New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-04-01
KANSAS POLITICIANS.


TRE EARLY DAYS OF KANsAs-A BRIEF SKETCH
on THE UNITED STATES SENATORS FROM KANSAS
STORMY SESSION OF THE LEGISLATIVE CON
yESTloN IN JANUARY FOR ELECTlNG ''
,rop-cArsrs WHICH DETERMINED THE FINAL
RA,Ior-A MEMBER GIVES UTrERANOh ~ 'i0
srIEES. ,,
frEoM AN OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT i
To,vKA Kan. Feb. 1A-On Jan. / OF thls
wear there had been Il years OF history i'iauo 'oi
somo OF II has been remarkable history much Vi " 70
80 assod under the head of nOtoricty. 1t ply
mat The real herosm there has Deen IN IL tirt anu %
49,, n,e long since lost its best lesson and It's hneS'
oa,ce nv becoming the wornout catch-word OF cheap
editorials and washy oratOry Innumeraole umos n"'
mai pecuiar relic known the man who was here III
s,tyx lmprossively cleared his throat ana hiteu MS
,od preparatory to the announcement that on these
tsir ulans was begun the strife which ended IN the sur
render of Lee. The man who knew the Lanes "n.
Tomeroys and Roses by sight had only to see any ONO
az tbem rise in an assembly, 10 ejaculate, hrV
Ihou there, old TruepennyF ana uepdr. WIN
n fnl knowledge Of most that they "oulu "''0
70 gay The misfortune u.s. that early Kansas MS
,,r, taking in me DAYS when the new Iet1tory
spo its struceng people found their best ana nost
,,o,+ advocate in the pen OF the great founder OF
T,,r rp,p,Sr is eodon talked by those who knew
n hest Distilled INTO sentence or TWO OF the hnu
mentioned whose original construction does honor
ooubtess 10 the original and impromptn inventor VI
them. IL has been common enough bus tho VI" "o
who once nodded bullets and scraped lint are dying fast
The men who really rode those midnight forays who
asucuishcd az Iecompt0n when there was town OF
mat name who signed constitutions and built DOCK
houses on the banks Of the Kaw. dull upon the SUD
sect and 10th talk. The State with hat m'iiioh
,eople IN IT, shows signs OF the struggle OF the hty'
,1ers row IL was till after the preparatory town
tarnugs and hangngs shat the history vi Kansas
really began Had she then been made slave State,
In ueg1o populaOn would be larger now than IL Is
Not forgetting the general underlying principle OF inc
contest but fair 70 remember that more men nave
dod by the bullet in single railroad town ID Cehua
Kansas after ali political questions had been settled
.bd within the memory of everybody, than perished
altogether the marchngs aud counter-marchngS' con
,ttutou.nakiugs and legsaturedis persDgs OF the MS
Iorie times.
Politics hero constitute the absorbing pursuit. 1t
fses 20 the dignity of industry There are ten tunes
L. many newspapers in Kansas as will be required ten
years hence Men who have saved few thousands
generally purchase daily to 10 Congress with They
90 not generally go there it is true, but into bankruptcy
Iach "city" in Kansas, only large enough to com
t.and IN Massachusetts, New-York the services OF
constable and a board Of trustees has It's uniformed
rorps Of metropolitan police, buecoated' dgnined'
psuay elsewhere, in the wrong place at the hour OF
toufusion. and fairly paid for arresting the rioters
whose depayity leads police judge also paid into
kis desk as often rs IA week. Then there are
mayors boards OF aldermen, fire marshas' engineers
,ireet sOner and all through the land the great
Amy Of county and court officials Are sot these
snoesi But is Of those whose successful aspirations
,.bd them 10 Washington that speak.
LEGISLATIVE HALLS Few YEARS AGO.
It's not 20 long ago that the whole law-making and
MISUNDERSTANDING machinery inclOscd IN a
row of dingy rooms on Kansas Avenue" the senate
hamber scarce large enough 20 furnish breathing
.raco for limited society OF spirtuasts, and Repre-
sentative Hail. that used reached by narrow aud
yafa min ~ IIsl
seGeh side WALL long since given up Olawyers and rats
And scattered in between the Governors office,
-uprome Court room, and all the places where dignity
md trust IepOsed content because State scrip was
worth 70 the dollar and Office was office, regard
jess q surroundings.
IL such q place was the present vOluminous statute
oob Of Kansas mostly compiled. The speeches were as
pathetic ana as sharp aud the speaker in his chair as
tgnfed as al any time They piled four cords OF
wood in one corner, wherewith TO feed red-hot and
greedy the other. Many times have seen the
nnpaintod railing which divided the saw dust area OF
awInaking from the profane territory OF the lobby,
lIod with Interested spectators who sat thereon Ike
,roys upon Virginia fence, only that they expec-
,or.ted brownly and hugely, and had the faculty OF
iusing their feet backward through the uprighs like
grap'iugbooks, and holding their precarlous pre-
-InuiIon against all corners from behind. so You may
70 iuto hat region IN Southwestern Kansas where
10000 have organized themselves into civil
igaton during the past summer. and you will find that
he laws manufactured there require no more pomp in
theexeouton than the making The wooisack is a
oeaILo1, the jury have managed TO find wood enough
somewhere 20 white ndustrOusly upon, while the
LAWYERS peep the judge on that dead level which the
,,onttcrsrnau likes between the Of huge boots,
wbose frchtful soes hedge III His Honor like slab
fence earelessy constructed. where timber is plentiful
In such an assembly. in such a hall or worse. have
mere oneba OF the seven Senators which Kansas
uas had IN ner "A years been manufactured THINK
n,e the phrase, for II there is anything in our
whole system which pure and simple fiction, is the
theory that Senator made by or for the people,
i,me Iumemorial, Senators from Kansas have been
manufactured out Of materials furnished to the Legisla
azure after it, sitting II there is exception IL oe
tarT.d OIL y three days ago.
jim LANE AND POMERoY
Lane came first lhe and that distinguished man who
rutascc nam by some years and whom met hut yes
.,rlay ia the street unctuOus, as ruoicund, as
o,,acuously bland though York had never exposed
B,u CONWAY had never shot him, and visions
nj pou!tentary walls had never been before his eycs)-
Jim Lane they called him always IN his lifetime,
Mister" IA prefix not even attained oy his memory
for The most we drop the odOus nickname OF
,c,orifty ana speak OF him as Lane. l may mention
h,,e tina, # Won chance 10 hear two men Mastering each
bc, anywhere in the Far West you may he sure row
VI D. come of l. some time Ii is the title OF members OF
II. LEGISLATURE only AMI weilsettled Eastern Kansas
~ only beginning recognize the fact that III some IN
.fancos allowable, especially II the persons hdeu'
Al one Of them he strangers Jim Lane liked ms popu
lar Designations Of all the Kansas Senators ne was
,hs onIy one who has able 10 depend upon the
.4op!e HIS OBJECT was 10 be wen Known notorious
n was one Of the catch phrases OF his great popularity
and a secoud was his way of calculating Great God'
In tone az high tragedy. The minor circumstances Of
h., wearing a shaggy coat, periodically uniting win
tbe Methodist Church. and then naivey conieSsng 10
having fallen from grace, and when ana how TO large
Audiences are only further instances demonstrating the
Iau's strongest point, which was acting. his pupii'