THE AGRICULTURAL TRIBUNE
VoL. 6…No. 9 for the Finest farmers
FARMER BURNS DOWN CHICAGO  the past few days and the people of the
city will gladly accept any more supplies
from those generous enough to donate. By
current estimation, the property damage
done to the city reaches up to two hundred
and twenty two million dollars.
Throughout the last few months, many
first-hand accounts of the fire have been
By: Finnegan Bivens
told, some believable, many ludicrous..
As many know, tragedy struck several
One man, who narrowly escaped his
months ago in Chicago. A blazing inferno
burning hotel, details the burning of the
claimed the lives of three-hundred people,
city. According to this eye-witness
destroyed almost three and a half miles of
account, the city was consumed by chaos.
the city, and left the homes of nearly one
In this re-telling of the tragedy, massive
thousand people destroyed. A stream of
prices are being paid for transportation.
donations has been coming to Chicago for
and vehicles of all kinds are described as
10 cents
constantly going over the bridge,. Many
of these vehicles, are filled to the brim
with supplies and personal property. One
of these vehicles, a store truck, is
described as having “desks, chairs,
cushions, and office furniture to a height
of six or eight feet” (Harper’s Weekly,
Chapin).
The rain received by the city could be
seen as a miracle, since the fire was
extinguished and many people were
saved. Were it not for the rain, there
might not be anything left of Chicago to
repair. The rain did salvage much of the
city however, and after several months the
city of Chicago has begun what many are
calling “The Great Rebuilding.” New
laws mandate it that new buildings can
only be constructed out of limestone,
brick, stone, or marble, and not wood.
This so that we can ensure safer and more
resilient structures in the future.
The Great Chicago Fire was a tragedy no
doubt, but these new laws paint a brighter
future for the city and for architecture.
All this death, all this tragedy, all this
suffering, all this rebuilding ...caused by a
farmer. The fire was birthed inside of a
barn owned by the O’Leary family. There
are many rumors about what created the While there is no definitive answer as to
fire. One theory suggests that the fire was who started the fire, both speculation and
simply caused by other fires in the area. evidence points to the O’Learys being
Other theories, however, suggest that the behind it. Many people believe that it
fire spawned from activity in the barn. would be prudent to question the family.
Many believe that people were gambling Even if they are not responsible for this
inside the barn and that a lantern was tragedy, it is necessary to investigate who
knocked down. While many would call is responsible for the fire..
this idea far-fetched, there is ample
evidence to support the idea that gambling
started the inferno. James Patrick
golden speech 
O’Leary, the son of Patrick O’Leary and
Catherine Donegan. Due to his familiarity wins nomination 
with gambling, it is more than likely that
By Xavier Eiff-Waters
James O’Leary could have arranged a
On July 9th, 1896, William Jennings
night of gambling with his friends. During
Byran spoke at the Democratic
the gambling it is possible that during the
convention. His speech was called “Cross
excitement one of his friends, or O’Leary
of Gold” which many believe will go
himself, knocked over a lantern and began
down as one of the best political speeches
the inferno which cost the lives of three
of all time.
hundred people.
 After his speech, Byran was selected to
be the Democratic Party and the Populist
Party’s presidential candidate. The speech
talked about the gold standard, which for
the past twenty years has caused a large
divide between democrats and
republicans.
Both the Democratic party and the
Populist Party both support the gold and
silver standard, which is why he was able
to easily win the nomination for both.
Byran preached that without making
silver a legal tender, the national economy
will crumble. He stated that if the
government reintroduces silver as legal
tender at a ratio of 16:1 to gold, many
poor or in debt farmers, will have money
again.
Byran ended the speech with a
powerful line: “You shall not crucify
mankind upon a cross of gold.”
He claimed that the big banks are
destroying small and large farms by
stopping inflation. His reasoning is that
bankers will do anything to hold onto
their limited supply of gold, and are
willing to cut off international trade of
gold to do so. It also limited economic
growth for everyone, which made it hard
for farms to expand or earn back the debt
they were in.
Unlike the previous president Grover
Cleveland, who supported the gold
standard, Byran is the complete opposite.
Many Democrats have been against the
gold standard for some time now, and
when Grover Cleveland still supported
after the panic a couple of years ago, it
made many democrats hate him even
more.
He stood at the podium for a brief
moment before slowly returning to his
seat. As he descended the stairs, the
crowd sat in silence. According to Byran,
he thought that his speech had been
poorly received. However, when he sat
down the crowd explored. Politicians
throw their hats, and the crowd cheered
loudly.
From the reaction alone it was pretty
clear that Byran had been the most
successful speaker at the convention and
was likely to win. Quickly he was decided
as the nominee for the democrats.
 Bryan was born and raised in Illinois. He Only 15 cents! Buy 
moved to Nebraska in 1887 and was Farmers have found a new way to close
now from your local  and conserve cattle, which have proven to
elected to the House of Representatives.
druggist.   be more effective and inexpensive than
Two years later he got reelected. He then
  regular fences. These barbed wire fences
attempted a run for the U.S Senate but
Prepared by the 
were manifested by Joseph B. Glidden,
lost.
LLOYD MANUFACTURING  Jacob Haish, and Isaac L. Ellwood who
COMPANY
Even though he is a strong candidate for
the Democratic Party and the Populist all wanted more durable fencing for

Party, who knows if he will beat William ranches. Haish created an S barb design,

McKinley, the gold supporting candidate

for president.
Barbed Wire:  patenting it in 1873 while Glidden and
Ellwood worked together to make their

Improvements  wire, “The Winner”. Glidden and

COCAINE 
Ellwoods design, patented in November

in Fencing 
1874, are proven to be more effective in
poking cattle slightly, and therefore

TOOTHACHE  By: Gabriela Kolbe containing them.

Initially, Barbed wire itself wasn’t really

DROPS 
invented by Glidden or Ellwood, but
instead by Michael Kelly who issued its
first patent in November 1868. Glidden’s
barbed wire fence made it more popular,
especially since he had invented a
machine that mass-produced it using their
establishment “Barb Fence Company”.
This makes it more accessible and useful
to those who can afford it, which is an
increasing amount of farmers because
barbed wire fences are less expensive than
buying materials to make wood fences,
especially in flatter prairies where trees
are more scarce. They’re sturdier and
effective in keeping cattle in so they’re
WOOL COATS 
less likely to be torn down as well.
As barbed wire fences revolutionize the
cattle business, it also causes the
extinction of the open range. There are
now limits more physical and restraining
setting boundaries for free roamers and
ranchers who are increasingly finding it
more difficult to move their herds across
the continent. Whether or not this is this
necessarily bad depends on who you ask.
A cowboy roaming the west may find
himself retiring soon, or a migrant Indian
is now constrained by new boundaries set
by wealthy farmers. Open land that is left
tends to be over-grazed, and this can only
be blamed on barbed wire, or what some
Don’t settle for less.  
Keep warm, stay warm with 
are beginning to call “devil’s rope”. The
Kern’s coats.  
use of these types of fences have
CHARLES M. KERNS 
increased making free range decrease.
 Dynamite 
agricultural practices and acknowledging
concerns regarding the dangers of the
substance. The hazards in using dynamite
are very limited to the potential danger of
Increases  cow consumption of such materials and
not much else. The dynamite is
purposefully crafted for the use of farms
Farm Value  and with the appropriate precautions is
completely harmless, while managing to
increase farm value up to double its prior
Explosives Used as Latest  expense. It is both simple to use and
cheap to enforce.
Agricultural Method  The guided explosion enhances the soil
By: Dina Howell tilth and expands the accessible land
American farmers have at last allowing for cultivation. Much of the land
introduced the most recent innovation to found in southern states can be almost
farming: dynamite. The threat of peril did doubled in using dynamite. Marsh land,
little to discourage the unabashed and once fallow, can now be drained and
now progress rewards us. Across the repurposed as new. An estimated 500,000
country demonstrations are being held farmers are using dynamite this year. For
incorporating dynamite into routine those who care not to operate the
explosives, but wish to dynamite their
fields, professional blasters skilled in the
craft can be employed.
Due to the combined efforts of the
government and railroad companies
undertaking the task of draining massive
areas of swamp, demand for dynamite
among farmers to drain their own areas
has heightened. These marshes are simply
pools of sitting water in which there is no
place to flow prompting the breeding
grounds for disease and proving no
purpose for harvesting. Dynamite
provides the necessary solution in which
these conditions may be resolved. It is for
the benefit of farmers everywhere to
consider implementing dynamite into
their practices. Additional explanation can
be found fully illustrated in Farming with
Dynamite Booklet No. 137, free upon
request.