 10,000,000 bushels below the 1900 

 yield, while the production of rye was greater by 

 nearly 52 per cent. Irish and sweet potatoes were 

 less by 5,000,000 bushels than in 1900. Other 

 crops, * mostly of minor importance, show de- 

 creases in both yields and values, except tame 

 and prairie hay, which together, although having 

 fewer tons, had a value exceeding that of 1900 by 

 $7,318,602, or 12.3 per cent. The sorghums for 

 grain and forage for 1901 were worth more than 

 in the year preceding by $1,138,339, or 13.1 per 

 cent. 



For the surplus animals slaughtered or sold for 

 that purpose the value was $60,902,241, an in- 

 crease over the previous year of more than $6,- 

 580,000, or 12 per cent.; while the value of the 

 dairy and poultry products and wool exceeded 

 their combined value in 1900 by $1,111,045. 



All live stock increased in numbers except 

 sheep and swine, which show slight decreases 

 compared with 1900; but the total value was 

 $153,037,732, a net increase of $9,579,979. The 

 total value of farm-products for the year was 

 $195,254,652; total value of live stock, $158,037,- 

 732. 



Sugar-Beet Bounties. The Legislature of 

 1901 passed a law providing for a bounty of $1 

 a ton on all sugar-beets raised in the State show- 

 ing 12 per cent, or more of sugar. The investiga- 

 tion to determine those entitled to the bounty 

 was made by F. D. Coburn, secretary of the Board 

 of Agriculture. His report shows the following 

 facts in relation to the new crop, which is grown 

 in the extreme western portion of the State by 

 the aid of irrigation: Number of beet-growers, 

 77 ; acres harvested, 337 ; average acreage for each 

 grower, 4.37 acres; average harvested by each 

 grower, 22.82 tons; maximum tonnage by one 

 grower, 111 tons; minimum, 1.5 ton; average 

 yield per acre, 5.22 tons; maximum yield per acre, 

 18.41 tons; minimum, 1.15; average per cent, of 

 sugar, 17.8; maximum per cent, of sugar, 22.8; 

 minimum, 13.3; average price per ton received, 

 exclusive of bounty, 5.14; average profit per acre, 

 computed from reports of 37 growers, $17.03. The 

 average per cent, of sugar developed by the beet- 

 farmers of Germany, the home of the industry, 

 is 15 per cent. Tests made at the State Agricul- 

 tural College showed that 16 different samples of 

 beets developed an average of 21 per cent, of 

 sugar. 



Model Farm. A new feature of work in con- 

 nection with the State Agricultural College will 

 be the establishment of a model farm, under di- 

 rection of the regents of the institution, on the 

 old Fort Hays military reservation, ceded by the 

 General Government to the State. Preparations 

 to this end are under way. 



Labor. Eight hours constitutes a day's service 

 in State, county, city, town, and other municipal 

 work. The matter of seeing that the law is 



obeyed is in the hands of the State Labor Com- 

 missioner. During the year he won recognition 

 for the law by taking 9 cases into court. The 

 law was enforced in 200 cases without litigation; 

 altogether about 1,000 men were affected by the 

 cases taken up. 



In a dispute between the Miners' Union and the 

 companies over the meaning of a certain phrase 

 in the working contract, Chief- Justice Doster, of 

 the Supreme Court, was asked to act as arbi- 

 trator. A clause in the contract provided that 

 all matters not settled at the annual conference 

 should be arbitrated. Judge Doster's decision was 

 in favor of the men of the union, and the result 

 was an increase in the amount earned annually 

 of several thousand dollars in the mining dis- 

 trict. 



Free Employment Agency. By act of the 

 Legislature, a bureau of this nature was organized 

 under the direction of the State free employment 

 agent. It has been in operation since May 1, 

 and has been the means of securing employment 

 for 2,200 to 2,500 persons. No charges are made 

 either to those seeking employment or to those 

 in quest of help. In assisting the farmers to 

 secure help during the harvest season, the agency 

 demonstrated its efficiency, although it was 

 scarcely organized. The State employment agent 

 works in connection with the clerks of all cities 

 of the first and second class, the clerks receiving 

 no additional remuneration for their work of this 

 character. All books and blanks are furnished 

 by the State, the city furnishing a room in which 

 to do the business. For the most part, house- 

 maids and common laborers have been benefited 

 in the greatest degree by the new law, although it 

 is planned for all classes. 



Prohibition Crusade. The most remarkable 

 movement in connection with the Kansas law 

 prohibiting the sale of liquor marked the year 

 1901. Its active spirit was Mrs. Carrie Nation, 

 of Medicine Lodge. She raided a saloon in her 

 home county in the autumn of 1900, but first 

 became widely known near the close of that. year, 

 when she wrecked the handsome bar of the lead- 

 ing hotel in Wichita, and marred a valuable 

 painting that offended her ideas of propriety. 

 She was placed in jail, and afterward was re- 

 leased on bond. Not until near the close of 1901 

 were all the cases against her in Wichita dis- 

 missed. When she was released, she set out on 

 a tour of the State, and at several points gave 

 exhibitions of " saloon-smashing." In Topeka 

 she was received with open arms by many of the 

 most zealous opponents of the liquor interests. 

 There were no saloons in Topeka, but many 

 " joints," where the illicit sale of liquor was car- 

 ried on. Mrs. Nation soon had the capital city 

 in an uproar. She " smashed " several saloons, 

 and a large number of her followers effected a 

 regular organization for the purpose of bringing 

 the liquor traffic to an end by forcible means. 

 Many persons of standing were among her ardent 

 supporters. One of these was a minister, who 

 was fined in the police court for attempting to use 

 a weapon while raiding a wholesale liquor house. 

 From the first, however, the more conservative 

 Prohibitionists refused to have anything to do 

 with the movement, maintaining that nothing 

 could be gained by trying in an illegal manner 

 to suppress an illegal traffic. Mrs. Nation was 

 arrested repeatedly, and was in jail in Topeka 

 several times. She started a paper The Smash- 

 er's Mail made up for the most part of illiterate 

 communications from zealous adherents all over 

 the United States. The paper did not pay nor 

 last long. The furor in Kansas caused an un 



