Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1895-01-24
GOVERNOR MORRILL'S INAUGURAL.

~ has passed since Kansas entered the
yisterhood Of states, 1t Is an appropriate
lime to review its history and to mark its
progress. | ask your indulgence, there
lore. while briefly compare its status on
the Goth OF January, 1861, with the con.
ditlons which now surround II.
The measure Of dignity and strength
In statehood, attained by common
wealth, will ever be found co.equal with
the measure Of love and devotion borne
to it by its citizens The respect OF man
kind for state can no more rise above
the respect of the state for itself than
can public respect for man rise above
his own self respect.
1t may we'll BIO said that the duty OF a
man to defend and protect the good
name Of his family, can only be second
to his duty to defend and protect the
good name Of his state. The child can
be no more sensitive and vlgllant in re.
ssting the assaults Of SANDER upon his
father aud mother than every citizen
should be in protecting the good name Of
the commonwealth Of which he is a
| member ..,.as
| Manlinoss and Patriotism. ASsS8H
1t Is an unworthy, unmanly, indecent
son, that will magnify expose and parade
! abroad the faults of his father, and it is
equally unpatrotic and disgraceful for
citizen to go before the world in like
! exposure of his state Even wrongs can
never be rlghted, nor weakness strength
ened by such means. do not mean by
this that wrongs are to be defended, nor
actual shortcomings denied But do
mean that the arena for their discussion
should be limited to the narrowest posi-
BILE boundaries of an honest effort for
their correction.
The life and experience Of Kansas has
fairly verified the legend upon its great
seal, as an inspired prophecy. 1t has,
indeed, climbed "up to the stars through
difficulties" In its progress it has met
and mastered obstacles that would have
crushed and conquered less forceful
and self-reliant civilization. 1t was born
Of an idea, and grew upon the food Of a
grand purpose purpose no less than
The idea of universal freedom To this
end 1t struggled in the path of martyr
dom for weary years, and until the nation
took up its contention and carried it
through bloody war to victory in the
emancipation of race.
| Tho States Proud Military Record.
Faithful to Its divine purpose, Kansas
put more volunteer soldiers into the In
ion army that it had male citizens of
military age; and no stronger proof of
their devotion to the old flag and
OF their bravery on the field of battle
could be given than the simple fact that
the rate Of mortality of the Kansas
soldiers was greater than that of any
other state There existed neither public
nor private credit wherewith to enter
upon a new career of prosperity. A state
bond could not have been placed at less
than ruinous discount, il at ALL in any
money market of the country; and mu-
nicipal credit was thing unknown out
side of our own boundaries. State officers
and employees, like those Of cities and
counties, were paid in promises to pay.
Orders were drawn on an empty treas
ury, which, under the provisions Of law,
could be presented to the treasurer,
and when by him Endorsed "Not
paid for want Of funds" bore interest at
the rate OF seven per cent per annum
until paid. This interest bearing scrip
was sold upon the street at a discount
from its face value of ten to twenty per
cent, although provided for by current
levy, and practically sure OF being paid
within year.
In the Early Days.
School district bonds were issued for
the construction of school house, under
authority Of the statutes, bearing interest
ut the rate Of ten per cent per annum,
for period of not more than five years,
and their sale prohibited at price less
than eighty cents on the dollar And it
is fact we'll known to those who lived
in Kansas at that time, that this law was
only available to districts favorably locat-
ed as to population and cultivated sur
roundings Many could not place their
bonds at all under this twenty per cent
limit of discount Even as late as 1868
the city of Loavenworth, with its
known wealth and prestige as the
metropolis of Kansas, found it
difficult to sell $4,000 of its bonds to
erect high school building, at this legal
limit Of discount; and when purchaser
was found for them, he was hailed as a
public benefactor, as we'll he might be,
for no man outside of the state could be
found with confidence enough in the I'M
known future Of Kansas to risk such
sum.
Since that date the state has had a
strange, almost weird, history and ex-
perIence. Prosperity and adversely have
followed each other in quick succession.
We have. had whitening droughts and
devasting insects; "booms" of prosperity
and phenomenal speculation, followed
by "boomersngs" of adversely and stag
nation. "We have touched the keystone
in the arch of hope, aud sat upon the
mud-sill at the base of despair"
The Hand of an Evil Genius.
But from the worst, or all of these, we
have suffered far less than from the virus
of unrest, discomfort, and disloyalty, in
jected into our blood by the hand
of an evil genius to poison
manly courage and self-reliant en-
ergy at the fountain of its source. We
have been tempted to despise the methods
and look with contempt upon the legiti-
mate fruits Of honest industry and indi-
vidual enterprise; to lean upon the gov
eminent and demand from it tina: which
can alone be maintained through GER
sonal industry and rigid economy. The
lesson taught in the framing of our nom
paternal government, that "a people gov
erned least is governed best" seems to
have remained unlearned still.