Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-12-30
THE LEGISLATURES.

The meeting of the legislature brings
the biennial reformer into prominence,
and for every ache. pain and i'll to which
statehood is subject the reformer. the
demagogue and the man with an lake to
to grind" finds remedy in the legisla-
ture.
| If the state is blessed with prosperity
great schemes are brought out for air.
ing; if depression has passed over the
state as cold wave, then the ameliora-
ton of every misery is sought in an act
of the legislature, as the Christian
prays to the Supreme Ruler for
aid, comfort, consolation; as the Hindoo
prays to crocodile, as the Indian goes
to the Great Spirit, as the Chinese kneel
before big gods, little gods, old gods,
| young gods, stone and wooden gods, the
ripe civilization Of the secular world
turns to its legislative god for relief from
the accumulated ills that have grown as
barnacles on the state since the last
meeting of the lawmakers.
Strange as it may appear the men who
were proclaimed so fit for making laws
before election are besieged by legislative
'.hod carriers" who bring brick to
be put in the wall as
if the legislature had no capacity for
doing that which it was elected to do.
itous advice, fill every newspaper and the
overwhelmed with the avalanche of the
.so1 rs 1rf f0r
ton, but for use in the edlfice to be erect
ed by our Solons.
One question now up is the voting Of
bonds for purely private purposes, i. 9.
sugar mills and other manufacturing en-
terprises. This is not only illegal,
but has been so adjudged by
outgrowth Of the financial depression all
over the state, from the general hardup-
ness caused by short crops. Two years
ago no one would have Thought of bond
ing community to aid in the establish
ment of private business projects.
Money was easy and men raised funds
quickly, but the crimp has produced the
bond schemes as an expedient and
should be set down on.
One thought seems to have escaped
the bond fiend, and that is that no in
dustry will pay until money is easier; i.
g., until we raise a crop and market
it, and when that time comes
we won't need bonds, and every industry
worthy of establishment will be estab-
lished by private capital.
Stay and redemption laws are being
urged, j. e., that our inability as state,
in an individual capacity to meet debts,
instead of being published by our enc
mics is to be published in a permanent
form and made part Of the state laws.
This is the refuge of cowardly debtors.
Heretofore we have delayed, hindered
and defrauded our creditors by convey
ing property to our wives, relatives and
unknown Peter Funks, but it seems
we have grown bolder and now demand
that the legislature become partners in
the general scheme of delaying creditors.
Not content with failing to pay debt
when due and thereby compelling the
creditor to pay attorney fees to obtain
his own, we seek to delay him by law.
To pass such laws for future debts is
one thing; to pass them for existing
depts is another; in the first case it may
be craftsmanship; in the latter cBse it is
the fraud of individuals on their cred
itors, legalized by the legislature under
the pressure of diseased public opinion,
formulated by debtors and made
popular by general depression.
Interest laws are good. When Kansas
goes to lending money, this may be wise;
until it does it will be folly. Debtors
have never yet been able to dictate terms
to creditors, and when that time arrives
the creditor still has power to keep mis-
money. Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska
want money; lenders may..choose.
To NEEDLE with existing laws on in
terest, collection of debts, or any of the
machinery connected with it is to
brighten capital from Kansas, and until
we commence earning dividends for in
yestment we should legislate for capital,
not against it.
We are suffering from a depression
that has affected every business interest
in the west, and the remedy is ''crop."
There is no remedy in legislation that
can put debtor on his feet. Law can
not make debtor solvent. Delay is not
solvency, and delay that delays cred
itors until good times simply means that
all the real estate in Kansas shall be put
on an "insolvent basis" and that no real
estate shall be sold until the debtor class
are made whole. When all real estate
belonging to solvent men is brought
in competition with the debtor class
of real estate, the non-debtor is COM
PEELED to sell at discount or hold on. In
other words the debtor drags the value
of land down to his level, or compels the
man out of debt to raise the debtors
land to the higher plane. The calamity
of being hard up is visited on our entire
people because over sanguine people over
loaded themselves. This is unfair, I'M
lust, if not cowardly.
To indulge in retrospect may not be
out of the way. From 1885 to
1887 all the west, all Kan
sas, doomed" From Kansas City
to Garden City. from Concordia to Cald-
well.
The millions invested in railroads at |
test the boom. The additions. and sub |
divisions in old towns and new ones are |
monuments erected TO attest the boom. |
Such an era of unexampled prosperity |
had never been before. Lands were /
bought on the "installment plan" on /
the Same principle that sewing women
bought sewing machines. The install |
ments matured and the creditor wants |
bis money or the sewing machine.
The eastern dealers in pianoseand car
riages and buggiAs proclaim that Kansas
went insane on "moosic' and vehicles. |
Diamonds shown on shirt fronts and on /
bosoms that never before had worn gold |