“ The precipitation in the west is not sufficient for confident agriculture in any series of years, since agriculture is practically dependent upon the mean fall; a fact that has been and is of profound importance in the history of the state. ”

“ Another broad valley is formed in the south half of the state by the Arkansas river, with lateral valleys on the north and south. The south-east portion contains the important Neosho and smaller valleys. In the extreme south-west is the valley of the Cimarron, and along the south boundary is a network of the south tributaries of the Arkansas. Numerous small affluents of the Missouri enrich and diversify the north-east quarter. The streams of Kansas are usually fed by perennial springs, and, as a rule, the east and middle portions of the state are well watered. ”

“ Western Kansas is the dairy country. Its great ranges, whose insufficient rainfall makes impossible the certain, and therefore the profitable, cultivation of cereals, or other settled agriculture, lend themselves with profit to stock and dairy farming. Dairy products increased 60.6% in value from 1895 to 1904, amounting in the latter year to $16,420,095. This value was almost equalled by that of eggs and poultry ($14,050,727) , which increased 79.7% in the same decade. The livestock interest is stimulated by the enormous demand for beef-cattle at Kansas City. ”

“ An amendment may be proposed by either branch of the legislature, and, if approved by two-thirds of the members elected to each house as well as by a majority of the electors voting on it at a general election, it is adopted. A constitutional convention to revise or amend the constitution may be called in the same manner. Universal manhood suffrage is the rule, but women may vote in school and municipal elections, Kansas being the first state to grant women municipal suffrage as well as the right to hold municipal offices (1887) . ”

“ The United States Census of 1860 gave her a population of 107,204 inhabitants. The struggle in Kansas, the first physical national struggle over slavery, was of paramount importance in the breaking up of the Whig party, the firm establishment of an uncompromisingly anti-slavery party, the sectionalization of the Democracy, and the general preparation of the country for the Civil War.
Drought and famine came in 1860, and then upon the impoverished state came the strain of the Civil War. Nevertheless Kansas furnished proportionally a very large quota of men to the Union armies. ”

“ Climate.—The climate of Kansas is exceptionally salubrious. Extremes of heat and cold occur, but as a rule the winters are dry and mild, while the summer heats are tempered by the perpetual prairie breezes, and the summer nights are usually cool and refreshing. ”

“ Natural gas, oil, zinc and lead have been discovered in south-east Kansas and have given that section an extraordinary growth and prosperity. Indications of gas were found about the time of the Civil War, but only in the early ’seventies were they recognized as unmistakable, and they were not successfully developed until the ’eighties. Iola, in Allen county, is the centre of the field, and the gas yields heat, light, and a cheap fuel for smelters, cement-works and other manufacturing plants throughout a large region. The pools lie from 400 to 950 ft. ”

“ Whenever a husband dies intestate, leaving a farm or a house and lot in a town or city which was the residence of the family at his death, his widow, widow and children, or children alone if there be no widow, may hold the same as a homestead to the extent of 160 acres if it be a farm, or one acre if it be a town or city lot. ”

“ Kansas City, Topeka, Wichita, Leavenworth and Atchison were the only cities which had manufactures whose gross product was valued in 1905 at more than $3,000,000 each; their joint product was valued at $126,515,804, and that of Kansas City alone was $96,473,050, almost half the output of the state. The most important manufacturing industry, both in 1900 and in 1905, was slaughtering and meat-packing—for which Kansas City is the second centre of the country—with a product for the state valued at $77,411,883 in 1900, and $96,375,639 in 1905 ”

“ Those having a population of more than 15,000 constitute the first class, those having a population of more than 2000 but not more than 15,000 constitute the second class, and those having a population not exceeding 2000 constitute the third class. Municipal elections are far removed from those of the state, being held in odd-numbered years in April. In cities of the first class the state law requires the election of a mayor, city clerk, city treasurer, police judge and councilmen ”

“ A homestead of this size is exempt from levy for the debts of the intestate except in case of an incumbrance given by consent of both husband and wife, or of obligations for purchase money, or of liens for making improvements, and the homestead of a family cannot be alienated without the joint consent of husband and wife. The homestead status ceases, however, whenever the widow marries again or when all the children arrive at the age of majority. ”

“ The dryness of the air tempers exceedingly to the senses the cold of winter and the heat of summer. The temperature over the state is much more uniform than is the precipitation, which diminishes somewhat regularly westward. ”

“ The tribes domiciled in Kansas were rapidly moved to Indian Territory after 1868.
After the Civil War the Republicans held uninterrupted supremacy in national elections, and almost as complete control in the state government, until 1892. From about 1870 onward, however, elements of reform and of discontent were embodied in a succession of radical parties of protest. Prohibition arose thus, was accepted by the Republicans, and passed into the constitution. Woman suffrage became a vital political issue. Much legislation has been passed to control the railways. ”

“ This is largely owing to an exodus of coloured people from the South in 1878–1880, at a time when their condition was an unusually hard one: an exodus turned mainly toward Kansas. The population is very largely American-born (91.4% in 1900; 47.1% being natives of Kansas) . Germans, British, Scandinavians and Russians constitute the bulk of the foreign-born. The west third of the state is comparatively scantily populated, owing to its aridity. ”

“ General control of the media of commerce, economic co-operation, tax reform, banking reforms, legislation against monopolies, disposal of state lands, legislation in aid of the farmer and labourer, have been issues of one party or another. ”

“ Winter wheat constitutes almost the entire output. The hard varieties rank in the flour market with the finest Minnesota wheat. The wheat belt crosses the state from north to south in its central third. Greater even than wheat in absolute output, though not relatively to the output of other states, is Indian corn. In 1906 the crop was 195,075,000 bushels, and in 1909 it was 154,225,000. The crop is very variable, according to seasons and prospective markets ”

“ The township officers, all elected for two years, are a trustee, a clerk, a treasurer, two or more justices of the peace, two constables and one road overseer for each road district. Cities are governed under a general law, but by this law they are divided into three classes according to size, and the government is different for each class. ”

“ It was more seriously threatened in 1890 by the “Original Package Decision,” of the United States Supreme Court, the decision, namely, that the state law could not apply to liquor introduced into Kansas from another state and sold from the original package, such inter-state commerce being within the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress. That body thereupon gave Kansas the power needed, and its action was upheld by the Federal Supreme Court. The enforcement of the law has varied, however, enormously according to the locality. ”

“ The lowest point in the state in its south-east part, in Montgomery county, is 725 ft. above sea level. The average elevation of the east boundary is about 850 ft., while contour lines of 3500–3900 ft. run near the west border. Somewhat more than half the total area is below 2000 ft. The gently rolling prairie surface is diversified by an endless succession of broad plains, isolated hills and ridges, and moderate valleys. In places there are terraced uplands, and in others the undulating plain is cut by erosion into low escarpments. The bluffs on the Missouri are in places 200 ft. ”

“ This beautiful stone, resembling white, grey and cream-coloured marble, is exceedingly useful for building purposes. It crops out in the bluffs in endless quantities, and is easily worked. The stone resources of the state are largely, but by no means exclusively, confined to the central part. ”

“ Buffalo and bunch, and other short native prairie grasses, very nutritious ranging food but unavailable as hay, once covered the plains and pastured immense herds of buffalo and other animals, but with increasing settlement they have given way generally to exotic bladed species, valuable alike for pasture and for hay, except in the western regions. ”

“ A married woman has the same rights to her property after marriage as before marriage, except that she is not permitted to bequeath away from her husband more than one-half of it without his written consent, and no will made by the husband can affect the right of the wife, if she survive him, to one-half of the property of which he died seized. ”

“ In 1900 a quarter of the wheat crop was handled by the mills of the state. Lesser manufacturing interests are railway shop construction (value in 1905, $11,521,144) ; zinc smelting and refining (value in 1905, $10,999,468) ; the manufacture of cheese, butter and condensed milk (value in 1905, $3,946,349) ; and of foundry and machine shop products (value in 1905, $3,756,825) .
Communications.—Kansas is excellently provided with railways, with an aggregate length in January 1909 of 8914.77 m. ”

“ From 1876 to 1897 the total value of the output of the Galena field was between $25,000,000 and $26,000,000; but at present Kansas is far more important as a smelter than as a miner of zinc and lead, and in 1906 58% of all spelter produced in the United States came from smelters in Kansas. In 1908 the mines’ output was 2293 tons of lead valued at $192,612 and 8628 tons of zinc valued at $811,032. Pottery, fire, ochre and brick clays are abundant, the first two mainly in the eastern part of the state. Coffeyville has large vitrified brick interests. ”

“ The smaller fruits also, with scarce an exception, flourish finely. The fruit product of Kansas ($2,431,773 in 1899) is not, however, as yet particularly notable when compared with that of various other states.
According to the estimates of the state department of agriculture, of the total value of all agricultural products in the twenty years 1885–1904 ($3,078,999,855) , Indian corn and wheat together represented more than two-fifths (821.3 and 518.1 million dollars respectively) , and livestock products nearly one-third (1024.9 millions) . ”

“ The white and cream-coloured chalks are much used for building purposes, but the blue is usually too soft for exposure to the weather. The quicklime as quarried from the bluffs slakes perfectly, and with sand makes a fairly good mortar, without calcination or other previous preparation. The lignite found near the Colorado line makes a valuable domestic fuel. ”

“ These soils are all easily cultivated, free from stones, and exceedingly productive. There are exceptional spots on the upland prairies composed of stiff clay, not as easily cultivated, but very productive when properly managed and enriched. ”

“ An efficient compulsory education law was passed in 1903. Kansas ranks very high among the states in its small percentage of illiteracy (inability to write) —in 1900 only 2.9% of persons at least ten years of age ”

“ The internal rivers of the state are not utilized for commercial purposes.
Population.—In population Kansas ranked in 1900 and 1910 (1,690,949) twenty-second in the Union. The decennial increases of population from 1860 to 1900 were 239.9, 173.4, 43.3 and 3.0%, the population in 1900 being 1,470,495, or 18 to the sq. ”