The Wichita city eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1872-1883, 1873-05-29
THE EDITORIAL CONVENTION.

clubs. and by her citizens en- mdsse
gave the fraternity a most abundant
welconc-so hearty, full. liberal and
cheerful withal, as few places or PEG
pie are capable of. The citizens of nc
town or city in the state rival the mcr
ard women of Atchison in genuine
disinterestcd hospitality. We never
went there in our lives that Col. John
A. Martin. Col. Tom Murphy, Col
Abel, DIR. ChaIlis. John NJ. CrOweil OF
some other acquaintance did not urge
us to leave the hotel and go to their
homes for dinner, tea, or an evening
Our readers then may imagine some
thing of the overflow of kindness that
was evinccd by her whole people in
welcoming in body the knights OF
the quill of the entire state. Every
thing was free. from the running OF
the city hotels and livery stables to the
kissing of your own dear wife, or the
choice sweet ones of the AtclIison fell
lows. We have often wondered why
the men and women of this central
point in the arc of the Grand DetOur,'
where Regis Loiscl, in 1893, first
moored his battcaux and lighted his
campfire beneath the chincapin oak
which shaded the future site of block
avail tho anI
men of other cities of the same pre-
tensions in other portions of the
state, and We still wonder. Let To-
peka still grasp for the hard-earn.
ed postal currency Of INDECENT leg.
islators, Lawrence figure yet fol
the Wakarusa bottom corn crop, a.
she boasts her pure, bluc-bclly blood
and Lcavenworth dream on and ever
as she signs for the days of her metro
politan grandeur, when Anthony was
a nabob and Carney prince, but give
us straight-out. enterprising, liberal
Atchison. the railroad centre of Kan
sas. Made up. as her population is,
partly of the old hospiIable southern
er. the shrewd, clever Yankee, and the
free western man, which elements all
seem to have, in the course of years,
settled down and made Atkinson
what she is, socially, religiously and
financially, the pride Of the state. We
are proud that she is the eastern ter
minus of the Wichita railroad.
The convention convened at 2 O'Clock
and was welcomed by speech from
Hon. John j. Ingalls,, which was apt
and eloquent. The afternoon was ia
ken up with the ordinary routine OF
business of the association. In the
evening the convention was addressed
BY /. S. Kalloch. his theme being the
power and moral responsibility of the
press. The effort, like all of his eff.
forts, was fine in conception and grand
in delivery. The poem, which was
read by the editor of the Kansas Nag.
azine, Capt. J. W. Steel, we will pub.
fish next week.
The next day our party were ten
dcred free ride to Lincoln, the CAPT
tai of Nebraska, and we went. That
part of the programme was a failure,
and the president of the society either
made mistake in taking us there al
all or failed to have the proper under
standing with the authorities of that
city. There was considerable trouble
and feeling after our arrival there, but
all went smooth in the end, as far as
the party were concerned, but we i'm.
aginc that they are having fun up there
yet.
We have not space to speak Of the
details and incidents, or the business
transacted by the convention, in this
issue, but will close with Senator In
gals address of welcome, which
reads:
Mr. Precedent and gentlemen Of tie Esnsas -fsso
citation Of Editors and PuJiish@rs:
At the special instance and request
of my friend Mr.. Blair, the worthy
mayor of our CITY, who is man OF
deeds and not Of words, and who is the
only member of the great Blair family
of whom | ever heard or read or knew
who was not ready and willing Ia
make speech upon any subject. al
any time or in any place. | am charged
with the very agreeable and pleasing
duty of extending to YOU in his behalf
and in behalf of the common council OF
the corporation. and in behalf of all tn,
citizens thereof, warm and cordia
welcome to the hearths and homes o
Atchison.
To me, sir. the task is doubly pleas
ant, for am neither stranger nor a,
alien to YOUR honorable profession
Though the chief labors of my life have
been cxertcd in another direction, | an
, not unfamiliar with the use of the scis
sors, the paste pot and the quill. and
| think NV friend StOtler will bear wit
ness that am entitled by courtesy a
least to be considered brevet privat,
in the ranks Of the great army of The
press.
Gentlemen. YOU are nearly the SUI
| preme arbitrators of the worlds DIES
tiny, and of the fate Of mankind. Io,
make aud unmake rulers. You con
troll the fortunes of war and the indus
tries of peace. You reign over the EN-
pirc of the land and the empire of thu
sea. You build aud populate citic
and states and nations. Iou are th,
monarchs of the realm ofmind, and tn
freer is political sway, the more abso
lutte is Your sovereignty. Your voic,
is the voice of the people. and the voic'
of the people is the voice ofGod.
Ifthere be anything great and anoma
lous in the material development o
Kansas to-day: ANYTHING grandly pro
phetic in the future of this glorious
state which we love above all othe
things. il is due to the fact that W,
have a press more fearless and indie
pendent, more original, entcrprisin!
and intelligent. than any other tn
world has known before.
The citizens of Atchi>on. sir. are no
unmindful of these facts; they are no
unaware that YOU are the great educa
tors of mankind: that what you st,
here will be seen tomorrow by thou
sands in the land, through the snbtl
mediums of your pens and types. |
YOU here receive the impression tina
we have energy that we have reso
lutely and mamfully rrapplcd will