Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1893-04-15
ADDRESS TO THE PRESI.
DENT.
Presented by the Kansas Stall
wart Democrats.

David Overmyer, w. NJ. Mitchell and
j. B. Crouch, representing the demo-
Gratis OF Kansas who oppose fusion,
prepared and presented to President
Cleveland an address which contains the
following:
If there had been five or six demo-
cratic senators and fifteen or twenty
democratic representatives, az there
could have been; or if the democrats
had had even two or three state officers,
the lawless and revolutionary proceed
ings which occurred at the capital dur
ing the winter would not have occurred,
and our state would have been spared
the humiliation that had been heaped
upon it. A very small number OF dem
ocrstic officials would have constituted
balance Of power.
As it was, however, the populists,
finding themselves defeated in the lower
house of the legislature, as shown by
the canvass of the returns by the state
canvassing board, resolved to resort to
revolution to gain control Of that body,
as they already had pronounced ma
jority in the senate.
Their first proposition was that, as
the constitution provided that each
house shall be the Judge of the election
returns and qualifications Of it's mem-
bers, therefore the certificate of election
provided by statute and issued to those
shown by the returns to be elected
thereto was thing of no consequence,
and was a thing thrust between the
people and the peoples elect by stat
ute which is the special adherence of
populist partisans. When asked who
should constitute the house for the pur-
pose of organization. they answered:
''The members elected" When asked
how that matter should be determined.
they answered.: I'VE know who we're
elected"
Because these demands we're not &C
coded to, the populists attempted to Or
ganize separate and distinct house of
representatives., and in support of their
revolutionary action the governor called
out the militia of the state and threat
ened to overthrow the legally organized
house by force of arms. He gave an
order to that effect, and would have &C
tually caused bloodshed had the COM
handing officer obeyed his orders and
had he not himself been finally deferred
from his purpose by fear. The populist
governor, who undertook to do this rev.
dictionary act, now draws his salary
from an appropriation made by the very
house he attempted to dispense at the
point of the baYonet.
In addition to all this, the appropria-
ton by the legislature for the adju
tant generals department is $4,000,
Just twice what it has been heretofore,
the house being forced to agree by the
threats of the populist senate to defeat
all appropriations. The populist senate
demanded $57, 900, thus showing a de-
termination to organize and use the
militia on a scale OF activity never be-
fore known in the history of the state.
We think this means something. Judge
Martin and Governor Click pretend to
think that it means nothing. Further
more, it is an open and notorious fact
that the militia ia being reorganized
from top to bottom, that Percy Daniels,
the present lieutenant governor, has
been appointed by the chief executive
OF the state as major general of the
militia. It is also true that military Or
CARNATIONS of secret and oath-bound
character are being organized by the
populists under the personal supervi-
sion of the populist adjutant general,
who travels over the state dressed in |
full uniform and wearing the insignia |
Of his Office.
There can be but one object in all |
this, viz: To hold the political power
of the state, if need be, by force of arms.
We protest against the federal patron
age of the state being given to men
who indorse or tolerate these designs,
who favor a cooperation of the demo-
cratic party of our state with men who
entertain these intentions, or to men
who are not willing to publicly declare
their purpose to work for the upbuiId-
ing of the democratic party in Kansas
as separate organization, not only be-
cause the democracy of Kansas cannot
afford to disgrace itself by further afil-
iation with or countenance of this rev.
element, but also because
democratic principle is opposed to the
ideas of the peoples party as respects
national issues, and is equally opposed
to the populist upon the leading issues
in the state, viz: prohibition, women
suffrage, state guarantee of private
loans, removal of the state capital, and
many other issues raised by this new
party that are calculated to greatly re-
tard the material interests of our state
snd to discredit the democratic party
Of Kansas