The Wichita daily eagle., 1891-09-09
THE LEAGUE ADDRESS.

At the recent state convention of Re-
publican leagues, the undersigned were
| appointed a committee to prepare an adj
dress, designed especially to refute the
ISLANDERS upon the state of Kansas by the
advocates of the Peoples party.
These defamerS of the state that pro-
tects and cares for them are persistent in
the charge that Kansas, under successive
Republican administrations, has been re-
duced to a beggarly condition. The
atrocious crime of being a state of bor-
rowers, we shall neither attempt to pal
late nor deny. Most of our people came
to Kansas with small means, but with a
large share of that robust energy that
has always dominated the state, and in
quarter of a century have achieved
wonderful material results.
''Our debts stand for our investments,
and not for our losses. They represent
our enterprise, and not our misfortune;
our property, and not our poverty They
will be paid, to the last penny, in the le-
gal currency of the country-not a coin
clipped, not dollar deprecated"
Kansas is emerging from an era of
general depression that is not limited to
state lines, nor confined to the iurisdic-
ton of Republican administrations. Kan
sas has shared misfortunes and endured
calamities that are the common heritage
of the human race, but she is neither
bankrupt nor discouraged. One of the
newest states in settlement, she is one of
the foremost in the magnitude of her
wealth and fertility of her resources.
Kansas has been under the uninter.
rupted control Of the Republican party
from the date of its admission as a state,
and an imperial commonwealth has been
developed. A magnificent capitol build
ing and charitable institutions, with su-
perb equipage, ,aggregating in cost Sc, ,000,-
600, have been built and paid for and
the state has not lost dollar by defalca-
tion or the dishonesty of public officials.
The total assessed valuation of prop
erty in the state is S34S, COO, 900, which
represents an actual valuation of 81 ,392,-
600, 900. The assessed valuation of the
state is five times as great as that of
Florida or Delaware, three times that of
South Carolina, double that of Alabama,
Arkansas or Mississippi $40, 900, 900
greater than Maine, 500, 900, 600 more
than New Hampshire, $751;, 900, 900 more
than Vermont, and only $4,000. 900 be-
low the old and wealthy state of Con-
necticut
Kansas was the thirty-fourth state ad-
mitted into the Union, but now ranks
In population, and eighteenth
in wealth. The wealth of the United
States, during the last decade. increased
43 per cent; that of Kansas so per cent, |
nearly double the general average
Kansas is the second state in the Union !
in railway mileage, having an aggregate |
of $500 miles.
The school property of the state is val |
ued at Sl0.617, ,l49. Free schools are |
maintained from eight to nine months 1
each year. In addition to the common |
schools the state has university. a nor /
NAL school and an agricultural college
all justly celebrated institutions Of learn
ing.
There are in the state 8, 2,s3s church ed |
ifices costing sS,S01,S70. From 1850 to
1890 there was an increase in the church 1
and school property of the state Of over
s12, ,500, 200.
A beneficent system of education has
oeen fostered by the Republican party, |
and today there Is a greater diffusion of 4
popular education, and q smaller per-
,entage of illiteracy and crime, in Kan
'as, than ia any other organized CON-
nunity upon the face of the globe In
Ill that pertains to a strong and vigorous
tate, the history Of civil society fur
lishes no parallel 10 Kansas.
MORTGAGE INDEBTEDNESS.
Official reports from sixty counties Of
he state show that during the last three
months there was NET reduction in the