Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-01-22
HARPER'S WEEKLY AGAIN EN-
DORSES THE EAGLE.
The journal Of Civilization Has Another
Good Word for Wichita.

| From Harper's Weekly, Jan. 10.
Kansas is doubtless large enough state
to afford room for the play of keen local
jealousies between the rising cities within
| its borders. Hutchinson keeps jealous
eye on the progress of Wichita, Leaven-
| worth grudges Topeka the possession of
| the capitol, and Topeka regards with a
| certain amount of fretful Impotence the
push and energy of its younger rivals. But
Kansas is too large a state to give coun-
tenance to the idea that extended notice of
the growth of its urban communities in
| terests the rest of the country SO little that
such can be published only at the expense
of the city described. We are therefore
surprised to find that the Topeka Demo-
crat thinks so meanly of the
evidences of western intelligence and
enterprise displayed in the city of
Wichita as to assume that the supplement
of the weekly inwhich these were set forth
was of the nature of paid advertisement.
This, however, is mainly the Democrats
own affair, to be reckoned for with such of
the people of Kansas as it counts among
its readers. But that the Democrat should
think so meanly of Harper's Weekly as to
suppose that its reading columns are for
sale to enterprising citizens in Kansas or
elsewhere is so distinctly our affair that
we have asked our erring contemporary to
furnish us the grounds on which it based
such an opinion.
The Wichita Daily EAGLE, which knows
whereof it speaks, said in reply to the
Democrats first statement on the subject,
"Not cent, absolutely not cent. did the
article in question cost the city
of Wichita. Whereupon the Demo-
crat, in the fullness of its transformation,
repeated the charge after this fashion,
Then, if it did not cost the city penny,
certain live business men and capitalists
in that aspiring city must have opened
their pocket-books and contributed thou
sands of dollars to secure the valuable
publication in said widely circulated jour
nal" Our friend of the EAGLE promptly
anticipated our correction of this state
ment by explaining felicitously and forci-
bly,, that the Wichita Supplement was the
outcome of our continuous search for
"those characteristic developments which
come of the more advanced spirit of Amer
lean enterprise" and was issued merely
in the interest of better education and
higher civilization" And the EAGLE
added that the publication "did
not cost Wichita cent nor
her individual citizens cent"
1t is, perhaps, little discouraging that
any such explanation as that made on our
behalf by the Wichita EAGLE should be
found necessary, or that any such miscon-
ception of the character Of the Weekly as
that adopted by the Topeka Democrat
should be possible after a generation Of
journalistic conduct visibly opposed to the
mercenary practice imputed to US. But
we are glad to believe that there are few
newspapers in the United States capable
of making such blunder, and that our
misguided Topeka contemporary will be
found ready to make all the reparation in
its power for the gratuitous aspersions of
which we have demanded an explanation