Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-02-18

The need Of good facilities-what social
10y and business life the quick coacn is
treighted with. and how saddeniny
and destructive of business Is
the laggard mail. was present
when the first feet horse of the pony ex.
press started-that splendid achievement
py Zen: Holllday-the most characteristic
OF all the American enterprises of this
century. | was present when the courser
dung the dust of the Missouri from his
feet and sped away to the desert amid the
Iodspeeds and acclaims Of all Kansas; and
remember, too, how his reception on the
Pacific coast thrilled the continent. A
grander and more loving welcome was
given to horse and rider, begrimmed with
soil and sweat, than was ever accorded
there to hero or statesman; for the hearts
of our brethren on that far coast leaped
with Joy to know that they were
brought within fortnight mail commun-
lcatien with their kindred in the east.
That spiders thread swung across the des-
ert has drawn after it railroad and tel.
egraph, city and state, vast fields of wheat
and herds of cattle, and the pulses of this
great artery of commerce now throb
throughout our continent"
In the time allotted me, cannot do JUS
tlce to ex-Judge Samuel A. Kingman, one
of the fathers and founders of the state,
and for fourteen years upon the supreme
court as chief justice and associate justice.
he was an active member of the
Wyandotte constitutional convention
and was chairman of the committee On
judiciary. In that convention, he was
eloquent in debate, as we'll as wise; or,
rather, he was eloquent by his wisdom.
His name Is entitled in Kansas to enviable
Immortality for his support of the home
stead provision Incorporated in the state
constitution. If not the author of the
provision, he was its most able defender
and successful advocate. Against an at
tempt to limit the value of the home
stead to 1900, hi said: "A true home.
stead law has always laid very near my
heart: A home is home-good OF bad,
valuable or valueless. 1t is simply the
home. the hearthstone, the freside, around
which a man may gather his family,
with the certainty OF assurance that
neither the hand of the law, nor any,
nor all of the uncertainties of life, can eject
them from the possession of it. To limit
the value, is to say to the owner, SO long
DIS your land remains unimproved. so long
as 1t shall remain poor and sterile, it is
yours, but the moment you put your labor
upon it, the moment you improve and
adornit and make it habitable and beauUi.
tul, 1t shall be taken away from you for the
payment of your debts. This limitation
tells him that his labor shall
oe in vain; tells him to keep away
the hand of improvement, TO,
If you advance its value beyond the limit
proposed. your homestead and your reli.
ance for the support of your family is for.
ever gone" Upon another occasion, he
said IN the convention: at is within the
recollection of many when it was the set.
tied policy of many states that the lane
should not be subject to sale for the pay,
ment of debts, but the commercial inter. !
ests of the country, by their power an6
skill, produced change which has sub. |
jected the farms and homes of the people
10 be sold under execution, and so nearly
converted our people into a class of No.
nads. want, if possible. to restore the old |
policy, to change back again-so that every
man or woman, if he plants tree, or she |
cultivates a rose-that both may beautify
and adorn their homes as they may choose,
and have the benefit of the protection Of |
the law"
The homestead provision was very |
strongly and bitterly contested in that con.
Yention. 1t was adopted by vote of 2s |
to q. Two separate protests were filed |
after its adoption; one of these was signed
by a member of the convention from At |
Gibson county, who is now the senior SEN
ator in congress from Kansas, upon the |
ground that ''he believed its provisions |
unjust. invidious and open to fraudulent
construction" l suppose to-day, all will
concede the wise, liberal and enlight-
ened public policy which dictated
the incorporation Of the homestead ex-
emption in our constitution. This pro-
vision to protect citizens of the state and
their families from the miseries and dam
gers of restitution, supplemented as it |
mas been by the homestead law of con-
gress, is, in my mind, one of the great |
causes for the rapid settlement and devel- |
opment of our state. 1t has greatly as
sisted to swell our population. in a quar-
ter of a century. from one hundred thou
sand to over million and a quarter. 1t |
has aided to give US more |
than hundred thousand fruitful farms;
it has tended to increase cities, towns,
and villages. vieing with each other in |
prosperity. From this, as much as any
thing else. now
"Cities grow where stunted birches
Rugged the shallow water-line,
And the deepening rivers twlne
Past the factory and mine,
Orchard slopes and schools and churches"
Chief Justice Kingman's judicial opin-
ions are models of clearness and concise
ness; a natural sense of justice permeates
them All. UJpon the bench. as we'll as off. |