Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1894-10-04

for concentration is separation and diSSoIu-
ton: the remedy for consolidation OF powers
persing of those powers
What the Remedy Is.
All, says some mani meet him every day,
toO-"You can never do it. You can't do it. IS
never can be done" answer him and say it
can be DONE How? Disincorporate enter
prise, control and crush the great combines by
drastic legislation. He says: It cannot be
done-it never will be done. What then, are
you going to do? Pass it all over to the owner
ship of the government? Tell that it can
not be done? Whence, then, came this great
consolidation of power? Private accumula-
lions never could have built up and nurtured
such aggregations. It required the accumu-
lated fortunes of an endless number OF 1ndi-
viduals thrown into great corporations under
the control OF a very few, in order to build up
the trusts and combines which now monopollze
and control your markets and prices of prod
ucts And do you tell me that the state can
not control these things? 1 tell you that the
state can and I tell you further that in good
time, by right discussion and by
rational investigation, the state Will;
but it cannot be done in "a day nor in
week nor in year Tell me the state can't
do this? The Lord giveth and the Lord
t3keth away: blessed be the name of the Lord,
The state gave these powers and the state can
control them, and your own state, be 1t SAID TO
the honor of the men who framed your conStl-
tuition. reserved the right and the power. by
provisions in that constitution. to withdraw
and annul at any time any corporate right. no
matter how great. Tell me that you cannot con-
troll these matters! First, try. Have you ever
tried? Did you ever elect a legislature that
made any trial at it? How many men have you
sent to the legislature who understood any
thing about the first principles of government
society? Send your profOundeSt men to your
legislature; send your great and your honora-
BILE men in all the walks of life. farmer. mer-
chant lawyer, and you can assemble i legiSla-
ture which can devise ways and means for put
ting honorable checks upon every abuse with
out the confscation of single dollar and with
out wronging single citizen.
We must return to the old ways, Knocked at
though they were, for years by fools. You
have got to simplify government Return to
the ways of local self-government; appreciate
as you should the great and benencelt power
of the states, remem bering that the greater
portion of the evil which legislation has put
upon you has emanated from the states them
selves. SO far as all these questions of trusts
and combines are concerned Then YOU must
look to the states for the remedy or you must
change the constitution OF the United States
so as to give it a jurisdiction which it does not
now possess, and don't know of anybody who
proposes to do that The very minute that
proposition would be made there would be q
universal howl Believing that there had been
a great wrong practiced in this state for many
years along the line of public activity, the
democratic party, in it's recent conven-
ton, in every convention since the event
referred to, demanded and again the
reSubmiSSion of the question of constitutional
prohibition to the people of Kansas, and de-
manded in the meantime the repeal OF the in
famous statutes that have been made in aid of
constitutional prohibition You all know that
some fourteen years ago, this state having first
suffered an invasion from abroad of outside mis-
sionary talent the kind of thing that has cursed
this state from its Notwithstanding, I say,
suffered this invasion. the people of this state
were induced, upon presentation of one side
of the question, to vote into the constitution Of
Kansas a provision like this:
hat no mil tn ma ct
sell Intoxicating liquors for any purpose ex-
cept medicinal scientific mechanical pur-
poses"
What Prohibition Has Done.
Now, want to say to you, in the first place,
that owing to the peculiar nature of the con-
stitution of Kansas, that provision was voted
into the constitution by less than Il majority of
all the voters of the state. 1t was not illegal
for that reason, because the constitution pro-
V1ded that the constitution might be amended
by majority of the voters voting upon the
amendment; but in order to show you what
sort of sanction and what sort of standing this
thing has had, [ will call your attention
to a little scrap of ancient history. In that
election Gen. Garfield received 12i $50 votes;
Gen. Hancock received $3.50 votes; Weaver,
1910; scattering, 49, For president, total
vote, POI ,O45: for prohibition, 92,502; against
prohibition, 81 30f total 176 sos; excess of pres
idential vote over prohibition VOTE "a 439 votes:
votes for prohibition less than majority of all
the votes cast, 8 743; voters in state not voting
at all, AGO. Add to these the excess of votes
for president, the 24,434 and you have 80 059.
Add to this the vote against prohibition, 81, 304
Hence we have, not voting for prohibition,
1888 and have, voted for it 90 302 in the state
of Kansas. And yet, under the peculiar forms
of the constitution that evil provision was
placed in the constitution of Kansas.
In 1881 most stringent statute passed:
in 1883 another most stringent statute was
passed; in 1885 still another most stringent
statute was passed: in 1887 still another yet
more stringent statute passed by the leg
iSlature. These statutes. all of them, contain
provisions of the most extraordinary character.
They menaced every sacred constitutional
right of the people. They particularly stamped
out local self-government.
At the advent of prohibition Kansas the
best advertised state in the Union. Through
the public medium and at public cxpense its
capacity for raising grapes and other products
from which intoxicating liquors could be
ufactured was heralded to the world and men
were invited to come here for that purpose,
and did come and invested their capital here
Prohibition came and the people quit coming.
Why? You need not try to cover it up, you
know why. You know that the evil fame of
Kansas in that respect has been spread abroad
throughout the world, and Maj. Morrill, says
that when he went east he was kind of ashamed
that he from Kansas, and IL the people
asked him where he was from. he said, he
from the west He ought to have said as
you and say. He said he didn't register from
Kansas. He ought to have done as we do.
walk up to the register when am outside Of
Kansas and write: David Overmyer, To-
peka, Kan" am not ashamed of Kansas, be-
cause didn't do any of these mean things. If
anybody says: Where are you from?'' say
1 am from Kansas. Well, never was inSu1ted
for it yet. Don't make any mistake about this.
The world dom blame Kansas: it only blameS