Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-03-26
THIS Is A JOKE.

THIS rs A JOKE.
The following letter was received at
the Times Office to-day:
OFFICE Wa OF H4TE1E,9 na1 W..ls sL.rsESoE'l ssaS'
| Mr.. W. o. Burr, Hartford, Conn:
Dear sir-Mr Bentley reiusss @ to pay the coupon
! joined the alliance, and has stopped paying bis
Shall we return the coupone
Yours very truly,
r. E LAWRENCE
Mr.. Lawrence is president of the
West Side National Bank of Wichita.
We publish his letter precisely as it
| was written, for the benefit of investors
in Kansas securities.
Mr.. Bentley treats the question
squarely. He does not ask for indulg-
ence; nor does he plead the want of
means, with promise to pay as soon
as be can. But he has joined the alli-
ance and has stopped paying his debts" :"
The alliance controls the state of Kan
sas. evidently by the votes of the large
class of debtors, who joined it with the
idea that the new party could and
would shield them i'm the reputation
of their just bligatiOns.-Hartford
Conn.,, Times.
The Bentley mentioned in the letter
is j. C. Bentley, a brother of 0. 81.
Bentley who attempted to represent
this county in the state senate and re-
fused to join the resubmission forces
that he might retain his influence with
the republican party.
Mr.. Lawrence claims that the whole
thing is joke, but where the humor
comes in, man refuses to pay a just
debt and deliberately and with malice
aforethought throws discredit on a
political organization by claiming that
said political organization is party of
repudiators, is hard to explain. Unfor-
tunately for Kansas and Wichita, the
Hartford Times does not know the
Bentley brothers. and therefore does
not know what jokers, political and
otherwise, they are.
Thousands of readers of the Hartford
Times will fail to see covert joke in
the bald statement that Bentley does
not intend to pay the coupon for the
reason that he has joined the alliance.
The alliance is not party of repudi-
alton, no matter what its other short
comings may be. Mr.. Bentley is not
member of the alliance, but is fetch
worshiper at the shrine of the grand
old republican party, and his disinclina-
ton to pay the coupon is republican
and not an alliance characteristic, so
far as it applies to any political party.
Mr.. Lawrence is likewise republi-
can, and his alleged joke was at the
expense of his adopted state, as well as
of the alliance party. AS banker it is
difficult to understand his idea of tri-
fling with the credit of a common
wealth, even if partisanship dictated
abuse of an opposition party.
That the comments of the Hartford
Times are called for by the Bentley
letter goes without saying, but the let
ter being slander on the state and the
alliance and merely Mr.. Bentley's own
ideas OH debt paying, it follows that
conclusions drawn therfrOm are equally
unjust and slanderous.
uC uCAG tAO SOOO
Kansas republicans like Messrs. Bent
ley and Lawrence attempt to perpetuate
a joke by spreading abroad the comical
and side-splitting details of refusing to
pay coupon, they should add a para
graph to the effect that it was a joke,
for unless they so explain it nobody on
earth will suspect its humor or appre-
ciate the fact that Kansas republicans
consider it mirth- provoking to state
that Kansas laughs instead of paying
its honest debts.
All the leading papers of the state
are earnestly requested to publish the
letter and the explanation to the end
that the injury to Kansas caused by the
letter without an explanation may be
in measure offset.-Wichita Beacon.