Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-07-15
WHAT THEY SWEAR TO.
WICHITA AS A CITY WITHOUT A
RIVAL In THE STATE.
Hutchinson Cuts Ridiculous Fig.
ure and by Affidavits Over
throws Her PretenSi0ns.

| Sunday morning last, in the course OF
an article in which the superior advan
tages OF Wichita were set forth, and her
| unquestioned supremacy as the largest
and wealthiest city in Kansas was dwelt
upon at some length, we incidentally drew
parallel, or comparison, between other
cities and Wichita in the matters Of trade
! and wealth. The cities were not named,
but were alluded to as supposed rivals.
| Reference was had to such cities as claim
a population and taxable valuation some
where nearly allied to those of Wichita.
So far as we can now remember, no thought
was had of any of the tributary towns Of
our Immediate vicinity, or OF this valley.
But it appears that Hutchinson imagined
that our shoe pinched them. In any event,
the News Of that town flies all TO pieces
in an assumption that Hutchinson was
meant. After quoting a number Of para
graphs from the EAGLE that paper, in
regular frenzy OF startling ''ohs, mos"
and other wild exclamations, proceeds to
announce that Hutchinson don't give
herself blind, nor like Wichita drain her
banks dry
While we have no quarrel with our
bright little enterprising neighbor-whose
! brightness and enterprise might have
| proved more effectual, by the way, had
| her newspapers and boomers copied
( less after the EAGLE and after Wichita,
and depended less on initiative spirit. This
allusion TO money and banks and business
was an unfortunate one for Hutchinson,
so far as a disinterested public is concern
ed, as we will reluctantly proceed TO show
| before we get through with this article.
There IS no business man who reads the
! bank clearing house reports OF the COM
mercial and manufacturing cities Of the
/ United States, in short, there IS no well
we'll informed man in Kansas who
does not know that Wichita
| has every week for at least six or eight
years done from two to three times the
/ business of any other city in kansas-and
/ Hutchinson is not alluded to in this con-
nection as a city, and for the reason that
/ her business has not been of such proper
/ tons as to entitle her to status or TO any
recognition as a business center by any
/ clearing house, east or west-Dut we allude
/ TO cities like .Atchison, Topeka and Leav
/ enworth, who have had such recognition
/ for years. There is not banker in Kansas
! City or in the state of Kansas-and this
! includes the bankers OF Hutchinson-who
are not perfectly familiar with the
/ fact that IN banking capital. in
amounts of loans and discounts,
and in the amount of cash and cash items
/ of exchange, actually in the vaults of her
banking institutions, Wichita has long led
all the cities of Kansas, in fact coming in
second only to Kansas City and st. Joe.
! There is not state officer, or city assessor,
or any well informed editor in Kansas who
does not know, and has not known. that
! Wichita, in the amount Of her aSSessable
property, as returned, leads by millions of
! dollars every other city in the state-we
mean that thus leads Topeka, Leav-
enworth and Kansas City, Kan
sas, no reference being had to
country towns like Hutchinson. There is
not railroad manager or traffic manager
in the state but what will say, if he will
say anything touching the matter, that
Wichita in the amount of her tonnage and
in the amount of all other receipts, that
for a truth no other city in Kansas can
pretend TO make a showing which viii
even equal one-half of that OF Wichita,
while towns running in population from
five to twelve thousand. which includes
| Hutchinson-such a thing as q comparison
! with Wichita IS not to be thought Of
( But to the point which we started out TO
cover. The Hutchinson News in its anxi-
ETY. to be heard i'll a matter in which it
could have no possible concern, unless it
. really imagines that Hutchinson in some
way or in some how is, or may become, at
some time, a rival of the greatest city in
the state, tells the EAGLE not TO forget
/ that. by inference, Hutchinson has banks
which are not borrowed dry for boom pur-
/ poses. On the same morning that the
! News harmless boast was received, the
EAGLE of that date contained the sworn
/ statements of four of the banks of this city
! This suggested the sworn statements of
/ the Hutchinson banks With little trou-
/ bic we obtained the sworn statement of
the four largest banks of Hutchinson.
| Whether they have any more we don't
/ know. but the four biggest concerns are
enough TO show that undA the oaths OF
their officers she fails to make the same
showing as that made by the cheap-very
cheap-wind of the. News Herewith IS
appended the attested figures and items of
the four leading banks of Hutchinson and
| of the four banks of Wichita which that
morning had chosen the columns of this