The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-04-16
A LIBEL.
CIR EAT BEND, Kan, April IA, 1

GREAT BEND, Kan, April IA, 1898.
To the Editor o: the Eagle.
The following appeared in the Kansas
visit of the Kansas City Commercial
club to this city on Tuesday evening.
April Il, 1898:
cat Great Bend The special was an hour
late, and everybody except the driver and
proprietor of that towns one ma. e car had
gone home"
The man who wrote that libel on Great
Bend is neither brainy nor humorous.
While the people in this city did not &C
into Mysteries over the visit of this Won
derful aggregation Of wisdom from
Pukedom. they did meet this stuffed
club at the depot, provided carriages and
vehicles for the party, and conveyed
them to the business portion of the town
and introduced them around as much as
time would permit. The fact that the
special remained here only a few min
utes prevented our citizens from arrang-
ing any very extended program, Or even
doing III tie way of entertainment what
they should like to have done. The
writer noted that the business men oil
the city were doing all possible
for the comfort of the club,
ana the pusillanimous reference
to the visit here comes with bad grace
and casts slur on the manner in which
it was entertained that the good people
of Great Bend Will not lie slow tc
reseiN.
The Commercial club of Kansas City,
is certainly not so great an institution
that people should turn out and receive
it with bands and banners, and get down
on their knees in sackcloth and ashes.
Clrcuses come and go every day, and
Great Bend, like Wichita, is too metro
politan to specially notice all the fake
shows that may be travelling over the
country, even in specials. The fact that
three or four members Of the club were
not able to get bacl, to the special at
Ellinwood, and were compelled to take
a regular train in time to join the party
at Larned, is sufficient evidence that
somebody was ratified, and it is the opin-
ion of our people that the correspondent
writing of the stop at Great Bend was
conveying more than his usual quota Of
hop tea. at least he appeared SO to the
writer, who, had he not known him,
would have taken him for just an ordin-
airy tirst-class hummer.
Why the people Of Great Bend or any
other town in Kansas should 60 crazy
over visit from this club, we do not
understand. What has it ever done for
Kansas: Is it not fact that the Com
mercial club of Kansas City is Mis-
souri, institution, working wholly in the
interest of Missouri and Missourians: Is
it not a fact that that club is forever and
eternaly opposed to the extension of
equitable freight rates to Kansas ship
pers, thereby preventing the building up
of any business that may conflict with
Kansas City's interest? And least of all,
what has the Commercial club of Kan
sas City ever done for Great Bend that
her people should tear their gowns over
visit from that association? Other
towns may think it necessary to paw
and scrape when in the presence of this
august body, but with the matter fact
people of Great Bend their visit is re-
garded as junketing trip of lot of
men who are making every effort posi-
bic to confine the trade to their own
hailwick and exact tribute from the
Kansas people. Nobody will be the
wiser or happier, except be the ''joint-
ist," because of the visit of the CONNER
cial club of Kansas City to Great Bend.