The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1882-11-16
THE RAILROADS.

Inc ralirOaus OF Kansas, unless LDey i
are awfnlly lied about, have been taking |
quite an interest In Kansas politics. and |
If there is no mistake in the "signs of
the tines they will have some fun at
the approaching session of the iegisla-
ture. The political uphcavAl means, to
a great extent, that the people are after
the ungodlY railroad companies. The
voter is power in this country, and
when he puts his little. ticket in the bal
lot-box he means business. The rail-
roads have had big frolic for some
years. The people see that q few rich
men aud combinations of men are rap
idly sweeping on to the control of the
traffic of this whole country. This is
against the interests Of the people, and
the voters have concluded to put
stop to Il. Vanderbilt says,
damn the public" and the
public are going to get alter Mr.. Van
derbilt and Mr.. Gould and their tools
throughout the country. We expect
Mr.. Vanderbilt will get sick Of the
damning business before he is ten years
older. We know the railroads are al
mighty smart, and their ill-gotten
gains give them an awful big sum Of
money 10 use in corrupting officials,
but the recent elections show that they
can and will be restricted to Legitimate
channels of business. The American
people will not be the creatures
of anybody If they know it.
And we guess they have found
out pretty definitely what the
railroads are aiming at. There was
more anti railroad in the defeat of St
John than is dreamed of by the railroad
bosses. Ifthe Republican party in Kan
sas does not do something to check the
encroachments of the railroad influence
1t will hear a worse racket next time
than that which fell upon its ears on the
18th of November. There will bt
some good efforts this winter to legislatC
for the interests of the public. The rail
roads claim that they can control the
state senate. Let the state senate be
ware. If they fall the day Of reckoning
is close at hand.
We have found out good deal abou
the railroad influences during the las
campaign. The railroad bosses worl
their cards very slyly, but they ge
caught occasionally. In addition to The
means heretofore used to control the pc
litical affairs of the state the railroads
7 have started newspapers to help them
There seems to be no doubt but that tn
Topeka Capital was started by GoulG
; and the Santa Fe company. This ha
been openly charged and not successful
ly denied. In their address, recently is
! seud, the anti-St. John Republican clul
] of Topeka, in speaking Of that paper
D say: at is supported by the railroads
G and they lately paid $4,000 to buy
y into the associated press organization.
!. 1t is asserted that of this amount
8 prominent official Of the SAINT
@ Fe company gave his check 70
t three thousand dollars. Empori
a being a prominent railroad point, it ha
b been openly charged that the Republl
/. can, started Of this place some month
ago, is a creature of the same railrOa
companies. The original plan was {
start other papers in the state, but q
: they did not "pan out" as we'll as ez
u pected in the early part OF the season
= the plan was abandoned after the EmpC
e ria paper was started. We know this
b the Associate Press dispatches were prC
cured for the Republican. when it wa
: started, by w. B. Strong, president {
! the Santa Fe. Other prominent raj
/ readers have interested themselves in il
e behalf, going east in its interests, an
William Henry Smith, agent of th
: Western Associated Press at Chicag'
u told q prominent newspaper man
Kansas that the railroad companIe
| we're interested in the Republ
: can. The Republican at fri
ignored the Missouri and Kansas pres
association, and its publisher expresse
great contempt for this organization
saying he had better thing, but it ws
finally agreed by the railroad and tell
: graph influence behind the concern thi
it would be better to take it into the a
\ ISOLATION, and 5000 were paid for IL
R privilege, which we have no doubt can
r from the Golfers of Il
4 railroads. Now, the poop
y have no objections to the ext
tence of these papers as legitima
v enterprises, but they do object to Il
establishment of organs to control pu'
lie sentiment, which pretend to be Il
y peoples friends when they are owne
p and controlled by the railroads which q
l. continually trying 10 subvert the RICH
ID and interests of the public. Let GOO
Of strong law be passed TO remedy railroi
l. abuses, and then these corporations wi
o. have no interest in maintaining expe
G. sive and luxuriant newspapers, the o
G. ject of which is TO cripple or kill o
r. legitimate newspapers and dragon u
a people into submission to railroad dor
a ination.