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AS BaCOXS-CLAM XARB
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Office 1132 N street, Up Stairs.
Telephone 384.
BARAH B. HARRIS Editor
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NINNNMNNeNNIINI
i OBSERVATIONS
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Tfe experiments in the conservation
of moisture that Nebraska, Kansas and
Dakota farmers have successfully tried
are being thoroughly tested by experi
ment stations established by the Bur
lington. AH systems of irrigation are
expensive. If the melted snow and rain
that the soil absorbs during the jear
can be kept there till the thirsty and
lusty roots of July and August are
ready to drink it there is nothing that
can keep the price of Nebraska lands
down.
It is said that it was a South Dakota
farmer who first observed that the
the plants in bis kitchen garden which
had a 6ne powdery soil did not suffer
for lack of water even in a dry season.
lie was quick to take a hint and the
next jeer he built a sort of rotary, blunt
pointed cultivator, the effect of which is
to punch or pack the ground a few
inches below the surface so that a con
siderable quantity of water will be held
above the subsoil. Then witn another
ingeniously contrived machine he kept
the surface soil always- in a fine pow
dery condition. His theory was fully
justified by the outcome, for his crop
was in good shape all the EeaBon and
gave a profitble yield while similar
crops, tilled on the old plan were fail
ures. The South Dakota farmer who has
discovered the way of salvation for Ne
braska is an experimentalist of the lat
est German Btyle. When he observed
that his vegetables were crisp and suc
culent and his wheat was shrivelled and
burnt he investigated the composition of
VOLllNO. 40
J 4 "
JT
" a
Si & ' ESTABLISHED IN 1886
W
LINCOLN NEB., SATURDAY. DECEMBER 19, 1896,
of the soil acd found it identical in the
kitchen garden and the wheat field.
Only in the latter where it had been
broken into lumps by the cultivator, the
sun had reached the moisture and ab
sorbed it. The kitchen garden soil was
powdered by long cultivation into a
thick dust that the sun did not pene
trate and it remained in reservoir for
the roots.
The Burlington ia establishing experi
ment stations at Oberlin, Kas.. and at
McCook, Holdrege, Alma and Broken
Bow, eb. These places are in the
middle of the dry belt and if crops re
spond to this treatment here the rest of
Nebraska is safe.
Eich station will consist of a forty-
acre tract of non-irrigated, semi-arid
land, and will be iu charge of farmers
who understand the details of the new
plan and are at the same time posted on
the nature and peculiarities of the soil
and climate. All of the expenses will
be borne by the railway company in the
expectation that it will increase the pro
duct of lands already under cultivation
and thus insure a larger traffic and also
make salable lands which are now looked
upon as worthless.
Tne three organizations which are
known as the W. C. A. the senior Y
W. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A. have at
last agreed to a constitution and board
of governors which will unite their
energy and prevent overlapping of ef
fort and trebling of expenses which, to
some extent, under the past regime haB
been inevitable.
A committee of three from each or
ganization was appointed who wrote
out a constitution which has been ac
cepted by the governoring boards of the
three institution:. The constitution
assigns to each a distinct mission. The
general object is instruction and help to
the women and children of the city who
need it; as well as to provide an instru
ment for those who have time, money or
talent by which they can help others.
Rudyard Kipling's "Captains Cour
ageous," now running in "McCIures," is
a new example of his Shakespearean
ability to make the experienced of other
people his own. The illusion is perfect
"Two Years Before The Mast," though
the author actually relate-? bis experi
ences on a sailing vessel, has not the
reality of Kipling's all imaginative
report. "Captains Courageous"' ib the
story of the son of a multi-millionaire
father who travels with his mother
acioss the ocean for his health. He is
a regular cub and needs bringing up as
badly as some of the university frater
nity boje, but in his case he gets it, for
he falls off the steam ship and is picked
up by a Gloucester fishing boat where
he is graduated at the end of a rope in a
T,.
J Sssssssss la lisMk
short time. The skipper thinks be is
lying when he tells of his father's mil
lions and he knocks him down several
times before Harvey the boy learns
the meaning of "Skipper." Meanwhile
the skipper's son is a broth f a boy
who is delighted to have the company
of another boy, he teaches him many
things. Harvey says to Dan, "Ib your
Uncle a farmer?'' "Farmer!" shouted
Dan. 'There ain't water enough 'tween
here and Hatt'rus to wash the f urrer
mould ofTn his boots. He's jest ever
ldstin' farmer. Why, Harve, I've seen
that man hitch up a bucket long toward
sundown, and set twiddling the spigot
to the scuttle-butt same's if twuz a
cow's bag. He's thet much of a farmer."
And here's "Long Jack" teaching Har
vey the ropes: "There's good and just
reason for ivery rope aboard, or else
'twould be overboard. D'ye follow me?
'Tis dollars and cents I'm putting into
your pocket, je skinny little supercargo,
so that phwin ye have filled out ye can
ship from Boston to Cuba and tell them
Long Jack learaed you. Now I'll chase
ye around a piece, callin' the ropes an'
jou'll lay your hand on them as I call."
He began and Harvey, who was feel
ing rather tired, walked slowly to the
rope named. A rope's end licked round
his ribs and nearly knocked the breath
out of him.
"When you own a boat," said Tom
Piatt, with severe ejee, "jou can walk,
till then take all orders at the run."
But the discipline makes a man of a
whining little imp who had come to
think himself the centre of things.
The story is soaked in salt sea water
and air. It is as refreshing as an ocean
voyage to the inland constitutions of
Nebraska.
Jhe Origin of Populism.
The annual reports of the cabinet of
ficers to the president contain some in
teresting information. The secretary of
the interior and the secretary of agri
culture give details of the paternalism
of the government, the one telling us
how many million acres of land the gov
ernment has given away, and the other
dwelling on the free seed distribution
absurdity. Mr. Morton's favorite
theme may appear trivial when consid
ered in connection with the appalling
figures of the national land grant; but
the giving away of seeds ie just aB much
a form of paternalism as the giving
away of land, and it is possible that the
time may come when the distribution of
land will be adjudged as unwise as the
scattering of seeds to the four winds.
In looking for.the origin of populism
in the west for-the beginnings of that
sjntiment that expects so uuch from
the government, it is a common thing to
overlook what i, undoubtedly, one of
PRICE FIVE CBNTi
the prime causes.of populist ideas. How
were settlers first drawn to the agricul
tural west? By the gift of valuablo
lands. And what has been the olfect of
this generosity on tho part of the na
tion? There is no intention to enter
upon an elaborate discussion of this sub
ject at the preseot time. Our purpose
i9 merely to make a suggestion.
When public land is thrown open to
settlement the elate that is" attracted ia
not the industrious substantial element
that has made this country prosperous
above every other country. The people
who Hocked to Oklahoma not long ago
were people who were looking for
"snaps," people who were attracted by
the idea that something was to be ob
tained for nothing. The people who
rushed to Kansas and Nebraska in the
early days were 01 this class. Their
movings elsewhere were not secure.
They were an army of Micawbera. In
Kansas and Nebraska they got good
land without paying anything for it.
The only consideration was the observ
ance of conditions that were easily
evaded, or whose fulfillment incurred no
great effort. Thus in starting out in a
new country they had their capital
given to them, and obtaining so much
for nothing from government, what
was mars' natural than that they should
look to the Sime source for other bless
ings? The state legislatures of the
western states in the early days offered
much "encouragement" to the settlers,
and so the farmer began to look to the
state for what he could not get from
the nation. The soil was so rich that
its cultivation required but little at
tention, leaving the assisted farmer
plenty of time to devote to various
schemes for working the tate or na
tional government. It was a short step
from free land to the beautiful sub
treasury plan. This last scheme was
ridiculed, but it was not at all unreason
able or inconsistent. If the government
could give the farmer land and supply
him with seed why should it not lend
him money on his product? And if it
could do these things, why should
money not be free? It would seem that
the grange, the farmers' alliance and the
populist party, were all a natural de
velopment of the western idea imparted
by the nation itself.
beamed From the Realistic
Drama.
Sometimes, I think the modern realis
tic drama is not appreciated at its real
worth. As a factor in education it ia
second only to the new journalism. I
have found it much more real and vast
ly more entertaining than life.
For instance, had. it not been for my
acquaintance with the realistic drama I
never would have known of the peculiar
eccentricities of the poverty Btricken
