Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-09-04
KANSAS IN 1855 AND 1889.
From the Salina Republican.

From the Salina Republican.
Do great people perish of inanition:
Carthage preserved much of her glory
and pretended to be republic for five
hundred years. A little more than a
quarter OF century ago, Free Kansas
was the watchword of a great party,
which rising into power from its mani
festation of independence and vigor,
saved the republic and maintained the
ascendancy of equality and freedom in
the United States. Governments are
not theories, but combinations of men.
1t is the saddest calamity Of politics
that communities, the bravest and the
best, may, in the flush of a party success,
degenerate into place seekers and funk
les. 1t is the purpose OF this article to
inquire if the spirit of 1856 has degener-
ated in the Kansas of 1889.
1t Is not necessary to assume that
the old free state leaders were as i'm
maculate as the admirable christian or
the Apostle Paul. Men of like pas
sions and frailties with ourselves, their
glory was, that in and through them
all, they were able to accomplish what
they did. 1t may be said that as they
expected no favors they did not truckle
for them; that they were fortunate in
the very self denying position thrust on
them. Grant ali this and then ask; are
the men of Kansas today as brave and
true as the men of Kansas in 1856?
There are various ways by which men
use political power to advance petty in
terests. Acontempti BILE ring has settled
about Topeka which claims to make
kings and governors. Every aspiring
man in the state is compelled to seek
power through them. Every political
nag must work in their harness or not
work at all. Instead of the remote
counties sending in their suggestions as
to what new men should take the helm,
the ring at Topeka fixes up a slate and
draws up support for it from the remote
counties. Whoever may be the stand
ard bearer the same old ring is to con-
troi. lie Is mere puppet, and
the weaker and more SUBJ
Servient the better. The worst OF
all this IS that our representative men
degenerate into the creatures of shame
less bargains. Needless places are Gre
ated. The machinery of the state gov
ernment is multiplied to the public det-
riment, Bonds and commissions have
been created and multiplied until they
are as numerous as the plaques of Egypt.
When the constitution was first formed
1t was estimated its entire expenditure
would be less than $150,000 per annum,
and now it has by this creation of para
sites been multiplied tenfold. In shame
less bargains about the disposal of the
needless offices, an interruptions set of
men who seem to hold the state in mort
gage, make and unmake state rules, and
instead of selection from those the peo-
pie can delight, high places are disgraced
by those who are most facile in office
brokinS.
There is but one remedy: let the peo-
pie sweep out the Old set with a re-
morseless broom. Happily, or unhap-
ply, Kansas is not at present blessed or
cursed with a Henry Clay or a Daniel
Webster, to arrest their judgment, or
make Democratic spirit of rotation in
Office pause and turn sickly. Our dis
officials scarcely rise above
and the men Of Kansas
ought TO be ashamed to toady to any one
of them. We have of late demanded "a
new deal, and we mean not only a new,
but better one. Neither do we want |
any of the dictation Of great railroad |
or combination. Let them |
mind their own business which is carry |
ing freight and passengers, and let poll !
tics alone. Above all let the Topeka |
ring go home and stay there. A few |
years of suburban retirement may make |
better men of them; at all events we |
want no more Of them.