The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-09-05
THE EAGLES POINT ACKNOWL-
EDGED,

The Kansas City Star, commenting
further upon the EAGLES Toll Gate
protest, offers the following in defense
of its town as Kansas best and only
market:
The Wichita EAGLE has printed another
long editorial complaint against kansa!
City as market for Kansas product:
! which shows. chiefly, what a narrow idei
of great market the EAGLE has. It,
principal objection to Kansas City is thai
there are not enough people here to eat al
! that Kansas raises This being the case
/ il follows as a matter of course that the
! town does simply brokerage and com
| mission business for Kansas, collecting
/ fees for services performed. The EAGLE
/ must acknowledge that this is the sub
! stance Of its argument
/ The Star is sorry there are not enough
! people here TO consume all of the products
of Kansas. Dwelling around the mouth
OF the haw there would then be 100000
people. constituting the greatest city in
the world, 1t would be good for Kansas
and good for Kansas City
Where did the EAGLE get its idea of a
great market? All the wealth and great
ness of Chicago came from the commits
sions the city charges for transferring
products from the consumer to the
producer. New York herself would
have no cause for existence if that
part of her business which consists in
getting products from the producer TO the
consumed, and from the maker TO the user,
were taken from her. This and nothing
else than this is commerce.
Has the EAGLE any facts to show that
the brokerage business Kansas City does
for Kansas is not done well? Can the
EAGLE give any example to prove that the
Kansas farmer can get more money for his
products by sending them TO brokers
farther away from home than he can get
through Kansas Cityg There are no such
facts and no such examples. Kansas City
does better brokerage business, at less
cost, for Kansas than nycity in the union
does for any state She has to do it,
Competition is SO strong that profits must
be minimiZed to retain business. The
shippers and merchants of Kansas realize
this The newspapers are beginning 10
acknowledge it, and the EAGLE will learn
before long that the prosperity of its own
pet Wichita will wax or wane, according
as it favors or fights the business progress
Of Kansas City.
The Star catches the point of the
EAGLES complaint" and has the frank
ness to acknowledge the indisputable
truthfulness of our claim, that is,
Kansas City simply as commission mer-
chant, thereby enriching said merchant
at the expense of this state and without
any compromising benefit, is unbusiness-
like, short-sighted and suicidal. All that
the Star says in defense of its town ap-
plies with greater force in favor of
Kansas trading point, or points, and its
reference to Chicago and New York
strengthens the EAGLES argument in IA
vor of establishing and maintaining
local markets, for the handling of her
business within her own borders.
Since the Star admits the point of our
claim there is no further need for discus
sion of the question on its merits: but
the EAGLE will not cease to press it upon
the attention of its own people. Kansas
cannot afford to pay the orchestra for
the exclusive entertainment and benefit
of outsiders.