People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1892-10-07
AN OPEN LETTER.
4 Republican Presidential ElectOr in
1883 Comes Out for Our Ticket.

1000 OOuto Uul lUT UuT llcktl.
Ny Place is in the Ranks of the New
Political Movement" - "They are
Fighting for Their Homes, Their
Children Their Country"
COTTONWOOD FALLS, Aug. Is, 1892.
Hon. ]. NJ. Simpson, Chairman Republican
state Central Committee, Topeka, Kansas,
DEAR SIR:-YOur letter of the 9th
inst, requesting my services in the
state campaign in behalf of the Re
publican party, duly received. | will
state the reasons why | cannot accept
your invitation, and hope the same
may be received by you as sufficient.
They are not intended to be personal
and | hope you will receive them In
the same kind spirit in which they
are penned. They are reasons why |
oppose system which, in my judg-
ment, is not truly American.
have never been what might be
termed a partisan, for the reason |
could never see anything sacred in Do
lltlcal doctrines when they did not
impress the cOnscienceS of men as be-
ing right.
have always been opposed to the
protection of one class of men at the
expense OF the great wealth-producing
masses, and never supposed any party
would be ShOrt-Sighted enough to at
tempt anything of that kind. | find
L have been mistaken like thousands
OF other men who have been voting
with the Republican party, and we
see our brethren of the producing and
lab0rlng classes surrounded by COndi-
lions which are absolutely appalling,
and the great question now is to save
them before it is too late.
| am an American by birth. train
ing and education, and as such | am
unalterably opposed to any political
movement of men that tends to set
aside the simple faith and LOYALTY
OF the fathers and creates conditions
unnatural, un-AmeFican, whereby cap-
ltal becomes a heartleSS oligarchy.
and labor drops down to the level of
a homeless and hopeless peonage.
Partisan prejudice cannot close the
hOOd-gateS through which rush the
clear and living waters of truth:
neither can its blind dOgmaS draw
unto themselves respect, generation
or reverence, when hungry thousands
clamOr for bread and labOr's voice is
heard at every gathering demanding
protection, and it is answered by
PinkertOn bullets.
The motto, "'Stand up for Kansas "
on your letterhead, in view of the con-
dltlOns to which the tOiling masses
nave been reduced; in view of the fact
That your political system has con-
tracted the peoples money, so that
0ollgatlOns cannot be paid: in view of
the fact that homes are being sold
under mortgages and passing into the
hands OF SyndicateS; in view of the
TACT that the people have been robbed
by railroad corporations and trans.
portatlOn lines; in view of the fact
That the trusts and combines control
the peoples market and get what is
lett; IN view of the fact that Won
passed an iniquitOus law extending a
municipal aid to railroads. and now a
number of the counties of Kansas are
resting in the sleep of death under
bonds voted by hired voters of the
companies through the operation of
such law; in view of the fact that
Such a system of municipal aid has
been maintained, even when its re-.
peal was urged by your patriotic GOV.
Srn0r, John A, Martin; in view of the
fact that our immense wheat crops of
this year is being already absorbed by
the railroads and wheat combines: in
view Of the fact that the most indus
triOus can scarcely maintain them.
selves and families, the motto, "Stand
up for Kansas" is unnatural, inhu-
man and ghOulish, and sounds like
the hollow mOckery of winds blowing
over graves.
You say you want speakers capable
OF expoundlng party doctrine, and es-
peclally the magnificent services
which the present administration has
rendered the farmers and laboring
men of the country" o
AS you know, four years ago, as one
of the presidential electors. | cast
my vote direct for Benjamin Harri-
son. hoped then a change of adj
ministratiOn would benefit the coun-
try and Tighten some of the burdens
resting upon the people.
In the campaign of that year | ad-
vised the barefOOted men whom |
met at political meetings in Western
Kansas to vote for Republican SUI
premacy. l shall never forget the
pathOs of some of those gatherings.
when l stood in the solemn presence
OF tOil-brOwn men and women, whose
faces indicated that they needed
bread. With these things in mind
and deeply impressed as | am with
the frightful condition of the people,
| am in no mood to expOund the
magnificent services" which you say
the ADMINISTRATION has rendered the
people.
If the services be as you claim, the
people need not be told of them. as
results would speak for themselves.
The fact is, the administration has