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History of Nebraska - Chapter 32
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CHAPTER XXXII
MATERIAL GROWTH AND RESOURCES -- AGRICULTURE -- COMMERCE -- MANUFACTURE --
THE GRASSHOPPER PLAGUE -- DROUTHS -- FARMERS' ORGANIZATIONS -- TRANS-
MISSISSIPPI EXPOSITION
THEREFORE take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we
drink? or Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do
the Gentiles seek: . . . But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Buddha,
second in importance, perhaps, of the world's great moral and religious
leaders, anticipated these Christian sentiments in his teachings.
The vast, and perhaps paramount importance of economic development
requires and excuses a little preparatory preaching. The favorite
philosophy of earlier civilizations undertook to work from the top,
downward. whereas our -- we call it sociology -- reverses the order and
works from the bottom, upward. The great teachers and preachers among the
ancients thought to bring about social amelioration by inspiring the
people with righteous precepts. We seek the same end through appeal to
enlightened selfishness by magnifying the importance of physical goods and
comforts and putting them within reach of all and by arming all with
intelligence enough to enable them to enforce equity and righteousness. In
the present sociological philosophy, so-called original moral precept is
not superseded by enlightened or intelligent social force but they
interact upon each other; the latter, however, doing the primary or
principal pushing. The few and far between transcendental idealists of the
ancients -- exceptions or sports among natural men -- sought to convert
the normal people to their idealism by texts; we work out to the
idealistic texts as the best expression of natural development. Our
sociology turns the old Adam in people, which, in spite of ages of
precept, still abounds, upon itself to convince them that the less they
manifest it the better off they will be.
In short, we are the very Gentiles the greatest of these
transcendentalists contemned. And this is why Nebraska's material
resources seem so important to us, and why we here seek to disclose, and
contribute toward showing how the most may be made of them; and it is the
real source of our state pride which this exposition will both illustrate
and justify. For to reach these ends of individual and social advantage,
which are closely related, there must be union and coöperation of a goodly
number of people in a territory of sufficient area and economic resources
comfortably to contain and maintain them. These conditions should be such
as to afford support, with a minimum burden, to an adequate government, to
the best school system, to an ample system of transportation and, in
general, to profitably employ and encourage in their development the
people who are thus joined in the society we call a state. The
contribution of live stock by the grazing section of the state to the
eastern section for feeding or slaughter, for example, increases
population and builds up large towns which, in turn, encourage the
establishment of large stores which carry extensive stocks of goods of all
classes for the convenience of people from all parts of the state. The
growth of the cities and industrial institutions in the eastern part of
the state is stimulated by the development of farming in the western part,
and that growth, in turn, tends to increase the value of western farms.
These diverse enterprises are mutually dependent upon markets for buying
and selling.
The approximately uniform size of the
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states is due to the adjustment of these conditions of means to ends. It
is found that in an organization smaller than the general government,
involving the whole nation, most of the interests of the people are better
subserved and their affairs better managed, because public opinion can be
more readily concentrated in the smaller state and is more effectively
brought to bear upon a government seated near at hand than upon one at a
great distance, like our federal government. On the other hand, defense
against foreign aggression, free interstate commercial intercourse, and
the construction of great public works, such as waterways and irrigation
systems, seem to require the larger political association. Otherwise, we
should be better off if our several states were wholly independent of one
another. Our habit of patriotism, which chiefly glories in bigness and the
prestige it carries, gradually weakens as society becomes more mature and
national lines gradually wear away under the feet of increasing
intercourse impelled by the impulse of a growing sense of mutuality of
interests. Compassing this wider view, George Eliot called patriotism "a
virtue of small minds," and Herbert Spencer said: "If anyone should
question my truthfulness or my honesty, I should be stung to the quick,
but if I should be called unpatriotic, I should remain unmoved." And in
the wider nation there is a correspondingly wider scope for patriotism as
Dr. Johnson aptly defines it: "The last refuge of scoundrels."
But the ultimate meaning of our present controlling philosophy, pride
in the great material resources of our state and solicitude for their most
complete development, may spring from the broadest motive. This is
confirmed by a single fact: Omaha is the greatest distributing center for
sheep of the "feeder" class in the world. This vast supply of raw
material, which is converted into butchers' stock, in part by Nebraska
corn and hay, is collected from all the grazing states of the West and
Northwest. Again, the meat-packing system of Omaha ranks third in the
country -- and so in the world -- in volume of output.
The skepticism and hesitancy which, from the first, retarded material
development of the Nebraska country were not fairly dispelled until about
the year 1878 which is marked by the revival, or the beginning on a
general local scale, of railroad building. Though the intersection of the
state by railroads was begun in the early seventies, it had been abandoned
on account of the grasshopper depredations of 1874-1875 and the fear of
them, which lasted two years beyond that period. As late as 1877 it was
confidently predicted that in twenty years Nebraska would be the great
cattle range of America, and as confidently asserted that the Republican
valley was a natural grazing ground; but at the close of that year the
Burlington & Missouri railroad company gave notice that the prices of its
lands would be raised; and the two great railroad companies of the state
valued their properties so highly as to begin political strife to prevent
their control by the state. But not only were the resources of the state
underestimated; there was misapprehension as to their character. About ten
years later Nebraska was distinguished as forming an unexcelled part of
the unequalled corn belt of the world, and a few years still later stood
in the front rank of the general agricultural states.
A humane federal statute prohibits the continuous transportation of
live stock upon railroads for more than twenty-eight hours without being
unloaded for rest. By consent of the shipper, the time may be extended, as
it usually is in practice, to thirty-six hours. By a state statute, the
time is limited to twenty-four hours for transportation wholly within the
state. Business interests reënforce the law; and yards for feeding and
resting are maintained at convenient points along the main lines. On the
Burlington these yards are kept by the company; on the other lines they
are owned and operated by independent parties. The yards at Valley on the
Union Pacific road are the most extensive in th
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state, both because that road covers the widest stock raising area and
because the station is about the right distance from Omaha for preparing
stock for the great market there.
These yards are owned and conducted by William G. Whitmore and Frank
Whitmore, his brother. During recent years, they have handled on an
average, 1,100,000 animals annually, three-fourths of which are sheep.
Most of the remainder are cattle; as but few hogs originate west of
Nebraska, not many need rest or care at this station. Much the larger part
of the sheep come from Wyoming and Idaho, Wyoming largely leading. The
rest come from northern Utah, Montana, Oregon, California, and Washington.
Since many of these western sheep are originally driven to the northern
grazing grounds from the far south, they become very experienced travelers
by the time they reach the Omaha or Chicago market; and this phase of
sheep life illustrates the marvelous capacity of modern transportation and
its important relation to industrial, and general social development.
James J. Hill caused the shipment of considerable numbers of live stock
from the farther western states across the Pacific ocean to the orient.
The Messrs. Whitmore use 3,200 acres of land adjacent to Valley in
their stock caretaking business. They own 1,100 acres and they have
acquired long leases of adjacent farms to make up the remainder, for which
they pay a high rental. These lands have a frontage of four miles on the
Platte river. The total acreage is divided into thirty-six lots which are
required to separately accommodate individual shipments or consignments.
The lots are fenced with woven wire, surmounted by several strings of
barbed wire for the protection of the sheep from coyotes and dogs. The
length of time of detention of the various consignments is governed by the
condition of the stock and of the market. The first is improved by feeding
and rest, and the second may improve through waiting. All the land is
devoted to pasture and meadow; all the needed grains are purchased.
The various lots are watered by driven wells from which windmills pump
the water into troughs which in turn overflow into natural depressions or
pockets, thus creating perennial ponds of fresh and wholesome water. A
large number of yards and chutes are required for loading and unloading.
The re-shipping is mostly done in the night so that the stock may reach
Omaha fresh at the opening of the market.
Upwards of $30,000 is invested in buildings, one of which will house 7,
000 sheep, though it is used only in stormy weather, and another contains
500 tons of baled hay in readiness for any emergency of bad weather or an
otherwise accidental short supply. The labor pay roll is about $20,000
annually; and, as the work requires the greatest care, high wages are paid
to secure responsible men. There are machines for shearing sheep and for
various other purposes and gasoline and electric motors.
About eighty per cent of the cattle and eighty-five per cent of the
sheep that stop over at these yards are range fed. A considerable part of
this class of stock is in good enough condition for immediate slaughter;
the rest are sold as feeders. Chicago packers take the larger part of the
fat animals and Omaha the larger part of the feeders. William G.
Whitmore's son, Jesse D., manages a similar feeding station at Grand
Island; and there are stations also at Sidney and Cheyenne and other
points along the Union Pacific road.
The great plant near Central City, in Merrick county, which was
founded, controlled, and conducted by the late T. B. Hord, serves to
illustrate the extent of the stock feeding business, in Nebraska, as well
as the methods employed.
Mr. Hord came to Central City from Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1885, and at
once began the business which he developed into the largest establishment
of its kind in the whole country, and so of the whole world. The first
year he fed 235 head of cattle. In 1908 he fed 16,000 cattle and 12,000
hogs. While Central City is the chief feeding point, there
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are branches at Belgrade, Chapman, Clarks, Fullerton, Schuyler, and
Thummel, on the Union Pacific railroad, and Neligh, Oakdale, and Tilden on
the Northwestern railroad. Four year old steers are preferred for feeding
because they make the highest class of beef in the least time, which the
plant aims to produce. A part of this stock is bought from farmers and
ranchers in Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming, but the Hords keep on their
ranges in Deuel and Sheridan counties, from six thousand to eight thousand
head of steers, mostly bought as two-year-olds. When these arrive at the
age of four years, they are brought down to the feeding stations. Some of
the young cattle are also kept in Montana. The hogs are bought mainly in
Nebraska, but some of them in Wyoming and Colorado, and the sheep come
principally from the two states last named.
About 16,000 acres of land are used in the production of hay and corn
and for yards for the animals. Not more than 25,000 bushels of corn are
raised on this land annually, but it produces most of the hay which is
consumed. The enormous amount of food which is required every year is
easily calculated from the fact that about sixty bushels of corn and three-
fourths of a ton of hay are fed to each steer. The amount of time taken
for feeding a steer is three to six months, an average of about four
months. This of course depends upon the condition of the stock and of the
market. Nearly all of the Hord cattle are sold in the Chicago market
because they have been fed up into the export class and the demand for
this grade is in that market. Besides hay and corn, a balance ration of
alfalfa meal and molasses is also given to both cattle and sheep. Hogs get
their corn mostly from the droppings of the cattle, but they are fed
besides, about a pound a day per head of shorts mixed with water.
Cottonseed meal is fed more or less to cattle toward the latter part of
the fattening period.
It is not found necessary or profitable to house cattle or sheep, but
the yards are protected by high board fences for wind breaks. Houses are
provided for hogs.
From 125 to 150 head of cattle are put into each feeding yard, the
tendency being to reduce the numbers so herded together for feeding. The
sheep feeding yards contain about 400 head to the pen.
The Hords own and lease a part of their stock range in Deuel and
Sheridan counties and a part of it consists of public lands. Hay cut in
the valleys on the ranges is kept ready for use and is fed mainly in the
months of January, February, and March. Wells and windmills are quite
generally resorted to for supplying the range stock with water and this
method is found to be quite practicable. Only steers are corn fed; all
cows being sold to the slaughter market from the range.
Sheep feeding is not always profitable, mainly on account of the high
cost of the feeders, owing to the high price of wool. Dear corn also
affects the business. Those caught with fattening stock on their hands,
bought before the panic of 1907, suffered a great deal of loss. While
there is more risk in feeding on a high corn market, yet it is not
necessarily less profitable than feeding cheap corn. Mr. Hord's very wide
experience and practical observation led him to the same opinion held by
Dean Burnett, of our school of agriculture, namely, that the fattening of
cattle will come to be done more and more by the farmers themselves or
small local feeders.
Among other large feeders in Nebraska are Edward Burke of Genoa, E. M.
Brass and John Reimers & Sons of Grand Island, and E. D. Gould of Kearney.
The largest sheep feeders, are in the neighborhood of Gibbon, Shelton, and
Wood River.
While general intelligence and scientific skill are constantly
increasing factors in general farming, yet its results will always depend
largely upon the uncertain whims of Mother Nature. On the other hand, the
stock feeding business, which is an adjunct of farming, depends mainly
upon human foresight, judgment, and intense attention to detail. The key
which opens to success is buying right, and this requires skill of a high
order. And then the feeding is becoming more and more a process of the
adaptation of scientific
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knowledge as well as general good judgment; and to apply these and to
prevent accident and disease also requires the utmost diligence. The
exactions of this business are illustrated by the fact that the head of
the great enterprise in question did not leisurely reach his office at the
banker's or professional hour of nine o'clock or ten o'clock in the
morning, but was found there, in the thick of the fight, as early as
seven, even in the winter time. If there is any royal road to wealth in
Wall street -- and there probably is none -- it is as far in this respect
from the western stock feeding establishments as the two industries are
separated in character or statute miles.
The picturesque white faces of the Hereford breed predominate in the
yards of the large feeders. This is because they are more hardy and
maintain themselves more successfully than the other beef-producing
breeds, in the hard struggle for existence on the far western ranges,
where many of the feeders' stocks originate and spend the first two or
three years of their lives. If the stern vicissitude of cattle experience
has raised the same question which not uncommonly troubles their human
contemporaries, whether life is worth living at all, the Herefords
doubtless lament that they became physically so well favored.
The Fremont stock yards, of which Lucius D. Richards is president, also
carry on a very extensive business similar to that at Valley. These yards
have pens for fifty-eight cars of cattle, covered sheds for twenty-four
cars of sheep, open pens for 18,000 sheep; a dipping plant with a daily
capacity of 5,000 head; ten double deck unloading chutes; set of ten Allen
machine shearers, and 1,200 acres of blue grass pasture in the Platte
valley. Below is a comprehensive and illuminating statement of the
business done at these yards during the years ending January 31, 1907, and
January 31, 1908.
Year ending January 31, 1907:
Sheep ... 3,908 cars
Cattle .. 1,051 cars
Horses .. 81 cars
Hogs .... 3 cars
Total ... 5,043
Year ending January 31, 1908:
Sheep ... 2,695 cars
Cattle .. 785 cars
Horses .. 77 cars
Hogs .... 5 cars
Total ... 3,562
Business year ending January 31, 1908:
Cars Sheep Cattle Horses Hogs
From Neb. 212 27,820 2,800 ... 400
So. Dak. 225 28,600 2,800 375 ...
Wyo. 1,550 293,280 10,080 1,550 ...
Idaho 800 182,000 21,800 ... ...
Utah 250 52,000 1,400 ... ...
Ore. 75 13,000 700 ... ...
Nev. 50 13,000 ... ... ...
Colo. 400 91,000 1,400 ... ...
TOTAL 3,562 200,200 21,980 1,925 400
Roads bringing in stock.
Northwestern 1,888 333,060 14,840 1,800 400
Union Pacific 1,674 367,640 7,140 125 ...
Destination:
Chicago 1,400 312,000 4,900 625 ...
So. Omaha 2,162 388,700 17,080 1,300 400
Classing stock:
Fat 1,550 279,240 13,188 ... 400
Feeders 2,012 421,460 8,792 1,925 ...
The business of the not quite completed year of 1908 shows a
substantial increase over that of the year ending January 31, 1908.
The principal feeding and resting station on the Burlington system is
at Burnham, adjacent to Lincoln. These yards handle sheep exclusively and
have a grazing capacity of 50,000 head, barn space for grain feeding for
18,000, and outside pens for 12,000. The total receipts for the eleven
months of the year 1908, ending November 30th, were 555,000 head with a
marketable value of $2,200,000. Of these receipts, Colorado and Utah
contributed fifty-five per cent; Wyoming, twenty-eight per cent; Montana,
eleven per cent; Nebraska, six per cent. The destination of the year's
receipts was: South Omaha and Nebraska points, forty-three per cent; St.
Joseph and Missouri, twenty-one per cent; Iowa, Illinois, and Chicago,
thirty-six per cent. The yards do what is called "feeding in transit."
Sheep are kept there for from one day to one hundred days. When left as
long as the last named period they are fattened there ready for market.
The yards also operate, generally commencing March 1st, a ten machine
sheep shearing plant, by which, in 1908, 21,500 sheep were shorn
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of a clip of 151,000 pounds of wool, with a selling price of about $23,
000. The receipts comprise pea fed sheep from southern Colorado, corn fed
lambs from northern Colorado and Nebraska, and range sheep from Utah,
Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. Fed sheep there fattened on corn, peas, or
other cereals, are marketed, usually, from December to July, and range
sheep during the balance of the year.
All interstate shipments of sheep are under the supervision of an
inspector of the bureau of animal industry, whose authority is absolute,
and in case he finds that the sheep are afflicted with any stipulated
infectious or contagious disease, he can order them quarantined and then
dipped in recommended solutions and all quarters they may have occupied,
cleansed and disinfected before further use.
These establishments, which rank among the greatest of their kind, very
forcibly illustrate the resources of Nebraska and its tributary territory.
The Omaha stock yards were founded in 1884, through the business foresight
and courage of a group of Omaha men, and they opened the way for the great
packing houses which were soon built around them. The total receipts of
live stock at the yards during the year 1907 were, cattle, 1,158,716;
hogs, 2,253,652; sheep, 2,038,777; horses and mules, 44,020. The increase
in receipts of sheep during the five years 1903-1907 was large, that of
cattle somewhat less, while hogs showed a slight decrease. The number of
cattle received in 1907 was greater than the number for any other year.
The following table shows the receipts for 1907 of the several kinds of
stock from territory west of the Missouri river and the part of the total
which was shipped over the several railroads. The figures for the Chicago,
St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha road are not exact, as that line operates on
both sides of the river, and a proportionate division of the stock
originating on either side was not made in the report.
We are considering here two main questions: what the economic resources
of the state are now and what they may become. We get the most intelligent
view of these questions by comparison. The state is young politically and
very young industrially, and yet it has already won third place in the
production of hogs and of corn and fourth place as to cattle and wheat;
Illinois and Iowa leading in hogs and corn; Texas and Kansas in cattle;
Kansas, Minnesota, and North Dakota in wheat. Illinois and Iowa each
contains in round numbers, 56,000 square miles; Kansas, 80,000; Minnesota,
83,000; North Dakota, 70,000; Nebraska, 76,000.
The section of Nebraska east of the second guide meridian, west, with
several southerly counties west of that line added, contains 40,000 square
miles, an area considerably greater than that of Indiana, about the same
as that of Ohio or Kentucky, and only 9,000 miles less than that of New
York. For uniform productiveness of crops that are most uniformly needed
and demanded throughout those parts of the world most capable of buying
them, this section is scarcely equaled. We have 36,000 square miles (the
size of Indiana) of more questionable productiveness to match the 16,000
excess of Illinois and Iowa over our superior 40,000 and to overmatch in
size such states as Kentucky, Ohio, and New York.
In estimating the economic future of Nebraska, it should be noted that
the value of its agricultural products is now only about seventy per cent
of the like products of New York or Ohio and eighty per cent of those of
Pennsylvania. This difference in favor of those naturally ill-favored
states is due partly
Horses
Railroad Cattle Hogs Sheep Mules
U. P. 266,132 463,299 1,053,796 14,798
"Omaha" 66,494 127,374 74,038 164
C.& N.W 288,727 674,875 371,146 11,282
C.B.& Q 346,691 395,443 413,800 8,751
C.R.1.& P 22,731 17,785 10,570 1,655
M.P. 43,263 31,962 9,758 967
Total 1,034,038 1,710,738 1,933,108 37,617
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to more advantageous markets, but chiefly to better cultivation. The yield
per acre of wheat and corn is greater in many northeastern and north
central states than in Nebraska; but advantageous conditions in the east
will not permanently continue; on the contrary, they will be reversed, and
the proof of the prophecy lies in the example of what superior cultivation
has done there in adverse natural conditions.
Some of these states have valuable minerals which have not yet been
discovered in Nebraska. But our undeveloped wheat crop is already double
the value of the principal minerals of Indiana, and such as we do not
produce; far greater than the like product of Illinois, greater than that
of the great mining state of California, and about equal to that of the
still greater mineral state of Colorado. Our undeveloped corn crop is
worth more than the mineral production of Ohio, leaving out kinds, such as
clays, produced here. Besides, the principal minerals of the eastern
states in question -- coal, petroleum, and gas - are destined to decrease
greatly; indeed, as a rule, are greatly decreasing, while the crops of
this imperfectly cultivated and only partially reclaimed state are
destined to vastly increase. In view of this unequaled natural diversity
and skill, which science and experience are constantly and rapidly
supplying, we shall soon be able to charge off, almost without missing it,
from our bounteous agricultural income, enough to offset the total mineral
product of any state excepting, perhaps, Pennsylvania. Owing to its
advantageous location and somewhat superior soil, Nebraska will easily
keep the lead over the Dakotas and, in the long run, will maintain its
lead of Minnesota. Kansas is more nearly like Nebraska than any other
state but is somewhat inferior agriculturally, though it has valuable
minerals which Nebraska lacks. Nebraska need not falter in disputing the
supremacy of the now imperial states of Illinois and Iowa. Besides some
advantage in area, it is, as has already been illustrated by a striking
array of facts, the natural converter into food of the raw material of the
great stock range states of the northwest. Its abundant corn and alfalfa
and packing facilities are the first to catch the eastward flow of that
raw material and assimilate it into condensed form for cheaper and more
convenient distribution to the markets of the world.
Thus Nebraska is distinctly a wholesale state, a very distinct
advantage withal. In manufactures Nebraska cuts a small figure, of course,
in comparison with northeastern states and such north central states as
Ohio, Illinois, and Wisconsin. But in the vast industry of meat-packing
Nebraska ranked third in 1900 and is perhaps second now. The value of the
packing product of the three leading states, according to the census of
1900, was, Illinois, $279,842,835; Kansas, $76,829,139; Nebraska, $71,018,
399. If Nebraska bad as much influence in the adjustment of transportation
rates as Illinois has it would soon lead in this business. It has the
advantage of location over Kansas, also, and is likely to lead its
southern neighbor some time if indeed it is not already doing so. The
present annual output of the Nebraska packing houses approximates $100,000,
000; a pretty good start, in view of future prospects, toward overtaking
some of the distinctly manufacturing states. Moreover, an output of about
$50,000,000 by apparently alien refining and smelting works, conveys more
than a hint that not improbable changes in transportation facilities, and
in the distribution or availability of motive power and relative increase
in population, may very greatly accelerate our manufacturing gain. But in
any event, with everything to gain over competitive sections in the
manufacturing line, we are always sure of agricultural supremacy.
So far, however, the conversion of agricultural products by packing
houses, butter makers, grist mills, and breweries constitutes about ninety
per cent of our manufactures.
Notwithstanding that our statistics are very
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imperfect, we know enough of the development of our main industry to judge
pretty well its trend. The following illustrative tables of live stock and
five principal crops are compiled from reports of the department of
agriculture.
CORN
Acres Bushels
1899 8,013,331 224,373,268
1901 7,740,556 109,141,840
1905 8,035,115 263,551,772
1907 7,472,000 179,328,000
1909 7,621,000 205,767,000
1909 7,825,000 194,060,000
1910 8,000,000 206,000,000
1911 7,425,000 155,925,000
WHEAT
Acres Bushels
1899 2,018,619 20,791,776
1901 2,456,543 42,006,885
1905 2,472,692 48,002,603
1907 2,535,000 45,911,000
1908 2,265,000 40,317,000
1909 2,640,000 49,650,000
1910 2,450,000 39,515,000
1911 3,098,000 41,574,000
OATS
Acres Bushels
1899 1,715,804 51,474,120
1901 1,972,991 39,065,222
1905 1,886,270 58,474,370
1907 2,524,000 51,490,000
1908 2,549,000 56,078,000
1909 2,473,000 61,825,000
1910 2,650,000 74,200,000
1911 2,500,000 34,750,000
POTATOES
Acres Bushels
1899 143,560 13,494,640
1905 87,144 8,104,392
1907 81,000 6,424,000
1908 91,000 7,098,000
1909 105,000 8,190,000
1910 110,000 6,600,000
1911 116,000 6,032,000
HAY
Acres Tons
1899 3,377,698
1905 1,053,454
1907 2,250,000
1908 1,515,000 2,3480,00
1909 1,550,000 2,325,000
1910 1,500,000 1,500,000
HORSES AND MULES
January 1, 1899 658,807
January 1, 1906 1,056,752
January 1, 1908 1,015,000
1909 1,115,000
1910 1,123,000
1911 1,144,000
MILCH COWS
January 1, 1899 685,338
January 1, 1906 836,668
January 1, 1908 879,000
1909 879,000
1910 626,000
1911 613,000
OTHER CATTLE
January 1, 1899 1,521,454
January 1, 1906 2,450,862
January 1, 1908 3,265,000
1909 3,040,000
1910 2,225,000
1911 2,002,000
SHEEP
January 1, 1899 322,057
January 1, 1906 444,499
January 1, 1908 431,000
1909 275,000
1910 382,000
1911 382,000
SWINE
June 1, 1900
(U. S. Census) 4,128,000
January 1, 1906 3,004,398
January 1, 1908 4,243,000
1909 3,201,000
1910 3,951,000
1911 4,267,000
The acreage of corn has shown a tendency to decrease since 1899, and
wheat to increase in about the same degree. But the acreage of spring
wheat fell from 381,299 in 1905 to 322,000 in 1907. The yield per acre in
1905 was, fall wheat, 20.4 bushels; spring, 14 bushels. For 1907, fall, 19
bushels; spring, 12 bushels. Oats about hold their own, and the other
estimates for 1908, taken in connection with those here given, show that
there is a decided increase in potatoes and hay. All classes of live
stock, except sheep, show a constant increase, though in 1910-1911 there
was a decrease of cattle and sheep, probably owing to deficient rainfall.
On the whole, the production of live stock increases measurably more than
that of cereals.
The counties that raised sugar beets in appreciable quantities in 1908
are Boone, 50 acres; Buffalo, 78; Cheyenne, 234; Custer, 15; Dawson, 52;
Dundy, 46; Franklin, 19; Hall, 471; Hitchcock, 180; Keith, 19; Lancaster,
108; Merrick, 200; Loup, 718; Platte, 127; Red Willow, 324; Scotts Bluff,
2,500 The total acreage fell from 6,906 in 1907 to 5,167 in 1908. The
report of the commissioner of labor gives the acreage of Loup county at
only 10 but devotes 718 acres to spelt. Spelt is now raised in
considerable quantities in all parts of the state, but principally in the
western counties.
The beet sugar industry, alone, languished in spite of its subsidy
sops. The manufacture of sugar in 1901-1902 was 6,660 tons; in 1902-
Page 659
1903, 9,430 tons; in 1903-1904, 8,669 tons; in 1904-1905, 13,355 tons; in
1905-1906, 9,397. In 1908-1909 our single factory consumed about 30,000
tons of beets, producing 300 tons of sugar. It is quite pertinent and
proper to join the present promiscuous chorus of tariff reform by
observing that the only Nebraska industries that persist in languishing --
sugar and sheep -- are also the only ones that can, or do derive any
benefit from protective tariffs. If the tariff on wool accomplishes its
purpose, the little pauper sheep industry costs (in added price of
clothing) all the people who do the rest of the state's business, which
stands on its own bottom, about twice as much every year as the total wool
clip is worth. Likewise, sugar tariffs enable the sugar trust to levy an
enormous tax on consumers while the country continues to import about
three-fourths of the sugar it needs from lands which a Providence --
deemed all wise before self-protective tariff-makers superseded Him --
especially prepared for the production of that great staple.
In other words, in what reasonable measure and by what means will
Nebraska add to its agricultural greatness already attained? (The
responsibility rests chiefly with the people of the commonwealth because,
as has been shown, the natural conditions for increase are at hand.)
Let us take the weakest and artificial example first. The cultivation
of sugar beets decreases and the number of factories has been reduced from
three to two owing to relatively disadvantageous conditions --which,
however, cannot properly be regarded as permanent. Temporary increased
rainfall, and especially in the latter part of the season, reduced
somewhat the percentage of sugar in the beets, thus giving the California
and Colorado fields an advantage. This increased rainfall and a tendency
toward higher prices of other agricultural products during the same
period. stimulated the production of the ordinary staple crops. Increasing
cost and scarcity of labor, an all-important factor in beet culture, is
the most discouraging of all these incidents. Farmers in the earlier beet-
producing counties have felt so content over good crops of wheat, corn,
and hay that they would not stand the slings and arrows of very bad labor
conditions and the "docking" of their beets at the factory which has
increased and the cause of irritation been justified or excused on account
of the somewhat inferior quality of the beets alluded to. Those
comparatively new-comers, fall wheat and alfalfa, have been especially
potent competitors of sugar beets.
But a general view of the field seems to justify the opinion of Dean
Burnett of the Nebraska school of agriculture, and expert sugar beet men,
that Nebraska may yet become an important producer of beets and sugar.
Beets will thrive without irrigation where corn will thrive. At the
experiment station, near North Platte, from ten to eleven tons of beets to
the acre are raised on upland without irrigation. The quality of the beets
improves as you go farther west, provided the moisture is sufficient.
Fifteen tons an acre is a good yield on the high priced lands farther
east. Furthermore, a recurrence of deficient rainfall and some evidence of
over-cropping of wheat have stimulated a sentiment in favor of wider
diversity.
Beets and sugar are very successfully produced in the irrigable part of
the North Platte valley where soil and climate favor and water is
abundant. In other parts of the state this industry is, to say the least,
a great reserve, awaiting general adjustment and development.
Irrigation farming began in earnest in the valley, and especially in
the vicinity of Scotts Bluff, after the Burlington railroad reached that
place in 1899. By 1904 the production of sugar beets in that neighborhood
became important; but they were shipped to the old factory at Ames. The
closing of the Ames factory in 1905 stimulated the cultivation of potatoes
and alfalfa in this district. In 1908 beet growing was again resumed, the
product being shipped to the factory at Sterling, Colorado. In 1909 a
combination of eastern and Colorado capitalists organized the Scotts Bluff
sugar company, bought the old Ames factory, and reconstructed it at Scotts
Bluff. It has a daily consuming capacity of about 1,500 tons of beets. The
mill started in November, 1910, continuing sixty days and nights. In 1911
Page 660
about 11,000 acres of beets were grown and the mill was operated 100 days
with a daily output of about 150 tons of refined sugar. Contracts were
made for the growing of about 15,000 acres of beets in the season of 1912.
The main building of the factory covers about four acres and has fourteen
acres of floor space. The total cost of the factory has been about a
quarter of a million dollars. It employs from one hundred to two hundred
men the year round and during the active part of the season an additional
number of five hundred men. From May to December about one thousand
laborers are employed in the beet fields. Ninety per cent of these are
German-Russians. They live in the city of Scotts Bluff during the winter,
moving out to the fields for the growing season. The other ten per cent of
hand laborers comprises Japanese and a few Greeks. Only team work is done
by Americans. In this section alfalfa, potatoes, and grains are raised, of
importance in the order named. During the winter of 1911-1912 about 10,000
cattle and 125,000 sheep were fed from the by-products of the sugar
factory and the alfalfa fields in the vicinity of Scotts Bluff. The sugar
industry has given new life to the town which, according to the census of
1910, contained 1,746 inhabitants and has grown rapidly since that time.
Natural favorable conditions are reinvigorating the sugar industry in
the North Platte valley.
That sheep raising has so far been merely incidental and not extensive
in Nebraska, is a tribute to the richness of its soil and its peculiar
adaptation to the production of the more substantial staples in crops and
live stock. That sheep are not more extensively kept on the grazing fields
of the northwest, is partly owing to the proximity to the conditions just
mentioned and partly, perhaps, to the fact, as the cattle men say, that
they got in there first. On the whole, dairying seems to increase, but not
as rapidly as conditions appear to warrant. The best observers in Merrick
county, for example -- until recent years regarded as within the grazing
district -- explain that dairying is not more important, relatively, in
the county, chiefly for the same reason that beet culture has fallen off
there and elsewhere. The farmers have been doing so very well, lately,
with fall wheat, corn, and hay, and their concomitants, hogs, and cattle,
that the greater drudgery involved in dairying is not very attractive to
them. But the great future of this industry merely awaits a further
adjustment of conditions, and especially of the present high prices of
grains. It is probable that corn will continue to be king of crops in
Nebraska and that fall wheat, continuing to crowd out the spring variety,
will be a great queen. While the South Platte is the main wheat section,
corn, in large acreage, extends to the north border. Fall wheat has spread
very widely into the southwestern counties. It is already an invaluable
supplement to the more or less uncertain corn and may become its rival in
that section.
The following estimates made by the Union Pacific railroad company in
1908, show the great extent of the wheat area in southwestern counties and
its relation to the acreage of corn:
Acres
Counties Wheat Corn
Adams 87,219 75,000
Chase 8,000 50,000
Chase, spring 5,000
Franklin 42,842 75,551
Frontier 30,000 135,000
Furnas 75,000 95,000
Harlan 64,895 108,967
Hitchcock 19,641 23,741
Kearney 85,255 74,049
Nuckolls 36,000 108,000
Phelps 55,108 84,805
Red Willow 61,099 76,850
Webster 41,286 94,198
The wheat acreage of the southeastern counties runs below that of the
counties above named, and corn runs proportionately higher. The extensive
wheat raising counties north of the Platte river are, Brown, Buffalo,
Colfax, Custer, Dawson, Dodge, Hall, Howard, Merrick, Madison, Platte,
Nance, Sherman, Thomas, Valley; but most of them lie adjacent to or near
the river. Sheridan county is the only large producer of spring wheat,
with 20,850 bushels in 1908. By the same estimate the total number of
acres of spring wheat in the state in 1908 was 232,344; of fall wheat, 2,
054,970. Custer county, formerly classed as outside the successful dry
farming line, raised twenty bushels of wheat to the
Page 661
acre on 60,860 acres, and thirty bushels of corn on each of 229,294 acres.
Alfalfa is a comparatively recent, but permanent and very important
addition to the state's resources. The Nebraska Advertiser, May 20, 1875,
said that Governor Furnas then had a quarter section of land planted with
"fruit trees of every variety suited to this climate." He had planted
sixty acres in the spring of 1875. The same paper, of May 27, 1875, quoted
a letter written by Robert W. Furnas to the land commissioner of the
Burlington & Missouri railroad company in which he said that he had
cultivated alfalfa a number of years "as an ornamental border plant and
also as a forage crop." The letter was concluded with this true prophecy:
"I have no hesitancy in advancing the opinion that it is a most valuable
acquisition to our crop interests and will, in a very short time, be of
incalculable value." The school of agriculture maintains that it will do
well wherever our common staple crops thrive. On good upland it will yield
from three tons to four tons an acre against about a ton and a half of
timothy and clover. For making beef or mutton, a ton of alfalfa will go as
far as a ton and a half of wild hay. In favorable soil alfalfa roots will
go down thirty feet to water. It is, therefore, a sure and rich refuge for
forage throughout our 40,000 easterly square miles. In each of the years
1906-1909, selected uplands near the experiment station at North Platte,
and with an altitude 300 feet above that town, produced, without
irrigation, a ton and a half to the acre. The valley at North Platte will
produce as much as the college farm at Lincoln. Alfalfa will do well in
the fertile valleys anywhere in the state; but it cannot be said that it
would be a practicable crop on the western table-lands nor a good crop in
the valleys in the dry periods. The difference between dry seasons and wet
seasons appears from the following record of the experiment station of the
State University at North Platte.
Year Total Departure from Normal
1875 15.35 - 3.51
1876 11.84 - 7.02
1877 25.47 + 6.61
1878 18.62 - .24
1879 20.06 + 1.20
1880 17.48 - 1.38
1881 22.93 + 4.07
1882 17.95 - .91
1883 30.01 +11.15
1884 13.53 - 5.33
1885 22.03 + 3.17
1886 13.10 - 5.76
1887 21.68 + 2.82
1888 17.46 - 1.40
1889 20.66 + 1.80
1890 12.71 - 6.15
1891 23.36 + 4.50
1892 20.37 + 1.51
1893 13.16 - 5.70
1894 11.21 - 7.65
1895 14.58 - 4.28
1896 16.52 - 2.36
1897 17.09 - 1.77
1898 15.54 - 3.32
1899 13.99 - 4.87
1900 12.29 - 6.57
1901 16.44 - 2.42
1902 26.27 + 7.41
1903 18.36 - .50
1904 23.17 + 4.31
1905 26.81 + 7.95
1906 27.99 + 9.13
1907 19.61 + .75
1908 19.96 + 1.10
1909 22.41 + 3.55
1910 10.70 - 8.16
1911 17.43 - 1.43
While the table shows that the precipitation for the years 1902-1909,
during which the careful experiments of the station have been made, is
much above the average, yet that trial has demonstrated that alfalfa can
be successfully raised in the long run on table lands such as these in
question. Turkestan alfalfa is most adapted to latitude north of Nebraska,
but will probably be found practicable in our dryest sections. Brome grass
is also more suitable for the north, but is of value here.
Our production of staple crops and so of the live stock which they
support may be very greatly increased (1) by better methods of cultivation
and (2) by extending the area of production, especially in the untilled
western section. These processes of improvement are fairly under way. By a
practicable improvement of seed corn, the product may be increased above
the present average by from
Page 662
twenty to thirty per cent. Experiment shows that at least one-fifth of
every farm should be kept in clover or alfalfa all the time. The rotation
should be four or five successive years of ordinary crops and then three
years of leguminous plants.
Expert summary of the roads to increased production is, (1) increasing
fertility of the soil, (2) better cultivation, (3) improvement of seeds.
Increasing numbers of farmers are traveling these roads led by the
experimentation and moral stimulus of the University school of agriculture
and the federal department of agriculture. For example, the existence of
large stock feeding establishments is due chiefly to the ability of the
owners to buy advantageously and to use the best methods of feeding. With
more education and experience this function will be localized to the
advantage of the individual farmer.
The improvement of pastures now going on will stimulate diversity and
dairying in particular. Blue grass is getting a good hold as far west as
Buffalo and Dawson counties. Mr. McGinnis, general agent at Lincoln of the
Chicago & Northwestern railroad company, relates that in 1906 he supposed
that a pasture on his ranch in southwestern Holt county was done for
because the native grass had been quite worn out; but blue grass took
possession, instead, and is successfully holding it. In Merrick county,
blue grass has not only invaded the better soils but is gradually creeping
into the sandy land. Thirty years ago there was a long, sharply defined
sand dune on the Whitmore ranch at Valley. In November, 1908, it was
affording as good pasturage of bluegrass and white clover as could have
been found in the famous dairying districts of Wisconsin. The Whitmores
have long been sowing their extensive pastures to tame grasses. They do
not "break" the land, but first disk the wild pasture, then sow the seed,
following with the harrow. Better results follow this method than the more
common one of sowing the grass seed on cultivated soil. They spread all
the farm-yard manure they have over these pastures, and particularly on
the more sandy parts. They now have more than 1,000 acres of tame meadow
and pasture -- clover and timothy, more or less mixed with blue grass. The
importance of this gradual process of civilization is very great.
Climatic conditions all over the state are very favorable to poultry
raising. While it is already general in an incidental way, more particular
attention will be paid to it as the profit of more intensive farming
increases and its methods are better understood.
There is, of course, an element of speculation as to the destiny of the
higher and dryer lands of the western section of the state, though
scientific and general experiment are busily engaged in the solution of
the problem. Since the passage of the Kinkaid act by Congress in 1904,
which raised the homestead maximum to 640 acres, that part of the state
has been rapidly filling up with settlers. This increase has been greatest
in the northwesterly counties; but it has been checked by recent dry
seasons. In 1904 there were 7,834,736 acres subject to homestead; in 1908
there were not more than 3,000,000 acres, nearly all in the sandhill
districts of the northwest. There were in Holt county 12,000 acres; Rock,
4,000; Keya Paha, 38,000; Sheridan, 165,000; Sioux, 417,000; Boyd, 700;
Banner, 82,000; Cherry, 1,000,000, and Dawes, 9,000. Filings can be made
on this land at the land office at Valentine or O'Neill. Every man or
unmarried woman over the age of twenty-one, every widow, every minor
orphan or widow of a deceased soldier, or anyone who is at the head of a
family, though an adopted or a minor child, who is a citizen of the United
States, may homestead 640 acres of this land. The fee for filing is $14.
Not over 200,000 acres of those lands lie far enough to the south to the
tributary to the Union Pacific railroad. In recent years very large
numbers of actual settlers bought farms throughout the western section,
and those lands have greatly increased in price. The Kinkaid act applies
to all territory in the state west of a line running south from a point on
the Missouri river at the northwest corner of Knox county to the northeast
corner of Howard county; thence west. along the fourth standard parallel,
to the northwest corner of Sherman county; thence south along the west
boundary of Sherman
Page 663
county to the third standard parallel, which is the north boundary of
Buffalo county; thence west along the third standard parallel to the
northwest corner of Dawson county; thence south along the west boundary of
Dawson county to the north boundary of Frontier county; thence west along
the north boundary of Frontier county -- the second standard parallel --
to the northeast corner of Hayes county; thence south along the line
between Frontier and Hayes, and Red Willow and Hitchcock counties to the
south boundary of the state. There are shrewd men, well acquainted with
that section, who still believe that it is only fit for grazing and that
the rapid settlement for general farming now going on will turn out
calamitously. On the other hand, there are many men, equally well
informed, who believe that the success of these later settlements is
assured. The unbelievers contend that in the order of nature there will be
periodical series of dry years, like that of the early nineties, when no
crops can be raised. The optimists hold that all former attempts at
farming in that section have been made, in the main, by inferior people,
lacking in capacity and financially destitute, whereas the present
settlers are men of nerve and experience and many of them having property
enough for a good start. For example, recent settlers in the northwestern
counties are very largely from western Iowa, northwestern Missouri, and
eastern Kansas and Nebraska. Many of them sell their high priced farms and
occupy these comparatively cheap lands because they believe that they can
successfully cultivate them and in the meantime greatly profit by the
consequent great rise in their value. The future doubtless holds a golden
mean which in part, at least, justifies the optimists.
The conservatives judge the future mainly, if not altogether, by the
past, which, to say the least, is not quite fair or rational. While there
will doubtless be dry years in those sections again, yet neither memories
nor records are comprehensive enough to warrant the assumption, as a basis
for business calculation or forecast. that such years will come in
seriously long series, or even that they will come at all. There is at
least a fair business prospect that the favorable rainfall of the six
years preceding 1908 will be the rule and not the exception. Then the
absorption of the moisture that does come, by cultivated fields, and the
passage of the winds over the great masses of growing crops, instead of
the unprotected, heat-reflecting expanse, as of old, will increase the
effectiveness of the rainfall and tend to prevent general destruction or
severe injury to vegetation. Increasing competition for available lands
will draw or force men to these sections with the experience, the stamina,
and the financial competence to make the most of them. Intensive and
diverse farming, stimulated by the experiments of scientific schools will
continue to increase the availability of the less favored lands. So the
confident opinion of many shrewd observers, including scientific experts,
that, before many years elapse, all the hard lands of western Nebraska
will be occupied by farmers who will derive a comfortable living from them
is reasonable.
An intelligent observer of conditions on the table lands of Cheyenne
county, a member of the staff of the passenger department of the Union
Pacific railroad company, himself a Swede, believes that foreigners, who
are more inured to hardships and better satisfied with modest returns for
their labor than Americans, would be certain to prosper here. He points
out that while 403,121 of our foreign immigrants of 1907 stopped in New
York, 223,551 in Pennsylvania, and 110,000 in Illinois, only 5,789 came to
the agricultural state of Iowa and 6,216 to Nebraska. He says that a large
part of these immigrants have been small farmers in their native
countries, and that they would get rich on the monthly check of $40, which
they would receive from the product of the fifteen cows which a Kinkaid
section in Cheyenne county will maintain, besides a few other cattle,
poultry, and producing some grain and root crops.
The table lands in Deuel county which sold for $2 an acre in 1898,
until recently sold for $8 to $10 and settlers bought at such prices in
large numbers. A series of dry years has lately checked this development.
All Union Pacific lands in Nebraska have been sold ex-
Page 664
cept those taken back on default. Even under present methods of
cultivation, the southwestern section has only to fear abnormally dry
years; for with that limitation, they are safely within the corn and fall
wheat belt.
The main irrigable area of the state is the North Platte valley, from
the Wyoming border down to Cowanda, about thirty miles below Bridgeport.
Farther than that the valley is too narrow for much tillage. This area
comprises about 500,000 acres. The river, with the aid of the flood waters
stored by the great dam, lately constructed at a point two hundred miles
above the western boundary of the state, will supply enough water for
double that acreage. Scotts Bluff county had long before been extensively
supplied with water through privately owned ditches, and their rights are
not affected by the great canal under construction by the federal
government and which will reach at least as far as Bridgeport. Several
smaller streams supply water for quite limited areas.
The government will sell eighty acres of land with a perpetual water
right to each actual settler; but it refuses to furnish water to owners of
other lands except at the price named. This seems a harsh monopolistic
rule to which some extensive holders of land in the valley are refusing to
yield. Men well known in Nebraska and who are well informed upon this
subject, assert that the Wyoming works have cost a great deal more than
they should have cost, owing to mistakes and other incompetency. They say,
also, that, partly owing to that excessive cost, an excessive price is
charged for the lands held by the government subject to its canal. It is
therefore impossible for a poor man to pay for this land in ten years, as
required, so that the primary object of the enterprise, namely, to furnish
the farms to men of small means, is defeated at the outset. Keen-eyed men
believe that there will have to be a complete readjustment of the terms in
question and that the cost of the irrigation works will eventually become
a public donation. The contribution by the east of its pro rata share
toward this western improvement would be but a small installment of its
immemorial exactions from the west.
Experiments at the North Platte station have been conducted expressly
to try out the possibilities of dry farming in that district. It has been
the practice there to raise four successive crops and then apply summer
tillage during the fifth season. This means that the land is disked and
harrowed frequently so as to prevent evaporation of moisture as far as
possible and put the soil into the best condition to store it. After
summer tillage land has produced as high as sixty bushels of fall wheat to
the acre. During the four years 1905-1908 from twenty bushels to forty
bushels of corn an acre were raised on other lands. It has been found that
it will pay to pasture steers on the upland native pasture at a valuation
of $10 an acre. Cottonwood, black locust, green ash, box elder, and
mulberry trees thrive under cultivation. It is necessary to stir the soil
about them to conserve moisture. Durum wheat is grown successfully,
yielding a much larger crop than the common wheat. So far it is used to
feed stock, as there is no established market for it. About seven million
bushels of this wheat are annually mixed with ordinary wheat in the flour
mills of Minneapolis.
It is expected that importations of grains and forage plants from
foreign and countries will be advantageous, but the chief reliance is upon
proper cultivation. Dean Burnett believes that in the North Platte region
in question dry farming can be satisfactorily carried on in the long run,
and he views the prospects for the northwest table lands hopefully.
One finds everywhere among business men and farmers as well as boomers
great expectations of the state school of agriculture and of the federal
department of agriculture in the development of our farming interests.
Even railroad men, who habitually rail at the attempted control of their
business by the government as pernicious socialism, felicitate themselves
and the state upon the beneficence of the purely paternalistic
institutions named. And socialism is but paternalism "writ large." Only a
few years ago J. Sterling Morton, who could not see the so very plain
signs of the
Page 665
times through his individualistic preconceptions, felicitated himself on
his administration of the department of agriculture because he had turned
a considerable part of his appropriations back into the treasury
untouched, to do which was his chief Jeffersonian care. His successor is
impelled by public opinion to spend all he can get and to get all he can
spend of the public revenues in his socialistic propaganda. It is a
palpable and significant fact that the questions and projects which most
engage the public attention and approval at the present time are those
which are most socialistic in their character.
Looking back over the foregoing quite conservative and yet almost
roseate sketch of Nebraska's economic conditions and prospects, we are
forcibly reminded that instead of repeating itself, according to
tradition, Nebraska history has very flatly contradicted itself. For the
dominating note of the earlier years of that history was either despair or
negation. "It is a land where no man permanently abides," said Washington
Irving, after an inspection of the "Nebraska country"; and our earlier
sages believed and promulgated the faith that it would be habitable only
along the streams of the eastern portion. During the grasshopper invasions
of the seventies, the state was a pauper on the national roll of
charities; and there was wide belief that there was its normal place. It
was the courage and penetration of great railroad promoters and the great
courage and faith of the pioneer settlers which, for the first time, as
tradition goes, forced history to reverse instead of repeating itself.
Nebraskans have harped so much upon their prepossession that
agriculture is the state's single resource that they have failed to
perceive that the state is strategetically situated for commerce. Its
situation is not only approximately central in relation to the country at
large but it is intersected by five great railroad systems. Five trunk
lines lead out from, or pass through Omaha, the commercial metropolis of
the state. Two already count Lincoln, the capital city, as a principal
point on their lines; a third will probably soon assume that relation;
while this fortunate town is a very important center for branch lines of
four great systems. A glance at the accompanying map will show why
Nebraska actually has very favorable access to all parts of the country
and so to the commercial world.
These considerations indicate that Omaha is destined to be a large city
of the secondary class and that Lincoln's great transportation facilities
will eventually overcome its present tendency to a cramped growth on the
educational side and cause its development into a well-proportioned city
of considerable size.
A few citations of facts will show that these waiting resources have
reasonably responded to improving facilities and opportunities. The total
shipment of Nebraska products from the state for the fiscal year ending
June 30, 1910, was 14,000,000,000 pounds. About 50,000 car loads of
packing house products are annually shipped from the state, mostly to
points in the Mississippi valley, but in part to the extreme east and west
and to Europe. Omaha has a fair chance to displace Kansas City as the
second meat packing center of the world, and the Nebraska City output is
considerable. In the year, 1907, 24,900 car loads of wheat, averaging 900
bushels per car, and 35,993 of corn -- about thirty-two million bushels --
were exported, chiefly from Omaha, which is also a great market for
barley. Eight of our principal flouring mills exported over seventy-five
million pounds of flour in 1907. Corn products are of noticeable
importance, the annual shipments amounting to about 2,500 car loads. In
1911 Nebraska ranked third among the states in cereal mill products, and
their value for that year was eleven million dollars. The total output of
our creameries approximates thirty million pounds; of hay, exceeding two
hundred thousand tons; of eggs, upwards of twelve million dozens. In
addition to packing house products, aggregating nearly one hundred million
dollars in value a year, smelting, chiefly lead matter at Omaha, brought
from Rocky Mountain mining states, amounting to nearly fifty million
dollars annually, and creamery products, amounting in 1910 to eleven
million dollars, there is no considerable single manufacture.
Page 666
The total miscellaneous manufactures for the year 1911 amounted to upwards
of one hundred and fifty million dollars in value; and the capital
employed in such manufactures increased from fourteen million dollars in
1900 to sixty-three million in 1911. The total value of the eight
principal crops of 1911 -- corn, wheat, oats, potatoes, barley, native
hay, rye, and alfalfa -- was two hundred and eighteen million dollars. The
cultivated area in 1911 was estimated at twenty-nine million acres, much
more than half of the total area.
According to the United States census report for 1911 the cultivated
area was 29,046,765 acres. The estimate of the number of cattle in the
state in 1911, was 2,229,976; of hogs, 4,979,784; of horses, 918,240; of
sheep, 383,602; of chickens, 9,900,480. The output of canned vegetables
and the production of popcorn are important items of commercial production.
Ever since agriculture was established in Nebraska, corn has been its
chief product, a normal annual yield now being about 200,000,000
[image caption: Courtesy Nebraska State Journal NEBRASKA'S STRATEGIC
COMMERCIAL POSITION]
bushels. However, wheat sown in the fall, commonly called winter wheat,
has come to be a very important crop, and, on the whole, is surer than
corn. This grain was on probation many years before it was accepted at its
full value. The agent at the Council Bluffs sub-agency, situated on the
Missouri river, nearly opposite Bellevue, in his report for 1845, says
that, "A small lot of wheat sown last fall (1844) has done very well. The
troops at old Council Bluffs formerly raised large crops of this grain,
and the soil and climate seem as well adapted to it as they are to Indian
corn." This was the first wheat cultivated in Nebraska so far as our
records show; and it must have been raised in the period between 1819 and
1826, because the post -- Fort Atkinson -- was abandoned in 1827. Harvey
W. Forman, farmer for the Sauk and Fox Indians at the Great Nemaha agency,
in his report dated September, 1853, says that he had sown about twenty
acres of fall wheat on ground that had "laid over this season." In
preparation he had plowed the
Page 667
ground well twice, then harrowed it, and next rolled it with a heavy
roller. His corn that year yielded fifty bushels to the acre.
The premium list of the Otoe Agricultural Society, published in the
Nebraska News, September 28, 1858, offers a premium for the best five
acres of fall wheat and a diploma for the best five acres of spring wheat.
The Nebraska City News, of March 9, 1861, says that "the winter wheat in
this section looks fine." The editorial opinion was that the heavy snows
of the winter had kept it warm, and it was ready for a strong start. The
Nebraska Advertiser, of July 4, 1861, says that some Nemaha county farmers
harvested forty bushels of wheat per acre that year. The hot, dry weather
in June injured spring wheat. In "the various parts of the territory fall
wheat has produced much better than spring, not only this season, but for
the past three years. We cannot understand the cause of the prejudice in
the minds of many farmers against raising fall wheat." The same newspaper,
of October 18, 1862, said that fall wheat that year yielded one-third more
than the spring variety in Nebraska, and that its average for the last
five years had been higher than that of spring wheat.
The Daily State Journal, September 28, 1878, put the yield of fall
wheat that year as 268,532 bushels; 45,370 bushels in the North Platte
section, and 223,162 bushels in the South Platte. The yield of spring
wheat for that year was 10,752,668 bushels in the South Platte and 5,471,
527 bushels in the North Platte.
Dr. George L. Miller usually threw the whole power of his enthusiasm
into his advocacy of any Nebraska enterprise, and the final recognition of
this grain as one of the most important crops in Nebraska is largely due
to his persistent preaching in its favor. The Herald (weekly) of August
10, 1870, says that this crop had "hitherto been a failure," because it
had winter killed. The editor -- Dr. Miller -- advocated deep planting as
a remedy and suggested drilling in the wheat. This method of planting was
generally adopted later, and was apparently a condition precedent to the
successful cultivation of the grain in question. The Omaha Daily Bee, of
October 3, 1892, remarks upon the growing importance of fall wheat. The
state was now producing 18,000,000 bushels a year, and the Bee expressed
the opinion that the yield might reach 100,000,000 bushels. There was a
sudden increase in the production about 1880 and a still larger increase
about 1900. According to the records of the department of agriculture at
Washington, the average annual yield for the period of 1870 to 1879,
inclusive, was 5,372,559; for the period 1880-1889, inclusive, 18,608,697;
1890-1899, 18,560,914; 1900-1909, 43,378,151. According to the estimates
of the Nebraska labor bureau the yield in 1906 was 45,389,263; in 1909, 46,
444,735. In the last two years the yield has not held its own on account
of drought conditions in a part of the state.
The Rocky Mountain locust during the three years from 1874 to 1876
threatened the practicability of carrying on agriculture in Nebraska,
inasmuch as there seemed to be plausible reason for fearing, if not
believing, that the invasion by this pest might be continuous. A thorough
acquaintance with the history of Nebraska, however, would have largely
allayed this fear because it discloses that the immigration of these
insects was not regular but at periodical intervals. In his famous Ash
Hollow campaign of 1855, General William S. Harney and his command, when
in camp near Court House Rock, now in Morrill county, observed that the
air was full of grasshoppers; and they were ail inch thick on the ground.
Of course they destroyed "every blade of grass." W. A. Burleigh, in his
report as agent for the Yankton Indians for 1864, says that crops were
promising in that part of the country until the grasshoppers came in the
latter part of July and destroyed every vestige of them throughout the
territory. The air was filled with the insects so thickly as to produce a
hazy appearance of the atmosphere, and every tree, shrub, fence, and plant
was literally covered with them. In many places they carpeted the ground
to the depth of from
Page 668
one inch to two inches. They appeared in a cloud from the northeast
extending over a belt some 275 miles wide and passed on towards the
southwest, leaving the country as suddenly as they came after an unwelcome
visit of three or four days. Mr. George S. Comstock made the statement in
1910 that grasshoppers did great damage on the Little Blue river, where he
resided, in 1862 and 1864. Captain Eugene F. Ware relates in his history
of the Indian war of 1864 (p. 275), that in August, 1864, at Fort
Laramie -- then within Nebraska territory -- the air was filled with
grasshoppers. They were bunched together in swarms like bees. He saw a
cluster of the insects as big as a man's hat on the handle of a spade.
Indian women were roasting, drying, and pounding them into meal to be made
into bread. William M. Albin, superintendent of Indian affairs at St.
Joseph, Missouri, reported in October, 1864, that "in consequence of the
extreme drought, the backwardness of the spring, and immense swarms of
grasshoppers, the crops in Kansas have been a partial, and in Nebraska and
Idaho, a total failure." In his report for the same year, Benjamin F.
Lushbaugh, agent of the Pawnee Indians, said that, "swarms and myriads of
grasshoppers" came to that part of the territory in August, and they had
not left a green thing. There had been no rain during the entire season
until the last of June and none after that of any benefit. Oats at the
Pawnee agency were injured by grasshoppers in 1873, and the crops entirely
destroyed by the pests in 1874. This destruction induced the 1,840 Indians
of that tribe who remained at the agency to follow the 360 who had gone to
Indian territory in the winter of 1873. The crops of the Otoe and Missouri
Indians were entirely destroyed by grasshoppers and dry weather in 1868.
In 1876 they destroyed the crops at the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail
agencies in Nebraska.
General Augur reported in 1868 that grasshoppers had entirely destroyed
the gardens at Fort Kearny and Fort McPherson in Nebraska and also at Fort
Bridger, Wyoming, and Camp Douglas, Utah. The Nebraska Advertiser, May 23,
1867, quotes statements from Missouri newspapers that grasshoppers were
destructive in parts of that state; and they did some damage in Nemaha
county.
The Omaha Herald (weekly), July 11, 1870, said that not since 1857,
until last fall, was Nebraska visited by grasshoppers. They had usually
appeared in great armies in the fall. They first appeared this year in the
spring and seemed to have been born among us. The law of their migration
was from north to south, rarely in the reverse direction. They had never
appeared in damaging force east of Grand Island or north of the Platte
river. "This year entire fields of wheat in Cass, Otoe, Nemaha, and
Richardson have been utterly destroyed while others have been seriously
damaged. Their numbers may be judged by the statement of a friend that in
one spot he pushed a knife blade through a solid layer of junior
grasshoppers while the air was swarming with the busy seniors."
The Nebraska Commonwealth, August 15, 1868, noted that a grasshopper
invasion in the neighborhood of Lincoln, lasting two days partially used
up a good many fields of corn. The most destructive invasion, however, was
that of 1874. On the 8th of September Governor Furnas issued a
proclamation appointing a committee of twenty citizens of the state to
receive and distribute all contributions for the aid of sufferers from the
pest. In his proclamation the governor said that the state as a whole had
reaped a fair harvest. Though the corn crop had been greatly damaged by
drought, as well as grasshoppers, the wheat and generally other crops had
been saved. Corn being the principal first crop of the settlers, the loss
had fallen hardest on the frontier counties where the people "have not the
means to maintain themselves and their families during the coming winter
without outside help." He solicited contributions from the older and
richer portions of the state" The drought had been almost universal
throughout the world and had been more injurious in Nebraska than
grasshoppers. The six hundred Granges in the state, twenty of them in the
western part, began to gather relief data in September, 1874. Though most
of the suffer-
Page 669
ing was in the southwestern part, they reported York as one of the needy
counties. At a meeting held in Lincoln, September 18th, J. Sterling Morton
advocated making loans instead of gifts to the needy, and Alvin Saunders
agreed with him. Colonel J. H. Noteware reported that he had visited
twenty-seven counties and had received about five hundred letters asking
for aid, but not as beggars. He estimated that there were 10,000 people in
the state in need of contributions. Amasa Cobb, for the committee on
organization, reported "Articles of Association and Incorporation of the
Nebraska Relief and Aid Society," whose principal place of business should
be at Omaha. The object of the association was to collect money,
provisions, clothing, seeds, and other necessary articles and to
distribute them "among the people of the western counties of the state who
had been reduced to necessitous circumstances by the drought and
grasshoppers of the past season." The capital stock of the association was
fixed at $500,000, in shares of $1 each.
In his message to the legislature, delivered January 8, 1875, Governor
Furnas stated that cash receipts from all sources had been $37,279.73, and
donations of various kinds of goods of the value of $30,800.73 had been
received. The governor reported that all the railroads in the state, as
well as those leading up to it, had transported donations free of charge.
Generals Ord, Brisbin, Dudley, and Grover, of the regular army, had
engaged in the work of relief with great zeal; the secretary of war had
issued clothing to those in need of it through General Ord; many persons
of the older states contributed nobly and very liberally to the relief
fund; and the Nebraska Patrons of Industry organized a state relief
association and kindred societies in the other states also were actively
engaged in the charitable enterprise. A very large proportion of those in
the border counties and most in need of relief had been soldiers in the
Civil War.
In his annual message to the legislature of 1877 Governor Silas Garber
said that, contrary to scientific theories as to the habits and nature of
the grasshoppers, they had again visited the state in the months of August
and September, 1876; and although no serious damage was done immediately
by the insects, yet they deposited great quantities of eggs from which
there was apprehension for the safety of the crops. It was estimated that
5,000 persons in eleven frontier counties were almost wholly dependent
upon charity during the winter of 1874-1875. The Daily State Journal of
November 3, 1874, notes that contributions from Chicago, Cincinnati, and
other commercial points were coming in. The Journal estimated that there
were 10,000 people to be cared for and $1,500,000 would be required, not
more than one-tenth of which could be raised by the relief society.
Rations furnished by the organization would not buy coal, wood, shelter,
or clothing. There had been a wholesale failure of corn -- mainly planted
on sod -- and vegetables in a district running across the state from north
to south and two hundred miles wide. The Journal argued that the
legislature ought to spend $1,000,000 next spring in grading railroad
lines so as to give these people remunerative work.
Professor A. D. Williams was sent out by the State Journal to
investigate conditions in the Republican valley, and his letters to the
paper contained many harrowing stories of want and suffering. For example,
an elderly woman said that she lived on a homestead near Rockton, Furnas
county, with her husband who was sixty-eight years old. They had lost all
their stock, except one yearling, by cattle fever. When she left home a
few days before there was flour enough to make not more than five loaves
of bread. "When that is gone we do not know how or where to get more
except as aided." Her son (living near) had a wife and six children. They
had one cow, one horse, and two yearlings, of the Texas breed, which he
could not sell for anything, and two pigs, but nothing to feed to them.
Fifty pounds of flour was his total supply for the winter. His children
were nearly destitute of clothing and he could get no work to do. Another
man had a family consisting of mother, wife, and six children. The mother
Page 670
had been sick for a year. He had a team, two cows, and three pigs, but
nothing to feed them. He had raised no wheat and only nine bushels of rye.
He had 120 pounds of flour left and no meat, and could not get work. He
was almost destitute of clothing, his feet being tied up in pieces of
straw or cane sacks. He had come to the county three years ago with $1,
600. Another said, "I am fifty-six years of age, have a wife and son (a
young man), a cow, and one horse and nothing to feed them. I planted fifty-
five acres of corn and ten bushels of potatoes but raised nothing." He had
nothing whatever to subsist on except as aided.
A statement of the Harlan County Aid Society showed that in Republican
precinct there were 313 persons -- 186 adults and 127 children. There were
4,150 bushels of wheat, but mostly owned by a few persons; 55 bushels of
corn; 490 bushels of oats; 432 of potatoes; 89 cows; 46 oxen; 121 horses;
9 mules; 213 hogs; young stock, 149; poultry, 2,311. Seed was needed for 2,
796 acres, seventeen families needed help and seven were entirely
destitute. In Spring Creek precinct eleven families were destitute and
eight more would need help within a week. In Sappa precinct eleven
families were destitute and there were thirteen more with but a single
sack of flour a week ago. In Prairie Dog precinct nine families. were
entirely destitute, three others would need help within thirty days, and
seven others within sixty days. The secretary said that there was greater
destitution in two precincts not reported than in Republican precinct.
There were seventy families in the county entirely destitute and fifty-
eight more would be in need within three weeks. Mr. J. M. McKenzie --
state superintendent of public instruction from 1871 to 1877 -- said that
Furnas county was in worse condition than Harlan and clothing especially
was needed there. "If any person doubts the reality let him do the people
justice to visit them before he passes judgment."
A woman of the neighborhood, with three children, called at the house
in Furnas county where Professor Williams was stopping, to get a pail of
salt. Their cow had died of starvation and she wanted to preserve the
flesh for food. Her husband was absent hunting buffaloes. A man near
Arapahoe had cultivated ninety acres of ground and got only a few beets.
There were ten persons in his family, they had no money, and nothing to,
wear but garments made of bagging. Another family of eleven had no shoes,
were nearly destitute of clothes, and had been without bread for a week.
Another man, near Republican City, got fourteen and one-half bushels from
four acres of wheat; two ears of corn from eighteen acres; and five
bushels of potatoes. The only article of food he had was seven or eight
pounds of flour. "A lady of culture with her dress torn to rags above the
knees, with neither stockings nor shoes and no flour in the house, when
asked if she needed assistance, burst into tears and said: 'I hope we are
not paupers yet. . .' An elderly gentleman with an old coat sleeve
fashioned into a sort of turbaned cap, with his body garments almost
literally in tatters, and some old boot legs rudely cut and tied over his
feet, said he could get along for clothing, if they would only give his
family something to eat."
General Dudley had made the best investigation of conditions. He found
that local agents, though generally honest and conscientious, were not
accurate in their estimates. They always said "about." He estimated that
about one-tenth of the people raised enough wheat for their actual need;
another one-tenth had enough resources accumulated to carry them through;
another one-tenth lived by hauling relief stores from the railroads; and
the remaining seven-tenths on the upper Republican were dependent on
relief for six or eight months. The local estimate of the population was
as follows: Harlan county, 3000; Furnas county, 2,500; Red Willow, 1,000;
Gosper, 260; Hitchcock, 200; total, 6,960. The correspondent thought there
were probably 5,000 people in all in these counties, 3,500 of whom must be
fed for six or seven months or starve. Franklin county was as bad, and
also other counties north and northwest that were not included.
Page 671
In addition to the bonds and other aid provided by the state
legislature, an account of which has already been given, the federal
Congress in the early part of 1875 appropriated $30,000 in money for the
purchase of rations, and clothing to the value of $150,000, to be
distributed among the people of the several states which had suffered from
grasshoppers, Nebraska received only her share of this federal aid.
A convention to consider the grasshopper pest and to take action
thereon was held at Omaha, October 25 and 26, 1876. An account of the
ravages of the insect, in considerable detail, was prepared and signed by
John S. Pillsbury, president of the convention, and Professors C. V. Riley
and Pennock Pusey, secretaries. A memorial asking the federal Congress to
establish a commission composed of three entomologists and three practical
men of experience with the locusts, for the purpose of investigating the
plague, and that the signal service be required to take observations of
the movements of the insects, was signed by the governors of Missouri,
Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Dakota; by the state
entomologists of Missouri and Illinois, respectively; by ex-Governor
Furnas and ex-Governor Saunders; by Professors C. D. Wilbur and A. D.
Williams of Nebraska; and by Professors Pennock Pusey and Allen Whitman of
Minnesota. The memorial set forth that the grasshoppers overran sixteen
states and territories in the year 1876; that many settlers in that
section had suffered a total loss of crops for four successive years; and
that the ravages of the insects had rapidly increased during the last
twenty years.
Repeated shortage of rainfall in 1890, 1893, and 1894 was disastrous to
crops, especially in the western part of the state. On account of these
losses a large number of people became dependent upon public charity, as
in the period of grasshopper invasions. The legislature of 1891 authorized
the issue of bonds to the amount of $100,000 to run five years at four per
cent interest, for the purchase of seed grain and other supplies to be
distributed to those who lost their crops in 1890, through a board of
relief consisting of nine members.
The same legislature authorized counties to use their surplus funds and
to issue bonds for the purchase of supplies to be sold at cost to such
sufferers, and it appropriated $100,000 from the state treasury for
immediate relief. The legislature of 1895 appropriated $50,000 for food
and clothing and $200,000 for the purchase and distribution of seed, and
feed for teams. County boards were also authorized to issue bonds and use
surplus funds for the latter purpose. In 1891 supplies were distributed in
thirty-seven counties during about six weeks to an average of 8,000
families; in 1895, in sixty-one counties and to about 30,000 families.
Donations amounting to $28,999.38 were received from people in all parts
of the country.
A record of the precipitation in Nebraska for the years from 1849 to
1902 inclusive shows that it is distributed with remarkable uniformity
throughout this long period, probably more so than is commonly thought. A
map prepared by the weather bureau of the University of Nebraska divides
the state into six sections with reference to the amount of average annual
precipitation covering a period of thirty-six years up to 1908 inclusive.
The rainfall is highest in the southeastern section, reaching 30.21
inches; in the northeastern section it is 27.65; in the central section,
which extends about as far east as the eastern boundary of Lincoln county,
24.64; the southwestern section, 23.22; the northwestern section,
extending from near the western boundry of Holt county to the western
border, 18.96; and the western section, which extends from the central
section to the extreme western border of the state, 17.41.(1)
(1. Below is a table prepared by G. A. Loveland, director of the weather
bureau, University of Nebraska, giving the average precipitation of the
different sections of the state for seven years:)
1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908
Northeast 31.70 35.98 25.67 34.20 31.96 24.09 30.44
Southeast 41.35 37.21 29.43 35.92 29.85 29.07 38.30
Central 33.01 30.71 28.19 36.17 29.30 18.90 26.27
Southwest 28.05 25.50 22.89 33.30 23.51 16.90 24.55
West 21.27 14.36 15.92 24.81 23.81 15.60 18.96
Northwest 19.17 19.88 18.19 25.52 23.48 18.58 23.14
Page 672
In European countries reforestation had long been a public care; and
that important duty has been tardily undertaken by our own federal
government. In Nebraska afforestation was, from the first, instinctively
and sedulously preached and practiced. The tree-planting impulse sprang
from that clear and pressing necessity which has been acknowledged in a
venerable aphorism as the mother of invention. Among the more
superstitious Africans the Nebraska love and longing for trees would have
developed into fetichism [sic]. According to mythological tradition and
poetical conceits groves have been the temples of the whole family of
gods; but for the people of the Plains they promised a far more practical
and substantial service in the form of physical shelter and fuel. This
need and hope led to the offering of rewards for planting trees and to
setting apart a day for inculcating planting precepts and further
encouraging its practice.
At the meeting of the state board of agriculture, held in Lincoln,
Thursday, January 4, 1872, Mr. D. T. Moore offered the followlowing
resolution:
Resolved, That in order to encourage the planting of forest trees in
the state of Nebraska, the State Agricultural Society will award premiums,
in the year 1872 and every year thereafter, at the discretion of the
board, to the person who will plant and cultivate the greatest number of
acres in forest trees, said trees to be in a good, healthy, thrifty
condition and not more than four feet apart each way, as follows: For the
best five acres or more planted in 1872, sixty dollars; for the second
best five or more acres planted in 1872, thirty dollars.
J. Sterling Morton then offered the following:
Resolved, that Wednesday, the 10th day of April, 1872, be and the same
is hereby set apart and consecrated for tree planting in the state of
Nebraska: and the state board of agriculture hereby name it "Arbor Day";
and, to urge upon the people of the state the vital importance of tree
planting, hereby offer a special premium of one hundred dollars to the
county agricultural society of that county in Nebraska which shall, upon
that day, plant properly the largest number of trees, and a farm library
of twenty-five dollars worth of books to that person who, on that day,
shall plant properly in Nebraska the greatest number of trees.
On motion of James T. Allan, newspapers of the state were requested to
keep the Arbor Day resolution standing in their columns until the next
April, "to call the especial attention of the people of the state to the
importance of the matter from time to time."
Though the treeless environment has from the first imbued the people of
Nebraska with the tree planting spirit, these formal admonitions greatly
stimulated its enthusiasm; and it was said that a million trees were
planted in the state on the first Arbor Day. The Daily State Journal,
April 11, 1872, said that James S. Bishop planted 10,000 cottonwood, soft
maple, Vombardy poplar, box elder, and yellow willow trees, that day, on
his farm southwest of Lincoln. In the season of 1869, Moses Sydenham, the
well-known pioneer of Buffalo county, headed an advertisement in the
Journal of evergreen and fruit trees with the slogan, "PLANT TREES! PLANT
TREES! plant trees!" displayed in three graded lines.
Sterling Morton afterward adopted an escutcheon for his stationery
composed of the picture of a tree with this motto printed under it. There
has been some dispute as to whether Mr. Morton really originated the Arbor
Day idea. This probably grew out of the fact that many men simultaneously
had in mind methods of this kind for promulgating tree planting. It would
have been characteristic of Morton's alertness to catch and formulate the
suggestion of this prevailing sentiment. At any rate, the phraseology of
the Arbor Day resolution stamps Morton as its author. The next year --
1873 -- the day was success fully observed without official notice. The
state board of agriculture, at its January meeting, 1874, requested the
legislature to make the second Wednesday of April of each year a legal
holiday and governors to issue proclamations In the meantime, exhorting
the people to observe the day by planting forest, fruit, or ornamental
trees. Accordingly, on the 31st of March 1874, Governor Furnas issued a
proclamation designating Wednesday, April 8th, of that year as Arbor Day.
This was the first official
Page 673
recognition of the event. Successive governors issued similar
proclamations, annually, until the 22d day of April of every year -- the
anniversary of Morton's birthday -- was made a legal holiday by act of the
legislature of 1885.
This Arbor Day conceit, first promulgated by the Nebraska state board
of agriculture, was generally adopted by other states. Its usefulness lay
chiefly in calling attention to the esthetic and economic value of trees
and thus stimulating the planting habit. In two respects, however, its
effect was more or less unfavorable. The trees were naturally planted
hastily and therefore improperly and, in many of the states which adopted
Mr. Morton's birthday as the anniversary, too late in the season; and it
doubtless had a tendency to divert attention from the more important
necessity and work of conserving forests and of reforestation on a
scientific and methodical plan. Since the advent of scientific forestry,
by governmental direction and support, observance of the day has fallen
into desuetude.
The first organization of the Farmers' Alliance in the United States
occurred in the year 1879. Its principal activity was in the northwestern
states, and its main object was to unite farmers for the purpose of
promoting their economic interests, which involved political reform. The
first Alliance for Nebraska was organized near Filley, Gage county, in
1880. The State Alliance was organized at Lincoln, in 1881, when E. P.
Ingersoll of Johnson county was chosen for the first president and Jay
Burrows of Gage county, the first secretary. In 1887 the State Alliance
was organized as a secret society at a meeting held in Lincoln, when a
constitution, by-laws, ritual, and declaration of principles were
formulated and adopted. While the declaration was comprehensive and quite
idealistic, surcharged with philanthropic sentiment and radical plans for
economic reform, the hard times which began to be grievously felt in 1890
pushed the organization into practical politics. This movement naturally
excluded other aims and broke up the organization of the society.
The Alliance overshadowed and displaced the Patrons of Husbandry which
at one time was active in Nebraska; but it no longer preserves an
organization in the state. There are no available records of the
proceedings of either of these important organizations, so that their
historical data consist only of fragmentary newspaper paragraphs. The
principal features of the history of the Alliance are involved in the
story of the political career of the populist party in this volume. The
following sketch of the Patrons of Husbandry, from the Daily State
Journal, of December 21, 1876, is of some historical value. While the
Alliance deliberately subverted its broader sociological aims by resolving
itself into a political party, designing politicians deliberately broke
into the Granges and this ended their usefulness and, probably, was
instrumental in ending their existence:
The Nebraska state grange, which met in this city at 2 o'clock Tuesday,
is an organization that has attracted to itself a great deal of interest
from all over the state, both within and without the order it represents.
It was first organized in August, 1872, at which time subordinate granges
existed principally in the river counties, and of these Cass county, led
off considerably in point of numbers. There were a few in Saunders county
and one, the first organized in the state, in Harlan county, on the
Republican river, of which J. H. Painter, Esq., was master. At the first
organization, Cass county, holding the balance of power among the
delegates, secured the two chief offices in the state grange to herself,
Hon. William B. Porter, of Plattsmouth, being elected master, and William
McCraig, of Elmwood, being chosen secretary. Numerous deputies were
appointed with power to organize subordinate granges in every township,
and their efforts were rewarded with frequent meetings, to which the
farmers and their wives, starved, as many of them were, for social
entertainment and relaxation, very greatly gathered, heard the
constitution and by-laws read and explained, listened to the honeyed words
of the honest looking deputy, and, believing that they had at last found
the panacea for all the ills that a farmer's life is subjected to, handed
in their initiation fees, and were quickly instructed in all the mysteries
of the ritual, signs, grips, and passwords, and were declared Patrons of
Husbandry organized and ready for work. Thus grew the order. The deputies
were active, and made
Page 674
hay while the sun (of grangerism) shone brightly. As the annual state
meetings fell due, the membership annually doubled until, in 1874, nearly
600 delegates were in the hall with their credentials, and from each
grange in the state.
At the annual meeting in December, 1873, the state grange decided to
move in the matter of obtaining the staple commodities of their business
from first hands, thus hoping to save to their members the profits and
commissions they paid to agents and dealers in agricultural implements,
household utensils, and some of the more staple cloths and groceries.
Accordingly the office of state purchasing agent was created, his
compensation provided for, and the mistake committed of electing the
secretary of the order, William McCaig, to the agency, he at the same time
holding his position as secretary. McCaig had exalted ideas on the
wonderfulness and permanency of the order; and hence of its resources, and
concluded that the true way for the Patrons of Nebraska to get implements
was to manufacture them; and whether correct or not, certain it is that
two factories were started, one at Plattsmouth for the manufacture of corn
plows, cultivators, and harrows, and one at Fremont for constructing a
header, under the patents of one Turner.
The factories seem not to have paid as was anticipated, and parties who
had become security for the material used soon found themselves
unpleasantly involved. The sureties included a few sound and well meaning
men in this and Cass counties, and one or two others who meant well for
themselves. The two brothers of the agent were also interested in the
enterprise, and when it was discovered that in some way there had been a
miscalculation, and the Plattsmouth factory especially was calling for
more money than it produced, it was charged that money sent to the agents
in considerable sums for the purchase of machinery, was never afterwards
heard from nor any equivalent sent. The matter was touched upon somewhat
at the annual meeting in 1874, but so little was then known that no
suspicion of wrong was allowed to rest on anyone. The biennial election
occurring at that meeting, Mr. Porter was reëlected master, and Mr. E. H.
Clark, of Blair, secretary; but the purchasing agency was left in Mr.
McCaig's hands, he asserting his ability to clear everything up if given a
little more time to devote thereto.
It may be only just to remark in parting that all these ventures and
complications were woven together during the memorable grasshopper raid of
1874 when the agricultural community were nearly prostrated in their
resources, and that had ordinarily good times prevailed, the factory
venture might not have failed and the temptation to misappropriate moneys
on hand, might not have existed.
Everything was now thought to be serene in the secretary's office, as
the new incumbent held the respect and confidence of all who knew him, and
hence the affairs of that office passed for a long time unnoticed, while
the frequent attention of the executive was called to the business
transactions of the purchasing agency which resulted in the relief of Mr.
McCaig from the position in July, 1875, and the appointment of P. E.
Beardsley, Esq., in his place. This office Mr. Beardsley has filled ever
since; his work, however, having been mainly the thorough overhauling and
classifying of his predecessor's accounts.
At the fifth annual meeting held in Fremont, in December, 1875, Worthy
State Master Mr. William B. Porter resigned his office, for prudential
reasons, and Hon. Church Howe, of Brownville, was elected his successor.
Meantime all was lovely in the secretary's office at Blair. A faint
suspicion began to exist that the new secretary was shaping his
bookkeeping in such a manner as to cover up questionable transactions of
the old. The executive committee (the general committee of safety for the
order) took occasion to look over his books, and the result of their
investigation led to the resignation of Mr. Clark, and Mr. Beardsley was
immediately installed as his successor, the secretary's office was moved
to Lincoln, and Mr. Beardsley has attended to both offices for the past
eight or nine months. As if the measure of their misfortune was not yet
full, eventful fate has ordained that several suits, growing out of
irregularities (not to use a more expressive term) of the first secretary
and purchasing agent, have been commenced by injured parties against the
"State Grange of Nebraska," being the body composed of delegates who voted
to appoint Mr. McCaig to be their agent. As purchasers they are doubtless
to some extent liable, and what that extent may be will be decided in due
time by the district and state courts. It will devolve upon the body
assembled here today to consider thoroughly, carefully, and logically, the
events of the past and note well their causes and effects. It will be well
for them to bear constantly in mind that on their action depends solely
the life and future usefulness of the order, or its speedy dissolution in
the state. They should not work in haste for
Page 675
they cannot afford to execute one reckless or ill considered act. They
should profit by the lessons of the past, and entrust their future to none
but able and trusty officers. They should in a great degree be bold, self-
reliant, and enterprising, exercising the while good judgment and
discretion. Every proposition should be critically weighed, examined, and
adjusted, and no legislation blindly accepted, nor indeed blindly
rejected. With deliberate councils and wise legislation we believe the
Nebraska State Grange can recover its credit, strengthen its membership,
regain public confidence, reclaim its old friends, and casting off the
load of rascality and incompetency that has well nigh been its ruin, rise
in its renewed strength, and eventually accomplish the great mission of
its existence, the elevation and ennobling of the profession of the farmer.
The twenty failures of national banks occurred in the period from 1891
to 1898 inclusive, except one in 1886, while there have been 136 failures
in the country at large since that time. No state bank failed in 1890 but
there were ten failures from 1891 to 1900 inclusive. Of the twenty
national banks, the Capital National of Lincoln, the First National of
Ponca, the First National of Red Cloud, the First National of Alma, and
the First National of Neligh were wrecked through embezzlement and other
frauds of their officers; nine failed through "imprudent" management; the
rest of the failures, presumably, may be attributed to the hard times, but
whose most important effect was to disclose dishonesty and bad management.
The failure of the Capital National of Lincoln occurred January 21, 1893,
and it caused great disaster and inexpressible suffering. Its president,
Charles W. Mosher, whose exploits as lessee of convict labor at the
penitentiary have already been recounted, ruthlessly gutted the bank. By
an astonishing perversion of Justice, as the public generally felt and
believed, by pleading guilty he was let off with a term of only five years
in the penitentiary. The officers of the First National bank of Ponca and
the First National bank of Neligh were also prosecuted and three of them
were sent to the Penitentiary. The Capital National bank of Lincoln paid
dividends to the amount of 17.71 per cent of the loss, $220,126 in all. A
prodigious amount of litigation grew out of this. failure and there was
much criticism on account of the large sum expended in it. The legal
expense of the receivership of this bank was $54,496. The First National
bank of Ponca was a good second to the Capital National in the rascality
of its officers. It paid 22.40 per cent of its losses. The First National
bank of Alma, also a "criminal" bank, paid 3.70 per cent; the First
National bank of Holdrege nothing at all. The First National bank of
Grant, which failed August 14, 1894, paid 100 per cent; and the First
National bank of Blair which failed in 1886, also paid out in full.(2)
The Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, held at Omaha June
1 to October 31, 1898, was a splendid and very impressive exhibit of the
products and resources of the section west of the Mississippi river and
especially of the trans-Missouri part of it, and also of the great
creative and executive capacity of citizens of Omaha who conceived and, in
the main, carried it to a successful issue. The exposition was projected
at the annual meeting of the Trans-Mississippi Congress held at Omaha in
November, 1895. William J. Bryan presented the preliminary resolution
declaratory of the intention to hold the exposition and requesting the
federal Congress to give the assistance usual in such cases. At a public
meeting held in Omaha December 27, 1895, it was decided "that the project
of an exposition should be carried out." On the 6th of June, 1896, the
Congress of the United States appropriated $200,000 for the purpose of
erecting a building and making an exhibit on the part of the federal
government therein.
(2. The records of the state banking board show the following banks
closed, with the amount of deposits in such banks:)
Year No. Closed Deposits
1890 none
1891 8 no record*
1892 7 71,997.18
1893 17 652,175.79
1894 8 197,283.25
1895 17 584,655.80
1896 42 1,156,888.81
1897 5 144,507.34
1898 2 35,730.06
1899 1 13,829.96
1900 1 39,975.91
* See page 26, Annual Report, 1910.
Page 676
The Nebraska legislature of 1897 appropriated $100,000 for a similar
purpose on behalf of the state and authorized the governor to appoint a
board of six directors -- one from each congressional district -- to
expend the money appropriated in conjunction with "the board of directors
of the corporation known as the Trans-Mississippi and International
Exposition Association." Douglas county appropriated a like amount to
promote the enterprise; and the city of Omaha expended about $30,000 in
parking and otherwise ornamenting the grounds. Other states made
appropriations as follows: Georgia, $10,000; Illinois, $45,000; Iowa, $30,
000; Montana, $30,000; New York, $10,000; Ohio, $3,000, Utah, $8,000;
Arizona territory, $2,000; total public appropriations, $338,000. The sum
of $175,000 was raised by private subscription of citizens of Colorado,
Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota,
Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Los Angeles county, California.
The states of Georgia, Illinois, Iowa. Kansas, Minnesota, Montana,
Nebraska, New York, and Wisconsin erected creditable buildings for their
exhibits and social convenience, on the exposition grounds. The other
states which contributed exhibits were Alabama, Arkansas, California,
Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, North
Dakota, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas,
Utah, Washington, Wyoming. The territories of Arizona, Indian Territory,
and New Mexico were also represented.
At a meeting of citizens of Omaha held January 18, 1896, articles of
incorporation of the Trans-Mississippi International Exposition Company
were adopted. The articles provided for capital stock to the amount of one
million dollars in shares of ten dollars each. At this meeting eleven
directors were elected, namely: Gurdon W. Wattles, Jacob E. Markel, W. R.
Bennet, John H. Evans, Dudley Smith, Daniel Farrell, jr., George H. Payne,
Charles Metz, Isaac W. Carpenter, Henry A. Thompson, Carroll S.
Montgomery. January 20th the directors elected officers as follows:
Gurdon W. Wattles, president; Jacob E. Markel, vice president; John A.
Wakefield, secretary. December 1, 1896, the corporation was reorganized
and the number of directors increased to fifty. On the 16th, Gurdon W.
Wattles was elected president; Alvin Saunders, vice president; John A.
Wakefield, secretary; Herman Kountze, treasurer; Carroll S. Montgomery,
general counsel. An executive committee was chosen as follows: department
of ways and means, Z. T. Lindsey; of publicity, Edward Rosewater; of
promotion, Gilbert M. Hitchcock; of exhibits, E. E. Bruce; of concessions
and privileges, A. L. Reed; of grounds and buildings, F. P. Kirkendall; of
transportation, W. N. Babcock. July 9, 1897; Mr. Hitchcock resigned the
office of manager of promotion, and that department was thereupon,
consolidated with the department of publicity under the management of
Edward Rosewater. James B. Haynes was superintendent of this department.
The total cost of the buildings on the grounds, exclusive of state
buildings, was $565,034. The total stock subscription collected was $411,
745; total donations, $141,670.20; earnings of the exposition, $1,389,
018.38. After the settlement of the business of the exposition ninety per
cent of the stock subscription was returned to stockholders, an
unprecedented incident in exposition experiences and which leaves nothing
to be said in praise of the managerial skill of President Wattles and his
directory.
The general architectural effect of the exposition deserved the praise
it won on every hand and the electrical display of it, at night, was
notably fine. This great enterprise was of material benefit to Omaha and
Nebraska; but its chief justification lay in the enjoyment it afforded to
the vast number of people to whom it was accessible and who had
theretofore been out of range of great exhibitions of its kind. The
resulting awakening and improvement of popular taste and insight into the
mechanical and industrial genius of the country were incalculably
beneficent.
In the year 1910 a comprehensive illustrated history of the exposition
was published by the authority of its board of directors.
History of Nebraska - End of Chapter 32