Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1886-09-25

D
Language Which An Can Understand
A Mastery Compilation Of Facts and
/ Figures.
/ Mr.. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:
/ The campaign in Kansas this year is what
| Is called an ''Oh year. contest. The m
tense enthusiasm, the fierce excitement the
| great PROFESSIONS with flags and banners
and music and resOundlng hurrahsf the
marvellous interest, dWarhng and absorbing
| all other concerns and even paralyZ1ugs Tor
months the everyday business pursuit 9
and industries OF the p6Ople-all these VIII
be wanting in the campaign of 1886. And
yet the interests involved IN the election
that viii be held in November next are as
mOmentOus, and the issues depending on its
result are quite as important TO the state as
as were the interests and issues depending
upon the result at the ballOt-bOZ IN 1854.
The one officer who was to be elected then,
and is not to be chosen now was the pr5si-
dent. We are to choose, IN November next,
as We did two years ago q full board of
state officers seven congressman q state
legislature, Judge Of the supreme court,
and nearly half of our county officers. We
are to elect men who Will make our laws,
national and state, as we'll as men who will
execute our state laws. And as good local
government really concerns each individual
citizen far more than do the acts OF the
president, because It touches each and
every citizen more directly, it has always
seemed to me that the people, If they have
proper regard for their own interests,
ought to regard the "OH year" elections
with quite as deep interest, If not more anE-
iOus sOhcitude, than they do the choice of a
president.
DEMOCRACY IN KANSAS.
appear before you as a candidate of a
great party, hOnOred by its confidence and
and proud to bear its standard to ask you
IN It's name for your support. l have been
q citizen of this state for nearly thirty years.
/ came here a boy of Is, when Kansas was
poor, weak, distracted territory, rent and
torn by civil war, invaded by hOrdes of ruff
fans and uarauu6rz, and suffering under all
the evils Of the worst government that ever
harrassed and oppressed a free people. For
more than two years this 1ntOlsrable laWless-
ness had pr6vailed-fOr nearly three years
longer it continued: and the party that con-
fronts us to-day, and is asking your support,
is the same party that, FROM 1854 to 1861,
held Kansas by the throat, and by fraud,
and murder, and arsOn5 and turbulence and
every crime that ever dlsgraced humanity,
endeavOred to fasten upon 1t the curse Of
human slavery.
Beaten in its attempts to enslave Kansas,
the democratic party plunged the whole
country into civil war, and fOrfOur long and
bloody years the nation struggled on to uni
versal freedom and national unity, and this
young state, that had been fighting for i've
years TO get into the union, now had TO night
for four years more to preserve the union.
gether in this long and terrible struggle.
When jefferson Davis marched out of the
senate, William II. Seward moved to take
up the Kansas BILL and as the coat tails of
the rebel chief disappeared through one
door, young Kansas, smiling and trlum-
plant, marched in at the other.
REPUBLICAN CONTROL IN KANSAS.
For twenty -four years the republican party
controlled the government Of the republic,
and from that day to this the republican
|He.H
the affairs and estinY of Kansas. Has the
trust repOsed in the republican party by the
people of this state been misplaced or be
trayedt Has it Administered the govern
ment wisely and humanelyg Has it justified,
by its conduct. the reasonable expectations
of an intelligent peOpleI Has 1t enacted
wise law Has it honestly collected and
disbursed the public reVenuest Has it main
tanned peacef Has 1t made liberal pro
visions Tor the education of our youth? Has
il fOstered institutions for the care and
maintenance of the untOrtunatst has it re-
membered that the only liberty that is
valuable is liberty founded on just laws and
connected with public order? Has it allied
humanity with Justice? Has It's rule pro-
NOTED enterprise 1Oster6u agriculture en-
cOuraged industry and nourlshed commerce!
Has it endeavOred to further morality, TO
promote sobEisty, to suppress vice, to
punish crime, to abolish drunkenness,
and to curb and scOurge lawlessnessI
Has it, in brief, IN the dis
this state a great, prosperous, intelligent,
laW-respectng commonwealth, IN which
every citizen enjoys the largest possible lib
6rty consistent with social order and a due
regard for the rights of his fellow men? If
these questions can be answered in the
the republican party has a Just
right to expect that the people of Kansas
viii continue to give it their confidence and
What, then, are the facts? Kansas cele-
brated only a few months ago, the nrst
quarter century of her existence as a state.
During all that PERIOD as have said the
republican party has controlled It's dastln-
les and administered It's government. Inc
accidental break in the gOVernOrshlps four
years ago, does not modify this assertion
for the legislature was, during that period
republican by an overwhelming majority all
the other state officers were republicans,
and the local governments Of the state were,
as a rule, of similar faith. The republicans,
therefore, controlled public affairs Just as
certainly and as firmly during the years
1882 and 1888, as they did before and have
since.
rHE GROWTH OF KANSAS UNDER REPUBLICAN
RULE.
What, then, has been the history of Kan
sas under republican rule? Its growth is
without parallel in the history of American I
states. In 1850 Kansas had population Of
only 1O7, 2O6, and ranked as the thlrty-thIrd
state OF the Union. To-day our population /
is fully 100, 600, and Kansas ranks as the I
fourteenth state. During the past quarter /
Of a century Kansas has passed ahead OF all /
the northern states except eight and of all I
the southern states except hVe. All the !
other great states of the Union we're from |
fifty to a hundred years in attaining the /
population Kansas has reached in thirty /
years. In 1860 We had only three towns /
with population exceeding 1000; we have |
now over one hundred, each having a pOpu- ]
atiOn in excess Of /, 900; twelve having. each |
over 5000, and four with over 1900 inhabl- /
ANTS.
Twenty-Five years ago We produced only I
), O00O 900 bushels of corn and lS4, GOO bushels /
IF wheat per annuu; last year we produced /
-9A COO, 600 bushels of corn and 1900, 600 ]
JJshels Of wheat In 1850 the farm crops Of /
Kansas were valued at less than $4,000. In |
rear their value exceeded $50, COO, 600. In /
$50 the farm products Of Kansas /
including crops prOducus OF I'VE /
ltock, etc, were valued at less than S5OlO,-
100; IN 1885 their value was nearly Sl4+s- ]
10000. In 1850 less than 10000 acres were |
lnder cultivation; last year the area was /
nearly 100000 acres. In 1860 only 1,7I6,- /
100 acres were taxable; in 1885, over q, no. /
100 acres. In 1850 the live stock Of Kansas
vas valued at less than $4,000, 600; in 1885 the /
'aluation reached nearly Sis, 100000. The I
.alue of the farm products Of Kansas for I
he year 1880 aggregated nearly three /
0urths Of the value of the gold and silver I
PRODUCTS of the whole civilized world, and /
we're more than double the value of the 4
PRODUCTS of all the gold and silver mines in /
he United States. In 1850 the assessed val
md personal, was less than 500, 600 900; for
$50 it was nearly S249, OOO, 600. The railroads
# Kansas are assessed, for the yesr 1886, at
-, 434 ,836, or more than double the Falua-
ION of all the real estate in 1850. We had 4
lot a mile of railway within our borders in