A History of Kansas

by Anna E. Arnold

Stories of floods in Kansas have been handed down from far-off Indian days, but the earliest flood of which there is any account was in 1844. The Indians told the white men about it and advised against building close to the rivers, but no attention was paid to the warning. Since the recent floods, however, a number of people have moved back from the streams. A few of the cities, including Topeka, Lawrence, and Kansas City, have built dikes, bridges have been lengthened to give streams more room, and several railroad grades have been raised above the danger line.

Kansas To-day. While the floods caused much loss and suffering, the State’s resources had become so great that the condition of general prosperity was not seriously affected. Each year has added to the prosperity and progress of the State until now Kansas is one of the great states of the Union. We have only to look about us to see how marvelously conditions have changed since pioneer days. Great fields and orchards are spread over what was once the Indians’ hunting ground, and cattle have taken the place of the roving herds of buffaloes. Tractor plows now turn the soil where once there was only buffalo grass, thriving towns and cities stand where once the tepee stood and shining rails of steel mark the paths of Indian ponies and emigrant trains.

All these things have been done within a single generation. Thousands of the men and women who came into Kansas in their wagons and drove across the unfenced plains are still among us, but now when they journey over the same country they go in swiftly moving trains or automobiles. Where once they saw only the prairie and a few settlers’ cabins they now see roads and bridges, farms and ranches, stores, banks, mills, mines, and factories. They see what they have helped to build, a great state, and they may well be proud of it. By their unconquerable faith and courage and their unremitting toil they have made Kansas what it is to-day.

Government of Kansas. As the pioneers look at their State they may feel a pride not only in the acres that have been brought under cultivation and the wealth that has been produced, but also in a government that is one of the most advanced in the Union. Many measures have been passed to promote the welfare of the people. Among the important ones are: the child-labor law, the truancy law, the anti-cigarette law, the law providing for juvenile courts, laws pertaining to public health, the fire-escape law, the “blue sky” law, the primary-election law, and the law governing public utilities. These are only a few, but among the hundreds of measures that have been passed, affecting the character of our government, none stand out more prominently than the two amendments to our Constitution providing for prohibition and for woman suffrage.

Prohibition in Kansas. Temperance was a live topic in Kansas from the beginning; even in Territorial days laws were passed that tended to regulate, in some degree, the liquor traffic. During the first eighteen years of statehood there was a constant increase in sentiment favorable to prohibition, and, in 1880, during the administration of Governor John P. St. John, the people voted to adopt the following amendment to the Constitution: “The manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors shall be forever prohibited in this State, except for medical, scientific, and mechanical purposes.” The law has been strengthened from time to time, and more attention has been given to its enforcement, until to-day Kansas is one of the strictest prohibition states, and the popular sentiment against the use of liquor is stronger here, perhaps, than anywhere else in the United States. For many years Kansas stood almost alone as a prohibition state, but in recent years the number of prohibition states has increased rapidly, and in 1918 a prohibition amendment to the National Constitution was offered by Congress, and in 1919 it had been ratified by the necessary two-thirds of the states. Kansas was among the number. It is a matter of pride in Kansas that ours was a pioneer state in this great movement.

Woman Suffrage. Kansas has been one of the most liberal of the states in its laws concerning the rights of women, but it is only in recent years that Kansas women have had full political rights. In 1861 women were given the right to vote in district school elections, and in 1887 in city elections. The question of complete woman suffrage was voted upon and defeated in 1867, and again in 1894, but in 1912 it carried by a large majority. Only six states, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Washington, and California, preceded Kansas in granting to women the right of suffrage. A number of other states have followed Kansas, and now (1919) Congress has offered to the states for ratification a woman suffrage amendment to the National Constitution.

Kansas in the World War. The period from the opening of the twentieth century to the beginning of the World War was, on the whole, one of peace and prosperity in Kansas. No great destructive force, such as famine or panic, left the people struggling for existence, nor did anything occur to stir their deeper emotions. Their chief interests were in building up their homes and their businesses and in developing their State. But suddenly, in 1914, like the people of the rest of the United States, they began to give more thought to the affairs of other countries, and when on April 6, 1917, the United States entered the war, the people of Kansas were ready to carry their share of the burdens.

Camp Funston.

The largest inland training camp in the United States. The 89th National Army Division and the 10th Regular Army Division were trained at Camp Funston.