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About Will Maupin's weekly. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1911-1912 | View Entire Issue (March 15, 1912)
MODERN METHODS It is gratifying to this company, and must be to the patrons it is privileged to serve, that we have able, legitimately and effectively to build up a broad and efficient service. Our idea of service is not the mere delivery of our product to the meter, but the maintenance of the best possible light ing and power equipment. We Are the Biggest and Best Lighting Company in the City. That Is Why We Grow Lincoln Gas and and Electric Fourteenth and O Streets Bell 75-Auto B2575 Light Company WHAT NEBRASKA NEEDS r In Munsey's Magazine for March the progressive and enterprising state of Kansas conies 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 like 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. Tou 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 cash upon presentation for upwards of ten years. J 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 and 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 I 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. Tou bet they have team-work in Kansas! And that 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. Tet 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 work among her public officials. She needs more unity of action on the part of her people. She needs to come out of this cotamose condition 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 bis 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"1' 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 " 1 the industrious homeseeker who wants : to own a .bit of land upon which he i 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 is what Nebraska needs a whole lot 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. Watch Unland's window for the , Big Saturday; Hat Sale in the spring', styles , of Stetson, Schoble, Gordon and Mallory makes. - WHITEBREAST CO. MANY NEBRASKA FACTS In 1910 the value of all the cotton goods manufactured in the United States was $609,000,000. The agricul tural and live stock wealth produced in Nebraska in 1911 came to within $25, 000,000 of being worth as much and the cotton textile industry is the largest single industry in the United States. "We haven't any cotton mills in Nebraska, consequently no strikes and riots and hopeless operatives work ing for starvation wages. On the contrary we have men and women working in the open, breathing pure air and enjoying v the sunlight, and making enough every year to buy, the, output of all the cotton mills of the republic. Some class to that, eh? Tobacco is a pretty big crop in this country of ours. With so much talk about tobacco trust, and tobacco on sale everywhere and almost universally used by men, one would naturally think that it was one of the nation's biggest and most valuable crops. Big and valuable it is, to be sure. But, bless your soul, .the corn raised in Nebraska in any one year would more than buy the nation's tobacco crop for the same year. Put that in your pipe and smoke it! "How about pil? That's a big thing in this country. Everybody uses pe troleum or its byproducts in some form or other. "We are apt to imagine that the oil industry, therefore, would be something wonderful to contem plate. And it is. But if you had in your possession this minute all the corn and wheat raised in Nebraska in 1911, you could sell the grain for enough money to buy all the oil pro duced in this republic in 1911, and then have $46,000,000 left to rattle in your pockets. Nebraska produced more agricultural wealth per capita in 1911 than any other state, and performed the feat upon' fewer acres per thousand dol lars of wealth produced. Statistics are not at hand to verify the claim, but "Will Maupin's "Weekly is willing to wager a doughnut against the hole that Nebraska, has fewer convicted criminals per 100,000 of population than any other state, fewer ' convic tions , for misdemeanor per 100,000 of population than any other state, fewer dependents upon public charity per 100,000 of population than any other state, more churches per 100,000 of population than any other state, "more schoolhouses per 100,000 of population than any other state, and fewer illiter ates per 1,000 of population than any other state. They've all got to take their hats off to Nebraska ! 1 Good Pure Gandy Progressive Soda Fountains Smiths Fruits and Syrups Walkers Grape Juice We can completely outfit any" store with show cases and show case fixtures, glass display jars, glass trays, etc. Gillen & Boney "Good Candy Makers" Lincoln I - - Nebraska T Lincoln Rug Factory and Carpet Gleaners Manufacturers of rugs from old ingrain and Brussels carpets. Weav ing rag carpets, silk curtains, bath rugs. Cleaning and refimshmg carpets and rugs. Vacuum house cleaning by year or job. Dealers in Axminster, Oriental and Wilton Rugs. Write for circular. PkMt At. 1086, Bdl A1608 - D. 0. PETTiT, Proprietor. 2373 0 Street. Umalm, ANNUAL STATEMENT The Security Mutual Life Insurance Company of Lincoln, Nebraska , . December 31, 1911 Ledger Assets . . Real Estate (unincumbered) $135 000 00 Mortgage Loans . . : ; 582 750 00 Policy Liens .. 92 494 37 Water Bonds 6 500 00 Cash. , 32 685 58 Total Ledger Assets................................... $849 429 95 Accrued Interest and Rents. $ 15 933 97 Deferred and Uncollected Premiums net 14 619 05 All Other Assets... 1 440 30 Total Non Ledger Assets... 31 993 32 Gross Assets. .. v $881 423 27 Deduct Non Admitted Assets . 9 429 17 Total Admitted Assets..:.... $871 994 10 Liabilities Net Legal Reserve $660 631 93 All Other Liabilities......... ... 6 282 76 Total 666 914 69 Admitted Sarplu to Policy Holders . $205 979 41 Insurance in Force $6,611,190.00 Comparative Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Sarahs - Yr A..eU Liabilitie. Surplu. StlL. 1906 $277 097 00 $238 421 00 $ 38 676 00 ' $116 22 1907 374 746 00 309 092 00 65 654 00 121 24 1908 487 809 00 390 389 00 97 420 00 124 95 1909 613 566 00 483 027 00 130 539 00 127 02 1910 729 523 00 570 546 00 158 977 00 127 86 1911 872 026 00 669 914 00 205 111 00 130 77