The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-05-01
TERDTCT ZOE K1Ns4s.
[From the washIngton star.l

reply "New York" Some time ago the
New York Evening Post said editorially
s'We do not want any more states until
we can civilize Kansas" and that declar-
alton brought forth a comparison which
will probably result In making repre-
sentatives of New York somewhat de-
liberate as to thought and speech in
which Kansas is concerned The west
ern champion is Mr.. James Willis Gleed,
| q Vermonter by birth, but now one Of the
most influential of those who dwell IN
the great country west of the Mlssissip-
ri. Mr.. Gleed, through the medium OF
The Forum, asks the question, rs New
York more civilized than Kansas" and
then proceeds to answer in the negative.
Starting out with the indis putable but fire.
quentlv forgotten fact that no section of
the country can get true ideas of anoth-
er section by the perusal of the newspa-
per because-the unusual thing is the one
reported by telegraph, the Kansas
knight SAYS that if Mr.. Gould and Mr..
Most monopolize the column of New
York news, the western farmer depend
ent on that column for information is
gradually led to think of New Workers
as either capitalists" or anarchists, while
if no Kansas woman appears in
the New York papers except Mrs
Lease, the tendency of New York is to
generalize from her, and some hundreds
of thousands of sensible, sweet-tempered
women count for nothing. Mr.. Gleed's
comparisons are, as he admits, broad and
rough and are made ssnot with the idea
of producing conviction, but rather of
provoking reflection" There are in Kan
sas a million and half of people and
about the same number inhabit Man
haitian Island. Kansas, it is claimed,
was settled by primary migration from
New England and later one from the
middle states; New York is "rather
foreign community, great aggregation
of strangers, largely Irish, largely Ger
man, considerably Russian and extern
sively miscellaneous" The New York
magnet is that of accumulated wealth
and power and the alleged existence of
extraordinary opportunities for pleasure
and profit" the attraction that at first
drew men to Kansas was ga war waging
for an abstract principle, the abolition of
human slavery" The statistics of litter
acy are unquestionably favorable to Kan
sas, where four-ffths Of all the children
under 1S and over years of age were
enrolled in the schools; in the state of
New York, scarcely more than two
thirds; in New York city, less than one
half. New York fails to furnish its
children adequate school accOmmoda-
tions, many thousands of little ones grow
ing up in ignorance because of this neg
lect; even in the arid regions of Western
Kansas every child has opportunity to
attend school.
~
rollment of students, Kansas leads the
great eastern metropolis by such a dis
lance that Mr.. Gleed feels justified in
saying that Manhattan Island is not
patron of liberal education; that it is
almost wholly engrOSsed in mOney-mak-
ing and money-spending; that the intel
lectual life of America is not there.
After calling attention to the character
istics of newspapers published in New
York city and in the state for which he
Gleed touches upon the well-patrOnized
public reading rooms and libraries, the
university extension classes, the art
leagues, the history, Shakespeare and
social science clubs, the Chautauqua cir
cles and the Browning societies of the
much-abuSed Kansas, and arrives at
the we'll established conclusion that
nowhere else in the world
there be found body of
million and half of people who do any
more independent thinking, reading and
debating than the million and half of
and crime is entirely unnecessary; New
York city spends nearly six millions dol
lars annually upon its police department.
a sum that equals the entire cost of town.
ship, county, municipal and state govern
ment in Kansas That drunkenness is
common in New York every one knows;
Mr.. Gleed says that in the city of Topeka
there are children more than a dozen
years old who never saw a saloon or a
drunken man. In the matter Of the re-
ligious character and habits of the peo-
pie, the facts and figures prove New
to be very much inferior to Kansas, while
if the doctrines of John Stuart Mill and
ThoroId Rogers-that the best governed
and best civilized country is that in
which property is generally distributed
and where the great body of the peo-
pie live in material comfort-are ac-
cepted as true, then Kansas is a long
way in advance of Manhattan Island. Po-
litically, too, Kansas has no reason to be
afraid of competitive measurement The
misgOvernment of New York city is and,
with few brief exceptions, always has
been notoriously disgracefUl. Mr.. Gleed
says, ''that citizen Of New York, Capt
Kidd, first set the fashion. and piracy has
hourished on Manhattan Island ever
SINCE" History shows it to have been a
riotous community in which one or two
INSCRIPTIONS men held supreme power
and exercised it for anything except the
general good. Admitting that Populism
has worked some harm in Kansas-evil
that will, he believes, be undone at the
next election-Mr. Gleed asks the Even
ing Post if it had to choose whether it
would be ruled by Mr. Croker or Mr..
Lewelling, would it choose Croker? The
answer is easy, and the victory just now
is with Kansas.