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About Will Maupin's weekly. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1911-1912 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 2, 1912)
A WEEKLY JOURNAL OF CHEERFULNESS Printed primarily for people who look upon life cheerfully and hopefully. Also for people who ought to do so. The promotor of all good things and good people, of which first Nebraska is chief and of which second Nebraskans are mostly. DOLLAR A YEAR VOLUME 8 TALKS NONSENSE TT A Curtis of Fairfield offers an" explanation of the present high prices of food products what he calls the fact that "the limit of production has about been reached, while consump tion is steadily on the increase." Mr. Curtis is only half right consumption is steadily increasing. But when he asserts that the limit of production has about been reached he must be joking. The truth is that we haven't made even a good start at producing. Nebraska is the third largest wheat producing state in the Union with an average 01 less mu acre for the last ten-year period. England has averaged upwards of 35 bushels an acre during the same period and on land that has been farmed for a thousand years. What is the an swer t Intelligent and intensive culti vation. Is an average, of 25 bushels of corn to the acre the limit of corn productivity of Nebraska cornlandt Don't you believe it. The trouble is not that we have about reached the limit of production. Our trouble is that we are not producing enough rvwnopro Eighteen million acres of idle land in Nebraska alone, and Mr. Curtis talks about "limit of produc tion!" One Nebraska farmer grow ing rich on a 30-acre farm, not even as good as the average Nebraska farmland and here comes a gentle man who asserts as a fact that we have about reached the limit of pro duction. All we need is more produc ers we've got plenty of the material at hand whereby mey may uegiu in ducing. "While the Kansas bank commission er was working to protect Kansans against grafters selling "blue sky" securities, the banking board of Ne braska was wrangling over who should hold the jobs. What Nebraska needs is fewer jobholders and more public servants. Of course Champ Clark refused to consent to dividing the Missouri, dele gation with Folk. 01' Champ Clark was not born day before yesterday. BREEDING UP HUMANITY. Rev! John Williams of Omaha is strongly opposed to the enactment of a law requiring applicants for a mar riage license to show clean bills of physical and mental health. As usual, when espousing an idea, Rev. Dr. Wil- makes out a strong case. He in- v iigiinij, iuui tuvu niiu u'u v be made moral by legal enact- those Who would reform mankind, physically andratally, by statutory law. But we fMr that Dr. Williams misses the point. Some of us who advocate physical and mental examina tion of those contemplating matrimony are not so advocating because we aim solely at the reformation of mankind. We are not actuated by moral senti ment but by the instinct of self-preservation. We put it all on a purely physical basis, , leaving the rest to the Almighty. Fundamentally, we would make it just as profitable and just as possible to breed a superior race of men and women as it is to breed a su perior strain of cattle, or horses, or hogs. We believe there is a law pro- the runnjjg "at large of male species not be L- )i cause their roaming at large is im moral, but because it is financially un desirable. Yet we allow indiscrimin ate marriage, which is about as fruit ful of evil results to the human species as would be the results of allowing r WHAT v. In Munsey's Magazine for March the progressive -and enterprising state of Kansas comes in for page after page of the best advertising imagin able advertising that money could not buy for the simple reason that advertising space is not sold in the editorial departments of reputable magazines tike Munsey 's. For a decade past Kansas has been advertised as no other state has ever been advertised, with the result that Kansas, not so good an agricultural state as Nebras ka, has a half-million more people, 35 per cent more cultivated acres and a reputation that has reached every nook and corner of the world. And during all this time, while Kan sas was being made known every where, Nebraska, with better soil, bet ter climatic conditions and better busi ness opportunities, has been standing still in population. Every effort to organize an advertising service such as had made Kansas famous and added millions to her wealth, has been met with oposition and indifference. So it is that every time you pick up a newspaper or a magazine you see Kan sas exploited Nebraska never. You hear every day of Kansas' trouble in getting harvesters during the wheat season and Nebraska raises more wheat per acre than Kansas and har vests her crop without fuss or feath ers. If Nebraska were made as well known everywhere as Kansas, this great state of ours would be the won der of the world. It is interesting to one who has made a careful study of comparative statistics to note what Kansas brags about, and then look to see how Nebraska stands on the same product. "Why Kansas Grows and Prospers" is the title of an editorial in the March Munsey. It is an inter esting article, and Kansas deserves every word therein contained with one or two exceptions. For instance and we quote the words of Munsey's editor "According to her own figures Kansas has the largest per capita wealth of any state in the Union. Her arithmeticians base their estimate on the assessed valua tion of property, which shows an aver age amount of $1,642.30 for each one of the state's seventeen hundred thou sand inhabitants." Splendid figures, and indeed a won derful record for Kansas. But the claim of Kansas to the largest amount of property per capita is not well founded.. The total assessed valua tion of Nebraska is $2,002,157.45. This is an average of $1,668.46 per capita, or $24.16 per capita more than Kan sas two-thirds of the per capita cir culation of money in the United States. And against this enormous value in Nebraska there is not chargeable a single dollar of state bonds, for Ne braska has no state bonds outstanding. There is not chargeable against this a dollar of state floating indebtedness, for Nebraska state warrants are paid in cash now, and with the exception of about ninety days have been paid in LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, FEBRUARY 2, scrub males of the animal species to run at large. . . Far be it from us to discourage matrimony. On the other hand, we would encourage it. But we are strong ly opposed to this modern idea of pro NEBRASKA cash upon presentation for upwards of ten years. But there is one assertion in the Munsey editorial to which we give hearty assent. Again we quote: "What lies behind this spectacle?. Two sim ple things the people of Kansas are mentally alert as well as industrious, and there is team-work among her pub lic officials. Few of our American commonwealths present such a kind ling example of unified public service. Usually a state is satisfied if it can, point to one conspicuous activity; in Kansas almost every branch is a sort of star performance." Note that one assertion "THERE IS TEAM-WORK AMONG HER PUB LIC OFFICIALS." A few months ago Nebraska accepted from the con tractors a new building-ind for weeks there was bucking and bicker ing, among members of the board of public works over the. matter of an inscription on the cornerstone. A year or so Nebraska had a democratic governor, the rest of the state officials being republicans. And , whatever a republican official could do to discredit the democratic governor was done, re gardless of the effect upon the state. Later a democratic legislature and a republican governor locked horns over non-essentials, and again the state suf fered. Kansas has a bank commission er who believes that his first duty is to the people. ' Nebraska, under an archaic constitution has a "state bank ing board, " with a secretary appointed largely for political reasons. . And a year or so ago the whole commission was up in the air, one set of examin ers claiming the right to examine and another set invoking the writ of in junction. While they were fighting over the spoils of office the bank com missioner of Kansas was giving the people real service. You bet they have team-work in Kansas! And that is what Nebraska needs a whole lot more than she needs the political mess she is constantly stirring up. As we were writing this the mail carrier laid upon the editorial desk a Kansas postal card, issued by the Kansas publicity department. It shows a scene in a Kansas alfalfa field, and bears this wording: Three, four or five cuttings in a season, of hay like that (the most valuable in the world) look pretty good, don't they? 'Out there in Kansas' is where they do it, and it makes 'em rich." The Kansas publicity bureau will flood the country with cards like that, and with other Kansas literature. Yet Nebraska is a better alfalfa state than Kansas, raises more, has more land capable of raising alfalfa and is in creasing her alfalfa acreage more rapidly. But all the world knows about the Kansas alfalfa industry, while Nebraska seems content to "let 15,000,000 acres of her , land lie idle, see thousands cross her domain to find homes in the northwest, and even to see hundreds of her best producers packing up and leaving. What Nebraska needs is more team 1912 gressive- adultery which brings the di vorce, court within the shadow of the church. A -little more thorough super vision of the marriage business would relieve us of much of the burden s of divorce. ! - NEEDS j work t jr vVublic officials. She needs r K action on the part of her pcw needs to come out of this cotan3ondition of smug self complacence and get into the develop ment game with vim and energy. She needs to set in motion some plan of action that will call the attention of homeseekers and investors to the won- -derful oportunities awaiting them within the borders of this common wealth. She needs to advertise her soil fertility and her climate until' millions of her idle acres are brought under cultivation, and countless fac tories dot her landscape, working her raw material into the finished pro duct. It's an old story, but a good, one, and applicable to Nebraska. A man put a couple of pigs in . a sack and told his boy to take them to town" and sell them. In the evening the boy re turned home with the pigs in the sack. "Why didn't you sell 'em?" asked the father. "Nobody asked me what I had in the sack," replied the boy. It is high time that Nebraska began tell ing people what she has in the sack. What has she in the sack? Fifteen million idle acres capable of produc ing record-breaking crops of corn, wheat, oats, rye, alfalfa, sugar beets, kaffir, millet hungarian, hemp and flax. Unexcelled facilities for dairy ing. Undeveloped water power suf ficient to turn the wheels of ten times more factories than she now possesses. Marvelous opportunities for profitable investment in manufacturing indus tries. Magnificent opportunities for the industrious homeseeker who wants to own a bit of land upon which he may live in comfort from the proceeds of his honest toil. A public school sys-. tern that is the wonder of the world, and a system "of higher education universities, academies and colleges that has won words of praise from the best educators of the time. She has more in the sack than any other state and to date hasn't opened her mouth ,to let the world know what she has to offer. Is not the time ripe for an educa tional campaign a campaign that will teach the world that Nebraska is in truth the greatest producer of agricul tural wealth in all the sisterhood of states, and that, too, with less than one-half her fertile acreage under cul tivation? Is it not time to make known the fact that Nebraska offers the home seeker and the investor better oppor tunities than any other state? Let us banish the hammerman and the chronic grouch. Let us put the kibosh on the pessimist and the man who pulls back in the breeching every time he sees some other man leaning up against the collar. Let us have more team-work and less penny poli tics among our public officials and greater unity of action among our citi zens. In short,' let us set to work to let all the world know what we know that of all good things Nebraska of fers the most; that of things evil she has the least. A MERRY HEART DQETH GOOD LIKE MEDICINE But a broken spirit drieth the bones. That's what the Good Book says, and we'll bank on it, sure. Will Maupin's Weekly works to make cheerful the hearts of its readers, and thus do medi cal duty. Fifty-two consecutive weekly doses for a dollar.' GUARANTEED NUMBER 45, A few years ago we Nebrasskans were inclined to congratulate our selves upon the fact that we were be coming some pumpkins an the world of fire insurance. . We, saw fire insur ance companies organized, and saw them prosperous, to all seeming. "But where are these companies of yesterday? ' The winds have swept them ; all away." ' ' ... ; . ' At any rate they've been gobbled up, and with the exception of a few mutual companies .' we , are bereft." x nere may De a reason ior tnis. Out we are ignorant thereof. But through all the stress and storm that has swept our little sea clean of Nebraska fire insurance companies, . we've, still kept our ' life ' insurance crafts going. We can still point with pride to such a magnificent organiza-' tidn as the 'Olct Line Bankers Life of Lincoln, with its five millions of as sets and its splendid office building that would be a credit to any city in ' America, bar none; with its splendid record of achievements and its every evidence of stability. Its results have not been achieved in a day, nor in a ' year; they have been achieved by years of steady, persistent effort, marked by square dealing and perfectly kept ' faith with its policyholders. The value of such an institution to a city or to a state is hard to measure in dollars and cents, but the value is there, always in evidence. AN UNUSUAL ANNIVERSARY. On Monday evening, February 5, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Sizer will . re ployes of Lincoln, together with other friends, the occasion being the tenth anniversary of Mr. Sizer 's appoint ment as postmaster at Lincoln. Such ' an anniversary celebration is a bit out of the usual orderj postmasters seldom lasting that long in cities the size of Lincoln. That Mr. Sizer has rounded out a decade in that capacity is at once a tribute to his efficiency and a tribute to a better 1 era in American politics. Time was when posfmAsteprf' were appointed solely with a view to their ability to play politics ; today their retention depends vastly more upon their ability to serve the people well. It will be cheerfully admitted by all . who are acquainted with Ne braska's political history for the past twenty-five or thirty years . that Mr. Sizer is not lacking in ability as a political manager ; indeed, his reputa tion as such is vastly wider than the bounds or tne state. Hut it must be just as cheerfully admitted that since assuming his duties as postmaster he has been even more successful in that line than he was in political manage ment and that means Mr. Sizer has abundantly made good as postmaster. Will Maupin's Weekly is not going to congratulate 'Mr. Sizer upon having rounded out ten years as postmaster, for that would mean congratulating him upon the fact that his years are accumulating. It is, however, going to congratulate Lincoln upon having had for ten years a postmaster so ef ficient, so courteous and so enterpris ing, and follow it up by expressing the wish that we will all be- here to par ticipate with Mr. and Mrs. Sizer in the celebration of the second- yea, the tenth-V-decade of the services of Lin coln's ipresent postmaster. " ONE BY ONE"