The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1892-10-14
THE KANSAS DEBT.
Old Party Papers Answer Facts and Fig
- ures with wind

TIE NAN0A0 160ls
Old Party Papers Answer Fscts and Flg-
ures with wind.
Republican editors and politicians
who. if they are noted for any one
thing. it is their ignorance OF facts
and figures are making q great ado
about communication from w. +.
Rightmire relative to the debt of
Kansas. It will be observed. how
ever that they introduce no testi-
mony in behalf Of their protest All
they give us is wind.
We have carefully gone over the
figures in the state auditor report
and the other citations OF Mr.. Right
mire says the Topeka Advocate and
Tribune and, with one exception. we
can vOuch for their correctness. MIR.
Rightmire gave an estimate Of the
chattel mortgage indebtedness with
out having the exact data to place
that estimate beyond question. In
this Le made mistake; for. while
his estimate is probably conservative
it is best at all times to limit our
statements to such facts as are sus-
ceptible of absolute demonstration.
The chattel mortgage debt
however constitutes "a very small
part of the incumbrance upon
Kansas property. 1t is scarcely
worthy of consideration when
taking into account the vast aggre-
gate concerning which there can be
no question. Those who are pleased
to cavil over these figures seem to
have an idea that the way to stand
up for Kansas is to lie about it. In
stead of ascertaining facts. recogniz-
ing actual conditions and making the
best provision possible to meet these
conditions, as all prudent men do in
their Individual affairs this stand
up" crowd seems to prefer to conceal
facts to deny what it is absolutely
essential the people should know. and
to bawl calamity howler' every time
any man throws CLEAN of light in
the direction of truth.
DIN 1890 we secured through the AL
liances OF the state a comparatively
accurate census of the farm mortgage
Indebtedness OF course it was not
complete. because the entire state
was not organized at that time. and
some Alliances failed to respond to
our call for information upon the sub
ject. From such as did respond we
est mated that part of our indebted
ness at $147. 900. 0OG The facts re-
lating to that estimate and the means
by which the results were ascertained
were published in our issue of July 2.
1890. Then what howl went up
from this same ''stand up Gro wd.
We were running the credit of the
state by publishing such falsehoods.
But soon came Mr.. Porters census
bulletin. which officially declared that
part OF our debt to be $40. 900, 900
greater than We had estimated it.
What did this crowd do then? Oh,
they concluded that this was not
much of debt after all Kansas was
great state and would soon paw it
off.
Kansas is great state. It has
vast and almost unlimited resources
Every loyal Kansap is proud of its
past history and hopeful of its future;
but the way to make that future sue.
cessful is to deal with the present in
plain. business like manner Just as
every business man does with his
private affairs. The people should
understand our actual condition in
order to know how to provide for the
future. The cry of calamity
howlers'' will not change single fact
nor will it deceive the people; and
those who are giving US so much wind
on account of Mr. Rightmires pre-
sentation of the incum brance resting
upon our state might save their credit
by looking up this facts before COM
hitting themselves in oppos ton to
his conclusions without any data upon
which to base their declarations.
The truth is very easily ascertaine6.
Mr.. Rightmire has given his citations
so that his statements if erroneous
can be very readily proven to be so.
and If true they can as readily be
verified. The figures are there in
cold type. and it would be well to
look them up before saying too much
in opposition to his conclusions. 1t is
possible for men to be fools unneces-
sarily.