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About The Falls City tribune. (Falls City, Neb.) 1904-191? | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 1908)
An Open Letter to Omaha Crowd Notwithstanding we are told \ that county option is not an issue, the “Merchants and Man ufactures Association" » ?) of. Omaha is tiooding Richardson county with circulars, one of which reached the hands of George Watkins of Verdon. Now, tiiere is only one man on earth that knows more of the census report than George and he is the man that wrote the book. The Merchants and Manufactures fake undertake to prove their case by the census reports, how well they succeed is shown by the following letter which we gladly publish: “Verdon, Neb., Sept. 21, 1908 —J. B. Haynes, Sec. Mer. & Man. Ass'n., Omaha, Nebr Dear Sir:—Either by mail or through some citizen T have re ceived a large amount ot litera ture from you regarding tue saloon and its traffic and the best way to manage it. In in troducing myself permit me to say I am entirely opposed to a traffic in alcohol in any form as a beverage. It may be presump tious in me, a farmer too old to work, to criticise your conclu sions, yet this tact remains, if you are sincere in wishing the welfare of humanity as I am, you will respect my opinion as I do yours. So, let us reason together. I wish first to call your atten tion to some errors in your leaf let entitled ‘How Prohibition Destroys Farm Values.’ The first error is under the iieading, ’Iowa was hit hard.' Iowa adopted prohibition twenty-six years ago and tried to enforce it up to 1894.’ The fact is that Iowa adopted prohibition in the fifties, and I think in 1856, excepting wines and beer, which law was in effect until' 1882, when tuey en acted and submitted an amend ment to the constitution prohib iting the sale of alcohol in all forms. This amendment was knocked out and her present law enacted in 1884. Ten years later, to the shame and disgrace of the state, she enacted a law granting the liquor vender the) right to violate aud set aside the law of 1884 by paying $000. Just a word regar dag yor statement, ‘Tried to enforce,' If Iowa had a prohibitory law and tried to enforce it, and did not then, this is a fact, the liquor tratic is bigger than the state of Iowa, and Iowa is entitled to the aid of the national govern ment under that clause of the constitution, granting to every state a republican form of gov ernment. You state the point which de cided me on this question viz: The traffic has always set itself above the law. Grant said, ‘The best wray to get rid of au obnoxious law is to enforce it,’ They say any law to govern them shall be defied. Your statement regarding the effects of the law on farm values is still more erroneous. In all the statements I shall make I will take my statistics from cen sus or other government reports. Just why, if you wanted to cor rectly inform your readers, you went to the state auditors re port in Iowa and went to the census in Nebraska 1 will leave you to explain. Iowa like Ne braska assesses at one-fifth its actual value. In order to give you the benefit of the time when you say Iowa farm values were so hard hit by prohibition I will quote from abstract 11th census page 68. ‘Value of farms including buildings and fences 1880, $567,430,227 in 1890 the same were $857,581,022, shaving an increase of a trifle over 50 per cent. The same authority gives the value of farms, fences and buildings in Nebraska for 1^90, $4o2,85*,918, and the ab stract of 12th census gives ttie value of the same property tor 1900 at $577,660,020, an increase of practically 11 per cent.’ So, you see Iowa was not so badly hit after all. You ask why I tike she decade from 1890 and 1902? I aswer because it is the tirst decade under our present high license law. To be sure Iowa shows better results in that decade than Ne braska, her farms etc. increased to the enormous sum of $1,497 554,790 or practically 75 per cent increase-in spite of the fact that a few places stultified them selves and sold the right to vio late a wholesome law. As I have shown your error regarding Iowa, lets turn to our sister state on the south of which you say under the head ‘Withering effects upon Kansas’ You say, its rural population lias decreased, and quote from the 12th census to prove it. If you use the abstract, which you probably did, it is strange that you did not turn over a few pages to Nebraska. I concede your figures so far as Kansas is concerned. In 51 counties there is a decrease of 50,000 people but here are the figures for Ne braska during the same period, to-wit; from 1890 to 1900. COUNTY Adams, decreased. 5,500 Banner, decreased. 1,300 Blaine, decreased. 500 Buffalo, decreased. 1.900 Burt, decreased. 200 Cass, decreased . 2.750 Chase, decreased. 2.250 Clay, decreased . 500 Custer, decreased. 1,900 Dawes, decreased .3,500 Duell, decreased .'. 200 Douglas, decreased.17,400 Dundy, decreased.1,600 Fillmore, decreased. 1,500 Gage, decreased. 6,200 Hamilton, decreased. 700 Hayes, decreased .. 1,200 Hitchcock, decreased. 1,300 Holt, decreased . 1,400 Keith, decreased. 600 Keya Paha, decreased. 800 Fyimball, decreased. 200 Lancaster, decreased.11,500 Logan, decreased. 400 Otoe, decreased.3,100 Perkins, deceased. 2,600 Polk, decreased . 200 Hock, decreased . 200 Saline, decreased. ... 1,800 Seward, deerrased . 490 Sheridan, decreased. 2,600 Sioux, decreased . 400 Wheeler, decreased. 300 Here is a list of 33 counties in Nebraska, just two-thirds of the number that you give for Kansas, and there is a loss of about one halt more than you give for Kansas. You say, these figures show that an exo dus of Kansas took place, some came to Nebraska. If they did they surely did not settle in Douglas county. Say, where did they stop? If you had tak en the trouble to look you sure ly would have saved yourself the humiliation of that state ment. Page 156, abstract 12th census gives the population of Kansas in 1890 at 1,427,096 and in 1900 at 1,470,495, an increase of at least 3 per cent. Page 162 same work gives population of Nebraska in 1890 at 1,058,910 and in 1900 at 1,066,300 or about three-forths of one per cent in crease. I should of liked to have saved us the humiliation of this exposure. Even poor old decrepit Vermont in spite of her sterility, prohibition added, did better than we did. If you are not ashamed of our pitiable increase, 1 am. Now gentlemen, if you cannot controvert my statements, and you cannot, then please come out in the open and say we want saloons in spite of its blighting law defying effects, or we will join hands with every clean, honorable man, woman or child to exterminate it. Hoping you may see your way to join with us, l am yours for the right. In trying to do this I will strike it with any club 1 can. If it is county option, I will use that, if it is Patrick’s bill, to make all signers of saloon peti tion- responsible, l will use that. Hoping that the right, may prevail, 1 am yours very; truly Gkokge Watkins. FROM THE SOUTH An Interesting Letter From Swift's P. O., Alabama Swift l\ o., Ala- bept. l'», ‘OS. j -—Elberta Settlement. Calls City Tribune. Your paper is a wel come visitor to us every week and don’t like to miss it because we are interested in the-affairs of old Richardson County. As I promised to write you how I get along in the south so I will write you a few lines. We are all well and like it fine down here because the climate is excellent, and farm work is easier than up north, we don’t get all our field work together as we did in Ne braska. 1 find if a man has money enough to get a good start he can make good money and take farm work easy,the same time he has a much nicer climate than in northern states. We had good crops here. Irish potatoes in the spring made a good yield, corn made a fair crop, oats was fine, cotton is good also, and sweet potatoes will make from 150 to ISO bushels to the acre. Some of my friends up there didn’t believe me when I told them last year that a man can make more from a acre than we can in Nebraska, for instance 1 mention J. Coons,a German farm er living six miles from my place, he made $468 clear money from four acres of Irish potatoes, now he has sweet potatoes in the same land, will yield about ISO to the acre for some of them he got $1 a bushel, but now they are only 65c a bushel, yet that man used high graae fertilizer but he got two good crops from it this vear. When I left Nebraska some peo ple told me a man can make noth ing in the south because he has to spend too much money for fertili zer, this'would be true if we could raise only one crop from it like in the northern states, but we can raise two crops of most of the crops we raise here. Oranges and lemons do well here. I saw some lemons on the trees here that were as bigftsmy fist. We had nice figs at our own place this year. Land is advancing fast now. We get a new railroad to Elberta this winter and the prospects for oil are good. The oil company is getting their ma chinery up now and will commence to operate boring soon. If oil is found then it is hard to tell how high our land will be in a short time. The oil expert which the company had here before they commenced operation said that he is satisfield that oil is here in paying quantities. The experi ence with Samatra tobacco was a great success here and tobac co will be raised now on a big scale. Politics are different down here as I expect them, I thought everything down here was demo cratic, but I was badly mistaken. Most of the natives in the coun try are republicans and they are all crazy for Roosevelt. I believe if Roosevelt had been nominated again that Alabama would go re publican this year. Mobile is strong republican too. We organi zed a republican party in Baldwin County and if it were not that a man has to live in Alaba ma for two years before lie can vote, Baldwin County would go republican this year. The north ern people come in so fast that it don’t take very long to throw off the democratic yoke. The Bald win County Col. Company sold 75 forty acre farms last month and 15 families settled that time. Five families came this week and fifteen homeseekers, so you see that Baldwin County is set tling quick. I don't know how fast other land companies sell, but our company has sold most of their land already. Wishing you much success, I remain your friend, Herman Koehler. Women’s Tailored SUITS If you have any intention of buying a Suit this season, do not delay it a day. Our sale of Suits has surprised us and our assortment is being very rapidly depleted. Only about 40 Suits left, but there re mains a splendid choice. Remember we have a first class dessmaker now in our department, who insures PERFECT FITS on all our Ladies' wear. Women's Winter Coats A complete display in Cloth, Plush. Velour, Imitation Fur and Fur Coats, in all the variation of style is now ready for your inspection and purchase. Any purse can be suited, as we are showing Coats at almost any price, from $5 up to $50. Our Cloth garments represent the best values ever offered by us, at $10 to $20. We have some superb styles. Black will be tlie prevailing color, as nearly all wear for women is in dark shades. i Plush, Velour and Imitation I;ur will be in k favor and offer not only elegance and beauty, Pi but the largest measure of wearing value that Ua money will buy. spicuous demand. I Fur Reefers in 24, 26 and 30 inch lengths, are assuming a prominent place in this season's vogues. Seal I Skin has returned to its own and is now the most wanted Fur among exclusive trade. This places Electric and Near Seal garments in con We are showing those at $25, $28, $30, $35, $40 and $50. New Shirt Waists New Tailored Net and Silk Waists, in latest designs, are just in. Underwear Women’s Vests and Pants, all sizes, 25c, 35c, 50c, 75c, $1 Women’s Union Suits, 50c, 65e, 90c, $!, $1.25, $1.50, $2 and $2.75. Children’s Wear in full assortment, in medium weight, white; heavy weight, white; extra heavy, white and grey cotton; and medium and heavy weight Sanitary wool, in Pants, Vests and Union Suits. | Men’s Shirts and Drawers and Union Suits in all the wanted weights and qualities. Misses’ and Children’s Coats Child’s Bearskin, in Copenhagen, brown, champagne, white, green, red, three, four and five years old, at $2 to $6 Children’s Cloth Coats, in plain and fancies, $1 to $4 Misses’ Cloth Coats, six to fourteen, d* O 50 Sift 50 navy,brown, red, green, fancies.... Misses' Bearskin Coats, natural, brown, CA 1 ^ fffl red and Copenhagen colors, from.l*w tPlMtJv Floor Coverings The largest stock of Floor Coverings in Richardson county is shown in our up-stairs section. We are prepared to fit out any home in first class style. Our prices on Rugs, large and small, Ingrain Rugs and Carpets, Linoleums and Oil Cloths, are decidedly lower than will be found in citv Department Stores. Lace Curtains A very new and beautiful assortment of medium and low cost Lace Curtains have just come in. When you “clean house” come in and see these. Outings and Flannelettes All the very best makes are represented. Our prices are lower than last year. We are giving some very remarkable values. V. G. LYFORD