Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-02-04

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LAB Kansas connlct, in
NzE&Ml a which the ''crime
CREE&, against Kansas" to say
NS1Hi nothing Of the criminal
TfT1 ~ atrocities in Kansas,
formed the sole topic Of
~I conversation, filed the
~ newspapers and occu-
! pied congressional at
| tenuon for period Of seven years. OF this
| kansas conflict" Theodore Parker said in
1856, Il know Of no transaction in human his
tory which has been coTered up with such
abundant lying, from the death Of Ananias and
| Sapphira to the present day.'' There are peo-
| pie IN Kansas who would like to amend Mr.
Parkers statement by bringing it up to date
Still another set of people. notably ex-presi-
Dental candidate, Mr.. Weaver. exclaimed re-
Gently IN import il not the exact language Of
William H. Seward on the Kansas Nebraska
bill. "Al legislative compromises are radically
wrong and essentially vicious There Is a doc
trine of a higher law in which constitutions as
| well as statutes must be read
| THE HOME OF POLITICIANS
Kansas, by origin, education and environ
ment, is essentially the home of politicians and
political parties. So it was in the beginning
and so it ever shall be. When Congress. on March
6, 1920. enacted that in that part of the Louisi-
*. H.
north latitude. slavery = shall be and is
hereby forever prohibited it sowed dragons
teeth the poison OF whose fangs is potent vet
| though two-thirds Of a century has sifted dust
! upon the dial of time. Out of the heart Of this
| purchase a strip 400 miles long and 200 miles
wide had kansas" carved upon ii in 1854. The
men who made the territory found in il their po-
htical graves. William III. English. during the
debate upon the Lecompton constitution, said:
The vote for the kansas-Nebraska bill brought
| the democrats an overwhelming defeat in all
| the northern states. and of the northern men
who voted for the bill only one Senator and two
Congressman we're returned
Take down your map, SIR" said Charles
Sumner to the President OF the Senate on May
10, 1856, land you will find that the territory Of
Kansas more than any other region occupies
the middle spot of North America, equally dis
| tant from the Atlantic on the east and the Pa
citic on the west, from the frozen waters of
Hudson's bay on the north and the tend gulf
stream on the south. and constituting the pre-
else territorial center of the whole vast CONT
nent To such advantage of situation On the
very highway between two oceans is added
soil Of unsurpassed richness and fascinating I'M
dulating beauty of surface, with a health giving
climate calculated to nurture a powerful and
generous people. worthy to be the central pivot
of American institutions"
RESPONSIBLE FOR LOT OF THINGS.
That was Kansas she stood in the estima-
ton of tine statesmen who helped to create her.
and as she stands today enriched and enhanced
by the advance Of civilization. Nevertheless.
her most ardent admirer is forced 10 ackuowl-
edge that, first and last, Kansas has been re-
sponsible for whole lot Of things political
| and paradoxical She has been the pride of
preachers and politicians and the despair Of
both.
The very name of Kansas has been thorn
in the flesh to purists and historians have taken
liar ,Vif TIA IL hoe
figured in literature as Okanis. Konza, Canzas.
kanseZ ,kansa. kanZan, kauzau and Kaw the last
being simply the spelling of the French pronun-
citation of the Indian name and the preceding
| one an error Of the types a whole edition Of
| an early Kansas work having turned ''n,"
making it a ''u."
NEVER DOES ANYTHING BY HALVES.
That Kansas never does anything by halves
the present Siamese legislature evidences
When the sun shines there it beams like brazen
furnace, seven times heated. When it rains.
the waters of the world concentrate to deluge
it. Her grasshopper plaques beggar ancient
history, and Sahara is an oasis compared with
the drouths that have devastated its prairies at
various periods. Its people, subjected to such
extremes in physical conditions, seem to ex-
hibit in their personality the same peculiarities
and by education well as environment be-
come extremists. Like porous plaster, fixed
idea or principle is not removed except by force,
either mentally or physically exerted.
True to her uniform uniqueness, Kansas has
now upon the stage twin legislature in which
may be viewed for the first time in the history
of the union Of states the spectacle Of two
speakers sitting side by side at the speakers
desk. each presiding over body of men which
each has decided with much flourish Of docu-
mentary evidence supported by indubitable
eloquence to be the legally organized house Of
representatives of the state of Kansas AMIGA
bly,, and with side interchange Of Jest, two sets
of chief clerks, reading clerks, journal clerks,
docket clerks. seargeant-at-arms, pages and
doorkeepers, carry on the business of the re-
spectve bodies, the main aisle Of representative
hall marking the line between the real and
bogus house, but which is which nobody cars
to risk an opinion until due process Of law has
| been taken.
For the populists a corps Of assistant attor-
ney generals patroled the floor, wearing in
| their buttonholes bit OF white ribbon as their
badge of authority. This white ribbon symbol
| was long ago adopted in Kansas as the prohibi-
| ton badge, and at the present time large
painting Of ex-Gov. st. John hangs on the pop
ulist side of representative hall, the wreath
about it tied with long white satin ribbons q
distinction given no other Of the pictures Of
governors similarly hung. In the early terri
torial days in Kansas this same little white rib
bon bow was used for political purposes It
was when the first territorial election was held
and was worn by invading voters from Mis-
| souri,. who were by this sign recognized BY the
election judges as ''fxed" to vote for the nd
ministration" ticket
THE MILITIA IN 1856.
Only once before has the militia in any form
invaded the legislative halls Of Kansas. This
was on July 4, 1856, when the free state legis-
lature. elected under the Topeka constitu-
ton" thus conflicting with the "administra-
ton" territorial legislature, met in Q hall pro-
yided for the purpose in Topeka President
Pierce, by proclamation, on February is. 1856,
had empowered the territorial governor of Kan
| sas to use if necessary the ''srmy and navy Of
the United States in commanding ''all per-
sons combined for instruction or invasive ag-
erosion against the organized government Of
i the territory of Kansas . and has COM
| manded them to dispense and retire peaceaby
to their respective abodes. on pain Of being re-
| sisted by his whole constitutional power
Col E. V. Sumner, commanding at Fort
Leavenworth, proceeded to Topeka and, drawing
up his five companies OF cavalry and two pieces
| OF brass cannon before the house Of the insur-
rectionists, he then entered the hail and, pro-
ceeding to the speakers chair, said: Gentle
men. i am called upon this day TO perform the
most painful duty Of my whole life. Under the
authority Of the Presidents proclamation am
here to disperse this legislature. ." /
therefore order you to dispense. GOD knows
have no party feeling in this matter.
Such are my orders and you must disperse."