The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-08-17
What the POpuliSt Senator from Wyan.
dOtte Says Of the Present State
Administration.
Senator Taylor, Justice Allen and Mrs.
Lease Coincide Exactly-They All Say
That Lewelling Is Giving the State
the Most Disgraceful and Corrupt Ad.
ministration In Its History.

Hon. w. II. Bennington and other
because of the corruption of its leaders.
SOME PoPULIsT HISTORY.
The populist party came into power
with wonderful enthusiasm.
1t promised great reforms. Chief
among these reforms was the relief OF
the people from alleged political rings.
The administration of public affairs
was to be pure and honest. This new
party was to be the peoples friend, the
enemy of vice and political corruption
and holy terror to political jobbers.
Its candidates were profuse in their
promises and loud in their pretentions.
They were inaugurated with blare
of trumpets and, to a casual observer,
unacquainted with the wiles of political
adventures. it appeared as though the
political millennium was at hand. Thou
sands of honest citizens of every class
and vocation congregated at the capt.
tai to witness their" representatives
installed in power and bid them God
speed. These confiding citizens had
been warned that the many fair prom
ises and high pretenses of these officials
might prove delusive; that the past
record of the men whom they had
exalted to power did not justify their
expectations but on the other hand
gave ample cause for anxiety and alarm.
But these people" resented such in
situations with bitterness. They
trusted their leaders implicitly, and
from the festivities of the inaugural
they returned to their homes filled
with enthusiasm and confidence in the
future of populism. The people are
now to say whether the leaders of pop
ulism have been true to their trust.
and to pass on the merits of the men
they have placed in power.
If these officers have been true to
their promises; if they have given the
state a more honest, purer and more
economical government that it had be-
fore, they are entitled to endorsement
at the polls, but if they have not, then
they should be retired from office
This is a question in which every Kan
san is interested and one which should
receive his dispassionate consideration
Let the people set in Judgment while
this reform administration is placed on
trial, and if it is condemned by the evil
sdence, let the outfit that goes to make
it up be cast into the outer darkness of
political oblivion where there is weep
ing and wailing and crashing of teeth.
There is no need to call in republican
witnesses, who might be prejudiced
and unfair. Let the testimony come
from the people who helped elevate
the administration into power.
SENATOR TAYLoR's SPEECH.
Senator Taylor, of Wyandotte coun.
-ty, one of the ablest and most highly
respected members of the populist
party, at the recent populist conven-
ton in Wyandotte county, in the course
of very stirring address on the char
=acter of the present administration
said:
1.-Two years ago at this time, gentle
men, you selected the delegates who in
turn selected the governor. The dele
YOU VIII JO-udN. IL UneV
should be so fatuous as to renominate
Gov. Lewelkng, then in my Judgment
it will take five figures to reach to the
bottom of the majority under which
he will be buried.
up to the time of dwellings in
=auguration the party had had phe-
nomenal growth, but every election
which has since been held and all other
tests of pa rty strength which / know
of show that, although the very stars
in their course have fought for the peo-
pies party, as they fought for Sissera,
it has, nevertheless, lost strength in
stead of gaining, ever since the fatal
moment when Mr.. dwellings ample
anatomy first pressed the velvet of the
agubernatorial chair.
Permit me to remind you that we
fought in the campaign of two years
ago under the banner of that magic
word. reform. We denounced the cor
ruptions of the republican party. And
we promised reform. Some of us took
the reform business seriously to heart
We meant every word we said. Judge
of our disgust then when we found
that the reform" which we had as
sisted in bringing in began in the
skillet and ended in the fire. Once,
just once, is all that little game can
be played on u.s.
birds of a feather flock together.
Some idea of the governors tone and
-caliber can be formed from the tone
and caliber of the men he has put in
office. There are enough men of char
=acter and ability in the peoples party
to fill every Office in the governors
gift. How largely he has drawn upon
the class having character and ability
in making his appointment. and how
largely upon the class of veteran
pie-hunters, lawyers without clients,
farmers of the farmers, and a miscel-
laneous stock. of whom the best that
can be said is that while not distinct
lively bad they are not distinctively
good. leave you to judge. When Mr..
Artz's name came before the senate
said aside from the question of Artz's
innocence or guilt, as charged it was
not good politics TO pass by so many
men whose names would have brought
credit and strength to the administra-
ton and pick up a broken down stock
that had to be defended from the first.
=and whom the governor himself had to
discharge at last. At another time
when there was particularly objec-
tionable name presented for confirma-
ton one of the ablest of the populist
senators turned to me with the remark
that few such nominations as that
would break up any party on earth.
1t is not necessary for me to re-
hearse the charges against the admins
tration with references to its partiality
for certain classes of society denounced
by law, nor do more than refer to the
common belief that it has some finan-
-cial interest in their prosperity Many
of you heard, no doubt, during the cam
paign- as did, that the governor, then
"a candidate, had made deal with an
alleged saloonkeeper's association by
the terms of which they were to elect
and he was to protect. l have no