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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 25, 1902)
THE COURIER POSSIBILITIES OP IRRIGATION (Continued from page 1.) may be gleaned from the following from Secretary Dobson: "At a very conservative estimate, this land. If used for general farming, raising alfalfa, corn, oats, wheat, etc., will produce $10 per acre per annum above what could be produced on the same land without irrigation. This would add over $15,000,000 annually to the products of the state, and it must be remembered that a large part of the irrigated land In this state is sur rounded by an immense grazing coun try and the production of hay and feed on the Irrigated land adds to the value of every acre of grazing land in its vi cinity by rendering It possible to carry the stock through the winter season without the loss that is sure to be in curred where no provision is made for winter feed. This value of products raised annually can be multiplied sev eral times by intensive farming and making the best use of the land and water." practically valueless in watering her plains. Whether or not the conserva tive eastern representatives and sena tors can be diverted so far from their own immediate environment as to vote for a measure that must appropriate millions of dollars for something they know practically nothing about, is amazingly uncertain. One of the chief alms of western rep resentatives is to secure appropriations for the creation and maintenance of giant reservoirs which shall catch and hold great quantities of water during the wet seasons to be gradually dis seminated during drier periods. The national treasury has been drawn on for millions of dollars in years past to erect dikes and levees to protect land along the banks of rivers from Inunda tion at the time of Hoods. Should this same money be expended for storage reservoirs along the source of the stream, the overcharge of water could be caught and held, protecting resi dents from overflows and turning what was an evil Into a positive good by thousands Zbot 60 . . . . . . Zip in Smoke Fancy the smoke of all the cigars consumed every day In Lincoln con centrated in one volume and the glow of all the cigars at the base of It all! I'laco the vision in the center of the city and see the mad rush of tlremen and the trailing ranks of the curious multitude' Thnt Is Just what would happen were It possible for this con centration to be brought about for there are burned In round numbers, 12.000 cigars a day In Lincoln and this Is no exaggeration. If anything It Is conservative. Say there are twelve thousand men and boys of the smoking age in the city. Surely half the num ber love their cigars, at least once a day, in most cases twice and in many, from half a dozen to fifteen or twenty. If that does not average 12,000 a day. mark It a very poor guess. r Mfc-r-fir jii if -- " flMto 'ii ' imririHMMi Pumping Water for Irrigation. John H. Kersenbrock's Plant on Blue River in Seward Count J With the agitation that has struck the national capital concerning irri gation in the west, and the unanimity of western congressmen and senators in support of some measure looking forward toward national aid, and per haps national control, there has grown up an added interest in the possibilities of irrigation throughout Nebraska. The chief question agitating congress is whether the national government or the respective states shall have control. So far as Nebraska is concerned, under a decision rendered by the supreme court, which stands unmodified up to date, there is strong reason for hoping that the nation will assume control and not delegate the power to the states. In Nebraska the old common law on riparian rights has been held operative. It decrees that the owner of land ad jacent to a stream has the right to the use of the water running in it, "undi luted, unpolluted and undiminished in quantity." This permits the use of water by the man up the stream for no other than the ordinary purposes of life, if the fellow below objects. A mill owner can therefore stop a man above him from diverting any quantity of water for irrigation of barren acres. If the nation takes a hand, the federal law will be supreme and this doctrine modified to meet the demands of the situation. Another reason for nation. il uper vision Is found in the control o. streams that How through more than one state, as for example, the Platte. Wyoming, under state supervision, might so drain the stream before it reaches Nebraska that it would be letting out this same captive water at later and drier seasons when it might be needed. Nebraska has already accomplished much through individual effort. Much more can be accomplished through the same medium. The general results can be multiplied almost to infinity by na tional aid r v WUVirtJ.N OUCO OiWJC Russell Sage, the famous finan cier, is now playing the role of de fendant in a suit for $75,000 brought against him by the Manhioness D' Ajuria, a miniature painter of note. The complaint is based upon the millionaire's alleged misconduct to wards her eighteen years ago But the guess may be supplemented by a few figures that are fairly re liable. In fact it was these which led to the guess. In the city there are five purely wholesale dealers in cigars and tobacco; there are ten firms which manufacture cigars and sell ihem both at wholesale and retail, besides twenty dealers in cigars, tobacco and news. These handle, along with much of this product, as much more and In some cases a good deal more of the imported product. This is saying noth ing of the innumerable groceries, drug stores, hotels and restaurants that deal in cigars, the figures for whose sales are practically impossible of accumu lation and compilation. Four of the ten cigar makers aver age a product of 250,000 cigars a year, besides bundling 500,000 imported cigars in the same time. For these four then a record of 3.000.000 a year may be jotted down. A third of this is dis posed of out or town, leaving 2.000.0K for the city. The seven remaining makers are largely small concerns, many of them being mn of families who make cigars in the back rooms of their mansions. seldom employing more than their own deft fingers though some have the help of another man. The average of t'.eir product is C0.000 cigars a month. That mak-s 360.000 a year. Adding this to the two millions made by the larger factories makes the total for a year 2.360.000. Three of the principal igar stores make weekly sales approximating 5.000. This is 6S0.000 a year Figuring the other seventeen at 1.000 a week their total is the sum of SS4.000 a year. Halving this to avoid tounting twice on local product we have altogether 3,112,000 cigars a year, excluding the hotels, drug stores, restaurants, and groceries. Figuring this down to days the result is S.60S for every day in the year. Adding to this the approximated sales of the foregoing places it does not appear to be a bad guess that 12.000 cigars dally find suction In the faces of the smoking element. Think of paying duties on tobacco that more than equal Its original price' That accounts largely for the expense On some grades more Is paid per pound for entry Into the United States than Is paid for the tobacco Itself. It de pends on the texture of the goods. Su matra tobacco, for Instance, is a very line article, silky and fearfully expen sive. A bale, about two by one by four feet In dimensions will not pass the customs officer without the pay ment of over $350 by the Importer ami this In addition to the price paid the producer. For the best all around cigar tobacco look to Havana. That's where the makers focus their optics. The Porto Rico weed Is truly a weed. Near as that Island Is to Cuba it Is a very poor, coarse article that springs from Us soil. There Is something in the sun aixl ground that makes goo.J tobacco leaf and that is where Cuba shines. American grown tobacco Is not very popular though there Is a continual enlargement in its culture, the use of hot houses coming widely into favor of late. Aroma and tradition, how ever, stand in favor of the Havana growth and doubtless always will. Expressions of wonder are very fre quently heard by f:e non-smokers who would like to know why it Is that mine users of the weed prefer dark coloied ligars and others light colored. It does not always make much differ ence. The dark colored wrapper Is stronger in taste than its octoroon brother but the tilling is the same in both. The difference therefore Is but slight, so far as color is concerned, and the choice resolves itself to a question of taste in appearance. It Is little else than caprice or habit on the part of the smoker. The difference in cost of a cigar depends not only on the grade or leaf used but also In its style of construction. A hand made cigar always costs more than one made by machinery and it can always be told by thi round corner on it. The ma chine made article possesses a telltale square corn. r. It Is a rare five cent cigar that is made by hand. When a clga.- draws poorly It Is safe to say it was put together by machinery. Some of the dealers, those who cater to the more transient trade, sell four times as many five cent cigars as ten centers. When the war tarifT was placed on cigars it had the effect of turning a great part of the live cent trade to ten cent igars. How the dealers explained it sis only by tin fact that the people suspected there would be even less than the customary care in the preparation of the cheap grad-s. But whereas some dealers have a better five than ten cent trade, with others it is exactly the reverse. Wages or cigar linkers are not so bad. They are jiaid' from twelve to eighteen dollars a week after they have served their apprenticeship, the size of the wad depending on the num ber they are able to roll out in that length or time. It is a very scarce American, however, who can roll cigars as the Cubans do. Native to the art. some or these men in New York an 1 other places make as high as $150 a month and sport about with all the airs or aristocracy. A strange thing is noted or late years by tobacco dealers. It is that whereas the aristocracy is turning more to cigarettes the sporting element that once so generally smoked them is going more and more arter the ten center. t -V . His Objections "Was your Interview with that young candidate satisfactory" ' "Not at all," answered the practical politician. "Couldn't you arrangi a deal''" ' Yes, a deal's Just what he wants He objects to my holding all the cards in my own hand." Washington Star
