The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1882-01-26
Free Passes


The railroads are getting of their annual an
nouneements about the abuses Of the free pass
system. and their determination 10 Abolish H.
exeept in limited number of cases, where some
equivalent favor is rendered. The Atchison, 10
peka and Santa Fe Railroad Company are eSpe-
eiaIIy fussy on this subject. The people OF Nan
sas ought to earnestly pray the Lord that these
railroads may enforce this resolve. The Atchi-
son. Topeka and Santa Fe Road, and close behind
it, the Rvnsas Pacific Road, are two great corpo-
ratiops that have controlled Kansas Governors
and Legislatures, and perverted legislation to
theft own benefit, and the detriment Of the inter
ests of the people of the State. 1t is to he hoped
that they will commence with members OF the
Legislature in cutting OF their passes. Every
member of the Legislature, all through the ses-
sion, is supplied with passes over these roads,
In consideration Of what valuable equivalent are
these passes issued' The ChaitRen and leading
members Of the Committees on Railroads are not
only given passes throughout their terms of cleo
tion but at any time, at their simple request,
can secure passes for their friends over the entire
length of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Re and
the Kansas Pacific Roads Members of these
Committees. In the last year, have secured free
passes for scores and hundreds of persons to the
mountains and back. Can anybody pretend that
this is simply q matter Of eOurtesyi These menl-
hers absolutely control all railroad legislation,
and these passes are a Wholesale bTlbe for actual
valuable services rendered or expected. Besides
this, although the roads, pandering to popular
craze, joined in the prohibition boom, in order to
put themselves good footing with the reign
ing power, they have for years, and still keep,
fnru he'll VIfl he eli li0nOrS
an open bar, where memcers of the Railroad
Committees and their invited friends 60 and
guzzle liquor. The opportunity is well improved,
and more than one member of the Legislature,
entering the halls so drunk that he didn't know
whether the Speakers stand was in front of him
or under his own coat tail, has got the whiskey
to make him drunk, at the private dram-shop of
one of the Railroad Companies. There is yet
fresh in the memory of the public, bright and
genial young man, who was employed by one of
the Railroad Companies to keep the whiskey den
into which members of the Legislature were ell
ticed, who himself fell a victim TO liquor, and
added one more to the long list of deaths unjust
ly laid to the charge of Brights disease of the
kidneys.
The people of Kansas should, after while,
get their craze for railroads satisfied, and begin
to open their eyes to the manner in which their
interests are betrayed by the men they elect to
the Legislature, on condition of free railroad
passes. Railroads escape taxation upon millions
of dollars worth of valuable property; they
charge extnrtionate rates, and impose upon the
public in hundred different ways. They add
millions of dollars TO the burdens of the people,
that they may increase their wealth and power,
nd tbavf fala nf ft,a bnf ba
people send to the Legislature to represent them,
and those Representatives refuse to pass laws to
protect their constituents from railroad extor-
tons
The Railroad Companies can afford to abolish
free passes, except to those who render a valua-
BILE consideration, such members of the Legis-
lature. The people of Kansas ought to be entitled
to the free passes. 1t is pretty time they
woke up, and set TO looking after their own af-
fairs This is is n matter in which they will
have to go clear down to the bottom, and get a
solid foundation TO commence on. Temperance
is not the question that most deeply interests the
people of Kansas. The railroads are always
prepared to pander TO any popular pressure
of the hour, TO obtain advantages by which
they can divert popular attention from their own
impositions. They control the State now, and
in few years will have it manacled without |
hope of release. 1t is time TO make railroad |
issue, and to retire the dealers in free passes |
II temperance must be an issue, make il against |
the dens of the Railroad Companies, where mem-
bers of the Legislature are enticed, and made SO
drunk that they are unfit for duty.
GUITTEAU's HoPE.-The universal belief is
that Guiteau is not only sane, but that he is |
shrevd and bright. 1t has been noticed that all |
through his actions and utteranees, he has pos |
sessed the confident belief that powerful inter
ests will protect him from harm. He breads as
sassination, but seems to have not a particle of |
fear of the law-seems to have assurances that |
high power will he exercised in his behalf. Is
this deusion, or has Guiteau been the instru-
Inent of men high in power, to remove Garfield |
out of their wayi Washington exists on public |
patronage, and the man in power for the time
being is King. In jury of twelve common citi-
zens, what would be easier than to tamper with |
one or more of them, TO prevent convictioni If
convicted, there arc innumerable quibbles of law
by which the execution can be put of, or a new
trial granted. Guiteau's exclamation the mo-
ment he shot the President, and his expressions
ever since; the of political affairs since,
shaped precisely rs if Gniteau had been employed
to pave the way for it-a Thousand circumstances
combine to produce a queer feeling in the public
mind We must visit few days longer for an
answer to the question, will Guiteau be convict
edf If convicted, will he tell the whole secret,
or will he he put ont Of the way before he can
expose the consprators whose instrument he
vast
n- nf vhnsa hnll. ia
opposition to vaccination, and who has been
hammering at it, of and on, for some years, en-
braces the present smallpox boom TO give anoth-
er grind at his hobby. DR.. Troughton may us
well attempt to whistle down a cyclone. The
testimony of the most eminent physicians of the
world, and the experience of millions. will have
more influence than DIR. Troughton's scolding.
The present smallpox epidemic is the result of
too many people practicing DIR. Troughton's
teachings.
~ lady correspondent of an Eastern paper
tells story to the effect that Conkling, several
years ago, received painful injury in the back,
by falling on the steps of the Capitol; that he
has concealed his affliction from the public, but
it often brings him to his bed, and threatens a
fatal result and 70 this cause is due much of his
irritable temper, and his determination to retire
from public life. We guess the matter with
Conkling is, that he got his back broken by the
New York Legislature, early last Summer.
II We learn, from the Central STATE, that it
now has the largest circulation of any paper ever
published in Donphan County. As it puffs every
man that subscribes, it has about forty-six sub
scribers. The highest point ever reached by any