What, then, has been the history of Kansas under Republican rule? Its
growth is without parallel in the history of American States. In 1860
Kansas had a population of only 107,206, and ranked as the thirty-third
State of the Union. To-day our population is fully 1,500,000, and Kansas
ranks as the fourteenth State. During the past quarter of a century
Kansas has passed ahead of all the Northern States except eight, and all
of the Southern States except five. All of the other great States of the
Union were from fifty to a hundred years in attaining the population
Kansas has reached in thirty years. In 1860 we had only three towns with
a population exceeding 1,000; we have now over one hundred each having a
population in excess of 1,000; twelve having each over 5,000, and four
with over 15,000 inhabitants.
Twenty-five years ago we produced only 6,000,000 bushels of corn and
194,000 bushels of wheat per annum; last year we produced 194,000,000
bushels of corn and 11,000,000 bushels of wheat. In 1860 the farm crops
of Kansas were valued at less than $150,000; last year their value
exceeded $92,000,000. In 1860 the farm products of Kansas, including
crops, products of live stock, etc., were valued at less than
$5,000,000; in 1885 their value was nearly $144,000,000. In 1860 less
than 150,000 acres were under cultivation; last year the area was nearly
15,000,000 acres. In 1860 only 1,778,400 acres were taxable; in 1885
over 27,710,000 acres. In 1860 the live stock of Kansas was valued at
less than $3,000,000; in 1885 the valuation reached nearly $118,000,000.
The value of the farm products of Kansas for the year 1885 aggregated
near three-fourths of the value of the gold and silver products of the
whole civilized world, and were more than double the value of the
products of all the gold and silver mines in the United States. In 1860
the assessed valuation of all the property of Kansas, real and personal,
was less than $23,000,000; for 1885 it was nearly $249,000,000. The
railroads of Kansas are assessed, for the year 1886, at $32,434,936, or
more than double the valuation of all the real estate in 1860. We had
not a mile of railway within our borders in 1864—we now have 5,117
miles. Every county in the State, except twenty, is now traversed by one
or more railroads, and within the present year fully 500 miles of new
road will be added to the lines we already have.
In educational privileges, what State can equal Kansas? Our State
University, Agricultural College and Normal School are institutions of
which every intelligent Kansan is justly proud, and our common-school
system, supplemented by dozens of denominational or private academies
and colleges, is wonderful in the scope and extent of the educational
facilities provided. We had only 154 school houses and employed only 189
teachers in 1860; we now have more than 7,000 school houses, in which
fully 9,000 teachers are employed to instruct 350,000 scholars. In 1861
the amount expended for the support of common schools was only $1,700;
the expenditures in 1885, for the same purpose, aggregated $2,977,763.
During the past quarter of a century Kansas has expended, for school
buildings and the support of public schools, including our institutions
for higher education, fully $35,000,000.
Churches have multiplied with proportionate rapidity. In 1860 we had
only ninety-seven church buildings, costing an aggregate of only
$143,950; in 1885 we have over 3,000, valued at more than $3,000,000.
In 1860 only twenty-seven newspapers were published in Kansas; we now
have over 650, of which fully forty are dailies, and their aggregate
circulation exceeds 400,000 copies. Every county in the State, organized
or unorganized, now has one or more newspapers, and no other State in
the Union can boast of a more enterprising and intelligently-conducted
press than that of Kansas.
The provisions made for the unfortunate have been most generous. Two
asylums for the insane have been erected; and the institutions for the
blind and for the deaf and dumb are among the largest and best in the
United States. An asylum for feeble-minded children has been provided.
The Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home, a noble charity, illustrating the grateful
loyalty of our people, will soon be completed. A Reform School for
wayward boys is in successful operation; and the State, following the
example of the most advanced commonwealths, is now erecting an
industrial reformatory for the confinement of law-breakers who are not
hardened criminals, thus removing this class, who may possibly be
reclaimed by wholesome discipline, from the degradation of the
penitentiary.