

TOPICS OF THE TIME 





The The arid regions will have 

 Spread of to look to their laurels for 

 Irrigation, irrigation is becoming gen- 

 eral and no mistake. It was the general 

 drought throughout the country the past 

 season that has awakened the agricul- 

 turists of the rain belt. Illinois already 

 has one wonderful irrigated farm and the 

 coming season farmers in various sections 

 of the State will adopt the safe plan for 

 crops. Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota 

 will also have irrigated farms, and similar 

 announcements come from Indiana, Ohio, 

 Pennsylvania and other States, while the 

 irrigation operations in the South will be 

 largely increased. It has come to be gen- 

 erally appreciated, that irrigation, with 

 diversification of the crops, is the sure 

 road to prosperity. 



Tiding A big trust company has just 

 Them been organized in Chicago, the 

 Over, business of which will be to loan 

 money to cattle ranchers and farmers who 

 are not ready to market their herds or 

 crops. By the aid of this company it is 

 urged that cattle, corn, etc., need not be 

 sacrificed when prices are as at present. 

 Of course the company will make money 

 but its operations will prove most bene- 

 ficial to people who need to be tided over. 

 Among those at the head of the organiza- 

 tion are P. D. Armour, E. A. Cudahy, 

 Herman Kountze, John A. Creighton, J. 

 M. Woolworth, Fred Davis, John A. Mc- 

 Shane, W. A. Paxton and several Boston 

 and New York capitalists. The capital is 

 $1,000,000. Offices of the company will 

 be located at Omaha and Kansas City. 



Annies With the new flood of 

 of gold, or the prospect of a 



Immigrants, new flood of gold, armies 

 of immigrants will take their way to the 

 Western States and Territories in the 

 Spring. From every section of the coun- 

 try co-operative parties and individuals 

 will be leaving. It is likely, too, that in- 

 asmuch as the present boom has reached 

 every part of Europe, immigrants to this 



country from the Old World will, more 

 generally than usual, be ticketed through 

 to the Western States and Territories. All 

 this being true, Western America might as 

 well prepare to provide for them. If there 

 is not employment in the mines for all of 

 these people, there are irrigation farms 

 acres sufficient for all. The mining boom 

 has attracted the people generally, as well 

 as the capitalists and investors of this 

 country, but if hosts of poor men, expect- 

 ing work, reach Colorado and other States 

 and Territories in the winter season and 

 find nothing to do, their plight will be a sad 

 one. And this is just the prospect at 

 present. Poor men from every point are 

 working their way West. It would be a 

 humane act for the State officers of Colo- 

 rado to publicly notify the working people 

 of the country of the present situation and 

 the chances of employment. Men with a 

 little means can go out West at any season 

 and get along, but it is no poor man's 

 country in the winter time. 



West All the efforts of the merchants 

 and of Chicago and the West to open 

 South, up trade with theSouthern States 

 having failed, that rich field has for years 

 been almost abandoned, and New York 

 and the East have been the gainers. Spas- 

 modic attempts have been made to solve 

 the mystery as to why the South preferred 

 to trade with New York when it could do 

 better with Chicago, but nothing satisfac- 

 tory could be ascertained. When the rail- 

 road magnates were inquired of, the answer 

 invariably was, "Oh, the Southern States 

 have their trade relations with New York es- 

 tablished for years and they will not make 

 any change. ' ' But with the Atlanta Exposi- 

 tion, and the mingling of Western farmers, 

 merchants and manufacturers with those 

 of the South, the whole matter is cleared 

 up, and the prospect is that hereafter 

 shipments from the West to the South and 

 vice versa will prove a big factor in the 

 commerce of the country. It is conclus- 

 ively proven that for years past the rail- 

 roads, at the instigation of New York and 



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