Evening star., 1896-08-26
NEW PARTY IN KANSAS.
Tho Myst1c Brotherhood, With Thou.
sands of Followers.

oEOl0eTnOO0s Th0ns
sands of Follower.
Special Correspondence OF The Evening Star
TOPEKA. Kan, August g. 1896
during the past week there has been
great activity about the different political
headquarters in Kansas. The republican
campaign committee has held several
secret sessions. the office force has been
thoroughly organized and one hundred
campaign orators of state reputation have
peen scheduled for speeches The candi-
oates Tor Congress and state offices have
ali neen pressed into service. and those
Oh tnem who are not public speakers are
assisting in the executive work As work
IN the different departments of the state
, n.use VIII De slack during the campaign
clerks ana typewriters in the employ of the
state, all of whom are now republicans
nave rendered their spare time 10 the COM
nittee. and have thus relieved the pressure
that would be made on the campaign fund
II L. were necessary to employ men to do
all the work.
Kansas Gold Democrats.
A meeting of the democratic state CEN
trail committee was also held during the
week. and it was attended by representa-
tives Of the populist committee and free
silver republicans. 1t was decided that the
three organizations should act together i'm
the conduct of the campaign. as far as
prac ticable, and that each shall open head
quarters in the same building that consul
tatlonS between the different chairmen may
be held at short notice. The free silver
alliance is experiencing difficulty i'm getting
FUNDS with which to defray expenses, and
as consequence work is ianguishing and
tnelr headquarters do not present that live
DuSlneSS-like appearance that pervades the
offices of the republican committee.
The gold standard democrats will hold
their convention Tuesday next to elect
delegates to the national convention at
Indianapolis September =. While the time
for working up this convention has been
short, the indications are that there will be
an attendance of at least 300. Eugene
Hagan OF this city, who represented Kar-
sas at the conference at indianapolis that
called the ma tional convention. and G. J.
Lantry, secretary of the provisional organ
ization of the party, are busy attending To
correspondence that has resulted from the
call OF the state convention. They have
lists of sound money democrats In every
county in the state, and express themselves
surprised at the number of them.
Afraid of 1t.
"One of the things We have to contend
with in getting up this convention" said
Mr. Hagan. lis the fear of sound money
democrats that II they attend our conyen-
lion they will be in honor bound to support
the nominees of the national convention.
Nearly all of them say they intend TO vote
for Mckinley and don't want to be tied up
to third candidate. To this l have uni
formly replied that the purpose of The con-
vention is to send up an organized protest
against Bryan and the Infamous platform
on which he is running, and that neither
this convention nor the one which meets
at Indianapolis will attempt to interfere
with an individual choice of the best meth
cd of comprising Bryan's defeat.
The Mystic Brotherhood is JUS, --ow at
tracing the attention of the politicians
of all parties. This is a secret organiZa-
ticn. the object of which Is to secure re-
submission to a vote of the people of the
prohibition amendment to the constitution.
Its members are pledged to vote for no
candidate for office who is not opposed 20
prohibition. Its strength is an unknown
quantity, but it is admitted that IL will
be an important factor in the election. A
similar organization existed in 1Ss2. and to
its influence was largely attributed the
election Of George w. Click. democrat.
governor 1t failed of its purpose then
because it did not elect enough members
OF the legislature to resubmit the question.
A state convention of the order is to be
held in Wichita early in September, when
the candidates for governor and other
state officers will be decided on.
Mystic BrotherhOod's Strength.
The Mystic Brotherhood is known to
be very strong in the cities and towns.
In Topeka, the great prohibition strong
hold, it is claimed that it has over 1900
members. and in the state at large a men,
bership of over $1,000 is asserted. If II IS
half as large as this and its members ale
faithful to their oaths. the candidate they
indorse for governor will be elected.
Republicans are hard at work in the
order to secure the Endorsement of Gov.
Morrill,, while populists and democrats are
equally energetic in advocating the claims
of their candidate ]. W. Leedy Gov. Nor
rill, until a short time ago. made a great
effort TO enforce prohibition in Wichita and
q few other towns, but in a majority of
cases he winked at the violation of the
law. Now, while the campaign is on, joints
are being run wide open in all cities. and
the police machinery. which is under the
direct control of the governor. does not in
terfere with them. This policy, while it
has undoubtedly made friends for the gov
ernor among the nti-prohibitionists has
at the same time driven from him many
prohibition supporters.
The new national party, the boilers from
the prohibition party, hope to get many re-
publican votes for their state ticket be-
cause of the policy pursued by Gov Nor
rill during his administration. They argue
that this class of republicans cannot vote
for either the populist or republican cam
didate for governor, and that they must
either not vote at all or vote for their cam
didate. 1t is evident that the nationalists
have absorbed the major portion of the old
prohibition party, and that it will poll a
larger number of votes than the old or
ganiZation. John P. St. John has been the
backbone of prohibition in Kansas and
when he went to the national party he
took with him most of the workers in that
field.