Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-04-03
NOTES, FROM THE EXTERIOR OF THE
INTERIOR.

| L
properly in the matter The board of trade
reque sted Colonel Murdoch to go to Wash
ington to swell the throng going there to
boom Oklahoma. He requested that / be
sent along, and away we went i had no
dream of glory, or Office, or controversy.
We arrived at Washington February. On
| the Sth we called upon Senator Plumb at
his committee room in the capitol. He in
vited US to lunch with him, which we did.
| During the meal the movement to get
him into the cabinet was dis
cussed. and also what Kansas
would probably get from the new admin
istration. The senator remarked that the
state could probably get first assistant
secretary of the interior, and turning to
me, said that [ was one of the men he had
been thinking Of for the place, and that
| he wished me to think of it. | thanked
him for the compliment implied, and
! nothing more was said of it. A few days
| later met the senator on the street and
we went to the capitol together. The sub
ject was again brought up and he said five
gentlemen were under consideration by
the delegation for the place, and probably
one of them would be selected to present
|
| Chandler Judge Johnston, OF the supreme
court, Judge Ben Simpson, Judge Thatch-
er and myself; no other names were men
toned. He asked me if | would like the
place if the delegation should unite on
me. 1 replied l could not an
swer, never having thought Of IL
l could not tell whether l could take 1t
even if wanted to- That evening or the
next day met Judge Peters and he said
about the same thing to me and asked me
! the same question and | answered him IN
the same way. He asked mo to think it
| over and write him after my return home.
We arrived home February 18th. Or
also Senator Plumb that II the
position came within my reach
should accept it, That if the delegation
united on me should be very grateful,
and if appointed | should strive to be I,
credit to the state. This is the sum total
of my alleged candidacy. Col. Murdoch
had nothing to do with it. He did not
speak to a member of the delegation about
it, so far as | know. Any statement or in
situation at variance with the foregoing
is utterly untrue
Colonel HalloweIl in the blaze of
interviews emitted by him from Wash
ington to Wichita says became candi-
date solely to defeat him. In this he Is
entirely mistaken, At the time | gave my
consent to the use of my name he was a
candidate for assistant attorney general,
and | supposed was in a fair way to get
it. His conspicuous service and brilliant
success as assistant attorney general
for the state rendered it appropriate
that he be made assistant attorney
general for the nation. 1t was natural to
suppose that he desired to sail under toe
same old flag with an increased approprla-
ton. | never for a moment thought he
would change his mind as to the office he
wanted l suppose l ought to have known
he would go for anything in sight, but The
fact is ] forgot it.
He further says my action was unwar-
rantable even if he was candidate Tor as
sistant encouragement. In other words
that no other Wichita man has the right
to accept an office until the colonel has
been fixed Of course that sort of dog in
the manger politics would exactly suit the
colonel, but it will hardly go down with
us privates. -.
He saws he was assured by both our SEN
ators that should not be appointed, and
that President Harrison assured him
should not be appointed because he knew
me to be free trader. According to that
| cut no fig, re and was not in anybody
way and the queer thing OF it is why the
colonel got left. / remember certain
Democratic convention which met brlef
space of wears back to nominate ticket
ito sweep the Republicans from power. "
The colonel himself was a conspicuous
figure in that convention and made a
speech of course.
The platform adopted was prepared for
the express purpose of catching Repub-
lcan votes. One plank read:
'That the maintenance lnvIolate OF the
rights of the states, and especially the
right of each state to order and control It's
own domestic institutions according to its
own Judgment exclusively, is indispens-
able to that balance of power in which the
perfection and endurance of our political
fabric depends"
| solemnly assure my readers that this
took place "since the wah." Shades of
Calhoun, lift up thy head! Another
plank read:
THAT the conduct of the present adj
ministration in the bold defiance of public
sentiment and disregard OF the public
| good in it's prodigality and wasteful ex-
travagance; in the lnnumeraoie frauds
perpetrated under its authority; in its dis
graceful partially for and reward of
unworthy favorites; in its reckless and
unstable financial policy, and in its
capacity to meet the vital questions of the
| day and provide for the general welfare,
/ stands without parallel IN our national
| history"
The man whose administration was
| thus brutally villifed was the immortal
! Ulysses Grant whose good name and fame
were then as well as now near and dear to
the heart of every true Republican.
| No unreconstructed mossback ever
uttered more despicable sentiments re-
garding Grant. There was another reso-
| luton of peculiar significance now, which
read: I'VE favor the repeal of the tariff
| on lumber and that the tariff on the
necessities of common life be abolished
! or reduced to the lowest figure" Hello,
Free Trader. is that you? That rivals my
widest flight as free trade crank.
/ Another plank read: In view Of the
wide spread corruption that has penetrat-
| ed Kansas in every department of its Or
ganization as state, we will support no
| man for office merely because he is the
nominee of a party, but TO obtain our
votes he must possess the Jeffersonian
standard of fitness. honesty, capacity and
! fidelity TO the constitution"
| On that platform Colonel Hallowell was
| nominated and made the race for attorney
general. and stumped the state in support
! of these resolutions and of his own "Jeffer-
sonlan standard" He painted the firma-
ment lurid hue in depicting the wide
spread corruption OF the Republican
party of Kansas. Syl Dunkin can show the
votes in Sedgwick county. OF
course, this thing took place during the
epidemic of that malaria in politics when
the demagogues all turned grangers. A
good many weak kneed people thought
/ the old Republican ship was going down,
! and the Colonel. rat like, left her. But IL
| turned out that the old bark rode the wave
gloriously. Notwithstanding the loss OF a
number Of Colonies the Republicans still
had the most votes, and this fact 70 the
mind of Hailowell, eradicated the evil OF
widespread corruption which had penetra-
| ted Kansas. So at the next spreading OF
sail the Colonel bobbed up serenely on
IL. - g Q t-x.a~