The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-05-20
THE KANSAS CAMPAIGN.

4
The Importance of the Coming Contest
From Commercial and Material stand
point.
In late interview with correspond.
ent in Washington concerning the COM
ing campaign in Kansas, and the neces-
sity which exists for defeating the cal
amity party, if the people of the state
desire to have the good name and credit
of Kansas restored, Senator Perkins
said:
''The approaching campaign is one Of
the greatest importance to the people
of Kansas from a commercial and ma
terial standpoint The growth and de-
velopment of the state, as well as its
reputation and the good name Of our
people, is involved in the contest. Moth
ing in all our history affected our credit
so much and tended to destroy conf
dence in the honesty and integrity Of
our people as the success of the peO-
pies party in 1890. Heretofore the
credit of Kansas had been as high as
that of any state in the union. Our
state and municipal bonds were eager
ly sought for by investors every
where, and millions of dollars were
sent to the state each year for invest
ment Rates of interest were growing
less, commissions were being cut down
by loan agents, and farmers who had
good security to give found but little
difficulty in borrowing money upon as
good terms as the farmers of Illinois
and Indiana The advantage of this to
our people is forcibly illustrated when
we remember that in Montgomery and
many of the counties of southeastern
Kansas the settlers paid as high as 40 to
Sc per cent interest year to get money
with which to deed their homes; this,
too. in one of the most productive and
desirable portions of the state, while in
1890 and until the success of the peo-
Piles party the settlers in the new and
unsettled portions of Kansas could Dor
row money with which to dead their
homes at per cent. interest and a very
small commission. Capitalists had con-
fidence in our state and believed in the
integrity of our people. They pointed
with pride to our wonderful growth and
development, and sent their money in
laudable enterprises.
after the election of 1890 all this
was changed. The representatives of
the peoples party who were elected to
offices of responsibility and power mis-
represented and DETAINED the people and
the state that had honored them. They
represented the state as bankrupt and
the people as paupers, and in Boston,
New York and elsewhere where they
could get hearing they proclaimed to
the world that we could not meet our
obligations, and that If we were sold at
auction we would not bring enough to
pay for our old clothes. They publicly
proclaimed that our only relief was in
Reputation or fat money. This neces-
sarily shocked the public conscience
and destroyed our credit. Capitalists
lost confidence in us, and those who had
Heretofore been sending money to
Kansas for investment decided to send
no more, and at once took steps to col
lect and secure return of that which
they had heretofore sent. The market
for our mortgages ceased, the credit Of
our people was impaired, the repu-
LaJlOQ Oh our SJdIc AuJuTeOl, HlOucy
was made scarcer in the state,
rates of interest higher, and those who
were in debt found it almost impossible
to get additional credit or to renew
their obligations. The alliance leaders,
instead of encouraging our people and
assisting them in bearing the burdens
and meeting their obligations, did what
they could to discourage them and to
create feeling of discomfort and dis
satisfaction which in some communities
resulted in lawlessness and crime. Or
CARNATIONS to resist the collection of
debts and to secure open and fragrant
reputation were encouraged until al
most every man of respectability and
honor in the state was ashamed to adj
nit when visiting the east or away from
home that he was from Kansas. This
unfortunate result necessarily affected
every business man in the state, no mat
ter what his political utilization or his
vocation, and hence in 1891 we found
many of the best democrats in all por-
tions of the state laboring with the re-
publicans to redeem our honor and the
good reputation of our people. This
year the contest will be repeated, and
hence the Importance of the issue to US
as people and to Kansas as a common
rraalth