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About Will Maupin's weekly. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1911-1912 | View Entire Issue (March 15, 1912)
r Stand Up for Nebraska! ratromze Home This Newspaper Boosts All the Time Goods Made in Nebraska For Nebraskans VOLUME 8 THE THINGS MADE IN NEBRASKA i ; Forty-five years ago this month President Andrew Jackson affixed his signature to the bill which made Ne braska one of the states of the Union. The actual signing took place upon March 1, 1867. This issue of Will Maupin's Weekly is put out for the purpose of calling at tention to the anniversary, pointing out the progress Nebraska has made dur ing the less than a half-century of her statehood, and emphasizing the fact that Nebraskans should be more loyal in their support of Nebraska institu tions. Also, it is the desire and ambi tion of this newspaper to arouse an in terest in the great work of advertising Nebraska's resources and possibilities to the world. , We who have made some study of Nebraska realize full well that it offers to the home seeker and the investor . more and greater opportunities than al most any other section of the world and more than any other state in the sisterhood. The trouble. is, however, that those who should know it best know it least, or not at all. To date no organized and systematic effort has ever been made to advertise Nebraska to' the world. We have been content with the slow and natural order of things, while more enterprising though less fortunate neighbors have been pro gressive, aggressive and militant in their endeavors to attract home makers and capital. For this reason Nebraska has not only failed to make proper gains in population and accomplish greater improvements, but it has actu ally lost to other and more progressive communities some of her very best. This state of affairs should not be al lowed to longer continue. With the best agricultural land in the world, and more than one-half of it untilled, Nebraska owes it to herself to seek and secure industrious men and women to till these unoccupied acres, thus adding to the development of the state and to the sum total of human happiness. She should make known to the world the opportunities within her borders for investment. She should make known her golden opportunities for the honest and industrious. She must at once realize that she owes to herself and to her people the great duty of standing by them and helping them in their efforts to build here a great commonwealth. The things that are made in Nebras ka are the things that loyal Nebraskans should buy. Every dollar made in Ne braska and spent in Nebraska for Ne braska made goods, is a dollar kept in Nebraska to add to the constantly growing total of Nebraska's business. There is nothing involved in that state ment. Every dollar spent for Nebraska made goods is a dollar paid to employ ers of Nebraska labor, and well em ployed labor means a prosperous com munity. The dollar sent abroad seldom finds its way back. The dollar kept in circulation at home keeps the wheels of business turning. The editor of Will Maupin's Weekly has devoted much of his time of late years to studying Nebraska, and to ad , vertising her resources and opportuni ties. He has discovered that very few Nebraskans have any idea of the mag nitude of Nebraska's industries. Very few of them realize that right here in Nebraska we are making most of those articles that men must have to support life. We are constantly adding to the list. A quarter of a century ago a Ne braska factory was a curiosity. Today we are making goods at the rate of $300,000,000 a year, and Nebraska is increasing her manufactured products at a rate not equaled by any other state in the Union. The growth of Nebraska manufacturing industries . during the decade ending June 1, 1911, was at a greater ratio than any other state in the Union. And yet these Nebraska factories are not doing as much as they should be do ing for the simple reason that we have lagged behind in the cultivation of that state pride, that state loyalty, that should impel us to patronize home first, the world afterwards. Take the one matter of flour alone. Nebraska produces the best milling wheat in the world. It is bought by the millers of Minneapolis for the pur pose of grading up the wheat they buy in other states. It is sought after by eastern millers, and it is shipped to Eu rope. Yet there are thousands of Ne braskans who labor under the delusion that when they want the best flour they must ' buy' it in sacks bearing a high sounding name And the trade mark of a milling company in some city beyond the confines of our own state. The fact of the matter is, the best flour in the world is made right here in Nebraska, and Nebraska made flour should be in sisted upon by every loyal Nebraskan, first, because it is the best flour in the world, and second, because it is made in the best state in the Union. There is no reason in the world why the shoe product of Nebraska should not be as familiar to the world as shoes made in Lynn or Brockton. Nebraska furnishes the bulk of the hides that go into the leather used in making the shoes of the world. Those hides should be tanned in Nebraska, made into shoes in Nebraska and sent abroad to all the world to advertise Nebraska. Instead of. one or two shoe factories in Omaha doing a business of less than a million a year, there should be a dozen or more immense shoe factories making millions of dollars' worth of shoes, employing Nebraska labor and thereby building up the state. Confectionery is one of the great staples of the world. It is no longer a luxury it is a necessity. We have right here in Nebraska candy factories whose product has no equal in the mar kets of the world, yet their product is less known to Nebraskans than the product of candy makers in Chicago and New York. If the candy consumed in Nebraska were made in Nebraska it would give employment to thousands, thus making more homes, creating more business, adding to the taxable wealth of the state and building broader and more stable the founda tions of the commonwealth. A few years ago a great trust gob bled up all the cracker factories in the country. Two immense Nebraska plants, one in Lincoln and one in Om aha, were arbitrarily closed down, throwing hundreds of people out of em ployment. This trust arrogantly defied the laws of the state, and insolently and impudently sought to thwart the will of the people in their expressed de sire for the enactment of "a pure food law. Later some enterprising men es tablished, independent cracker factories in Omaha. These men willingly obeyed LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, MARCH 15, 1912 JUST LIKE HEAVEN. The preacher in the pulpit stood and talked of harps and strings, Of golden streets, and jasper walls, and crowns and other things. And eloquent, he waxed about the angel chorus strong That wings its way about the throne in sweet melodious song; Where congregations ne'er break up and Sabbaths never cease, And all about is perfect joy, and love . and rest and peace. He drew a picture of the place in words he knew would please, Till all were carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease. He had his hearers all wrought up about that golden clime Until it seemed they could not wait the meet and proper time To don their white ascension robes 'and swiftly fly away To Jordan's fair and happy land where shines eternal day. "Let all," the pastor loudly cried, "who want to join our $and And go to that - celestial home n&w rise and proudly stand!" Then came a nyghty rustling noise, and all rose to their feefc Save one lone stranger who sat tight and never left his seat. ' ' My brother, I cannot believe, ' ' the pastor cried, "that you Prefer to join that other throng we know as Satan's crew And journey on that downward path that surely leads to hell!" ' ' Well I guess not ! " the stranger cried his voice rang like a bell. "Then why," the pastor asked of him, "did you not stand to show That you with us f o that fair land would love to quickly go?" "Because I'm pretty well content," the stranger said with glee, "To stay right here Nebraska is good enough for me!" the law, and they -proceeded to put upon the market a superior product. They were willing to let live if given a chance to live. They gave employment to Nebraska labor and consumed raw material. But strange to say there are thousands of Nebraskans who fail and neglect to patronize these Nebraska in stitutions, and still continue to give aid and comfort to a conscienceless and ar rogant trust. The Nebraskan who re fuses and neglects to buy baked goods bearing the name of Nebraska makers, and continues to buy the product of the cracker trust, is guilty of a wrong to his state. Will Maupinjs Weekly believes that Nebraskans should be aroused to a re-' alizing sense of their duty to their state and to themselves. A state is like a household, interdependent. One sec tion of the state cannot grow and thrive while other sections are deteriorating or suffering from depression. We need a better community of spirit. We need to realize that as individual Nebraskans we can not prosper save as the rest of our fellows prosper prosper in the true sense. We need to lay aside preju (Continued on Page 2) POSSIBILITIES OF NEBRASKA 1 ' J When one has studied the facts about Nebraska for a time, one be comes an enthusiast on the subject. It is a never-failing subject for in vestigation,1 a perpetual source- of pride , and an everlasting topic for panegyric. There is so much of good one may easily say of Nebraska that one must be a lover of muck to look for things derogatory. The most dif ficult thing about the task of recount ing Nebraska's resources and possi bilities is to tell anything approach ing the truth without having one's listeners express doubts of one's ver acity. He who undertakes to tell the whole truth about Nebraska has two immense tasks confronting him; one is to grasp all the truth, the other is to tell it without being classed with Baron Munchausen and Joe Mulhat tan, or thrust headforemost into the original Ananias Club. , It is the purpose of Will Maupin's 'Weekly to keep constantly at the self imposed task of advertising Nebras ka 's resources and possibilities until the campaign shall have extended over the whole world and every loyal Nebraskan has been enlisted therein. It would be impossible within the . limits of one newspaper edition to tell even a tithe of the truth. But in this issue we purpose giving an outline, the chief object being to stimulate investigation. About the first thing an intending homeseeker asks about is the educa tional advantages of the community to which he purposes moving. " That's where Nebraska excells. It has the third largest state university in point of attendance, and it ranks with the best in point of equipment and fac ulty. The University of Nebraska is admittedly one of the very best in the republic. Nebraska owns more school property in proportion to popu lation than any other state, and only two states have a larger permanent school fund. Today Nebraska has nearly $9,000,000 of interest-bearing securities in her permanent school fund, and owns school lands worth approximately $25,000,000. She stands first in the column of states for the low per cent of illiteracy, and second only to Iowa in the percentage of students in her colleges and universi ties. She owns $12,000,000 worth of schoolhouses, has a corps of 9,000 teachers, and an average daily atten dance in her public schools of 260,000 pupils. The University School of Ag riculture is admittedly the best main tained by any state, with possibly one exception, and this school is becoming known in Nebraska as the best asset owned by the state. . , Agriculturally, Nebraska is the best state in the Union, bar none. The records, show that Nebraska produces more agricultural and live stock wealth per capita every year than any other state. She is the third largest corn-producing state and the youngest of the three. She is the fourth largest wheat producing state, and the youngest of the four. She produces more corn and wheat per acre than any other state In 1911 Nebraska produced agricul tural and live stock wealth to the amount of upwards of $650,000,000, and to top it ,. all , off she produced manufactured articles worth approxi NUMBER 51 mately $300,000,000 in the open mar ket. ' . ' y Nebraska has made more "rapid strides in the development of the dairy industry during the last decade than any other state, and is today one of the three largest dairying states in the Union. She rightfully boasts of the largest creamery in the world, and her metropolis, Omaha, is the largest butter market in the world.' Today she has 500,000 milch cows in her dairy herds, and more than 40,000 , hand' separators upon her farms are in daily use. The opportunities for enaging in the dairy business in Ne braska are better and more numerous than in. any other state and the in, dustry is growing by leaps and bounds. In 1911 Nebraska produced more butter per capita than any other state. . There are 49,000,000 acres of land, in Nebraska. Of this vast ' 'xpanse less than 20,000,000 acres are under ' cultivation. Of the remainder, not ' less than 15,000,000 acres will average up with the cultivated area in point of fertility and productivity. All it needs is to be opened up and intel ligently cultivated. Nebraska's great est need is to secure the men and women to settle upon these now va cant lands and - putting them to the purpose for which they were intended. How many people know that the only silica mines in the United States are in Nebraska? Aside from one little island off the coast of Italy, Ne braska is the chief source of supply of this mineral. Silica or powdered pumice stone is the base of practic ally every toilet powder, enters into the manufacture of soap, ' cleansing preparations, etc. It is a growing in-' dustry, and the whole world is now turning its attention towards the Ne braska supply. And the supply is seemingly inexhaustible. There are two silica mines in the state, one in ' Custer and one in Furnas counties. The presence of this deposit in Ne braska is a puzzle to geologists. They have to content themselves with say ing that eons ago there was a series of volcanic eruptions somewhere, " and that the deposit is merely the settling of vast clouds of volcanic ash borne on air currents and gathered in 'a sort o,f aeral maelstrom just before falling to earth. The . silica in Ne braska is found in an almost pure ' state, and covered with only a slight strata of earth. It lies in vast beds and is mined easily with shovels. Will Maupin's Weekly is prepared to show proofs that Nebraska is a better orchardin state than any other, not even excepting the boasted orch ard sections of the northwest. The best apples in the world are already grown in southeastern Nebraska. Oood orchard lands may be purchased, in Nebraska and the orchards brought to maturity cheaper than the raw orchard lands can be purchased in the northwest. This newspaper ven- c tures the prediction that inside of the next ten or fifteen years the sunny slopes of the hills along the Missouri river will be producing immense quantities of grapes the best in the world. Men who are considering the! matter of entering the fruit growing business would do well to investigate Nebraska, and especially eastern and ' southeastern Nebraska. Given thW