Daily Kennebec journal., 1894-06-12
LABOR WAR
And Hard Times Among Their Con-
stituents are Troublous Things
For csnsNssass 10 Brsed Upsa as1 nasy
are Dependent.

IL guess we have beaten the record" said
Hon. Edward II. Funston Of Kansas in q
general talk on his prospects. AT any
rate, do not just now remember any con-
vcntion that anyway near equaled ours.
1t met on Thursday and adjourned On the
next Thursday, 80 1t was something over
seven full days in session and in that time
took sS1 ballots. There were no charges
whatever against me, and no one denied
that had been faithful representative,
but the same men who have been opposing
me SO long got up new scheme, and OF
course there are always new men who
want the nomination. The general plan
was to have each county start with a can
didate, II possible, and thus employ local
pride against me. There were, however,
but four other candidates, and the opposi-
ton induced their delegates to pledge
themselves not to vote for me. Sixty-four
ballots were required to nominate, and I
began with 3s and ran up to 43, while the
next man to me had 50. After this had
gone ON awhile three Of the other candi-
dates combined against the fourth, but his
delegates stuck to him, and he and to-
gether had u majority, SO that 1t would
have been OF no use for the three to COM
binc on one man.
A Close Contest.
"The convention met at Olathe May II
and on the Gath adjourned to meet at Law
renee on July TO- My friends decided on
an adjournment to give the delegates an
opportunity to hear from the people, feel
ing confident that they were In my favor,
and so think 1t viii turn out. got back
here just after tho election committee had
considered my contest case, and l am in
formed by the Democratic members Of the
committee that their decision will be in
my favor. You sec, / had plurality of only
38 votes over Mr.. Moore, the Democrat,
and there were 656 votes for Mr.. Huston,
the Prohibitionist. There were over 46, :
900 votes cast, which presents happy con-
trast with tho votes cast for some Of those
gentlemen over there (pointing to the
Democratic side of the housc). The dis
trict Is much larger than the average, tho
population has increased, and every legal
voter casts his ballot in Kansas in these
times Tho Democrats and Populists will
combine against me, of course, and equally
OF course do not admit q doubt of beat
ing them both. 1t is not my way to de-
spair Of success, and never got anything
worth having without fighting for It,"
And what Is the business condition,
and how will 1t affect tho voter
Great Dependency.
'Thc contrast Is the strangest I ever
saw-good crops promising lavish abun-
dance OF everything, and business dead.
have never seen corn look better than it
does In my district, and there Is rain
enough. 1t is the western hundred miles
of Kansas that give us the bad name. II
we could trade that to Colorado, you
would hear no more of droughty Kansas.
Oats arc but medium, but there will be an
enormous crop OF potatoes and above aver
nge of other things. As to business,
, never saw q time when it was SO complete
ly Frustrated. 1t is really curious to no.
tico how duh and dead the most enterpris-
ing towns are, and along with it there
seems q sort of dependency, more than Is
usual In hard times. The causes? Well
there is combination Of causes, political
and otherwise. First, Kansas elected q
Popullst administration, and then tho ma
tion elected n Democrat, and we have got
to pay for it. The repeal of the Sherman
act helped In fact, the general dcmoncti
zation of silver here and elsewhere has by
degrees produced n great effect. do not
believe that the gold coinage Of the world
Is now increasing at all, though the direct
or Of the mint figures out that it is Mr..
Robert Giffen, the great English author
ity, and several others of like standing
conccdc that there Is littlc or no addition
to the gold coinage, while population and
production are rapidly increasing and bust
ness ought to. AS somebody has said, it
worked just like u law for destroying ali
the gray horses that would work. 1t
makes other horses more valuable. Fur
si
ought to contract expenditures ut n time
like this. ! hold that it ought to enlarge
even If it has to borrow money, and con
struct all needed public works.
Concerning the country generally, I
confess that am depressed AS much as it
Is my nature to be. There never was so
much discomfort, and the discomfort never
had so little hope In it. There never were
SO many cranks, and, as has often been
said, the cranks complicate the matter so
that we cannot inaugurate needed reform. :"
The Labor War.
If Mr.. Funston were the only apprchen-
sivc member. Il would be well, but there
are ut least u hundred in worse mood than
he is, for he is naturally among the most
hopeful of men. The most careless OBJ
server cannot but note that there are
Gltp1lN iuCtS III IIt uotiSt' fC LII
diana members turn palc when they read
In the daily dispatches of troops, ordered
out by n Democratic governor, marching
through the coal regions with gatling
gun, and farther west the gloom is greater
STILL Said one western member, speaking
OF the political effect: IF this thing goes
on. all calculations arc off. The wiscst
man In North America cannot guess at
the results Here are miners in Indiana
roaming around at will, burning coal
trains and playing the devil generally, and
soldiers chasing them just as If there was
q guerrilla war Hero are thousands of SOL
diers after thousands Of strikers in Mary
land and Pennsylvania and mobs Of I'M
ported laborcrs beating the workingmen
to death or nearly SO, and out in the north
west those fellows are seizing trains and
doing as they please, and it looks as If
millions of pcaccable people sympathize
with them. There Is regular siege in
Colorado and regular civil war in two or
three other places and inobs and riots all
ground. And there those cursed senators
lit and sit and sit like. bumps on log, es
n heaven were full of days and earth Of
nights and all at their disposal and nobody
n