New-York tribune., 1897-07-29
THE KANSAS IDEAL.
"a TT rMRoDIEp IN MR. WHITES TYPI-
CAL TOWN. OR is 1T YET TO
RE WORKED OUT?


II ,s good thing to know people as they are
II we have to discuss problems win .nen''
M,sconcent,on Of motives and habits of life is
more fatal TO harmonious solution thah any
d,rerence of interests or divergence of aims
The passions aroused in the last campaign So
far as they were honest. popular passions ana
not the simulations OF the demagogue used for
dramatic effect upon others, sprang on po'h
s,des lees from earnest conviction-though
there was doubtless depth of earnestness III
each narty-than from suspicion based on ig-
norance of the conditions Of the peoples VINO
were the typical believers in the different doc
trines The Westerner really was deluded into
the belief that the Fastener wanted to oppress
him in mere selfishness. and could not reaNe
the complex life which saw in his notlohs
menace not simply to its selfish interests pu'
TO its laboriously developed civilization. 80 the
Eastern man, knowing the West largely 1roi"
its most erratic and violent Spokesman iouiiu
II difficult to believe in the good sense OF soou
faith of communities which accepted such teach-
ers No part of the West has suffered so niuch
In this respect Kansas. Therefore IL Is
matter of peculiar interest that so Keen an
observer of its life and so straightforward
critic Of its tendencies as Mr. Wlihaih Aiie"
White should have written Of "A Typical Ran
sas Community for the current number OF "lhe
Atlantic Monthly"
II Matthew Arnold were now writing "A Wora
About America he would certainly stuo! NIL
Whites description to see II II would aio iiiii 1"
Nndne that manner of life belonging to the
highest civilization which his Boston critic as
sured him existed in towns never heard OF py
Mr.. Arnold The political aspect of Kansas Is
entirely aside from Mr.. Whites purpose. III Is
suggested only by the fact that polltlcai mis-
understanding has made emphatic the neeo Oh
social insight His aim has been to reveal 'he
workings of the Kansas town. the sociai loeai oi
its people and their industrial state so lar aS
It conditions the family and village hie' i"e
present era in Kansas he says Is one OF hoNhe-
making The gambler has gone Inc Gay VI
gaining fortunes by passing lands from one u
another at fictitious values is gone Inc specu-
lator finds his market unresponsive. Ihe people
now in the State are no longer campng they
intend to remain. and accordingly are mahihs
homes and setting social boundaries.
A State in which the largest town has hardy
forty thousand inhabitants. dotted with coun-
" seats which are in the strictest sense couh-
try towns. drawing their sustenance from the
farming community round about, and having no
factories and no labor problem, can scarcely be
the earth be represented there Existence IN
Kansas is essentially simple. not to say prlm-
tive The appliances of civilization may all be
there Books. papers, railroads and electricity
NAV he at everybody's hand. but these are only
tools and do not mean either finish or complexity
IN the social fabric Mr.. White thus describes the
outward aspect of his typical town:
1.-The highways are as straight as the sur
vevor's chain could make them. Set back al
regular distances from the sidewalk are the
more pretentious residences. built in the op-
trusive archit0 0ctural style Of the boom DAYS
compIacent in their sham magnfcence. Inc
paint has been washed off many OF them, ana
their faded appearance is almost tragic. Inc
story Of these unpainted houses is written upon
the town. and in the leafess season 1t depresses
the passing stranger; but in the early spring
when the grass comes, nature covers up the
barren aspect. The smaller houses of the VII
Iage are less depressing Perhaps they do not
cover such bitter disappointments They are
like modest cottages the world over
There is in these towns an intense social
democracy. such as Mr.. White thinks does not
exist In older American States. though his ac-
count with minor variations might fit many
small towns even in New-York. Glass lines are
,nd,stinct There are upper and lower crusts.
something after this fashion: The old whist
crowd the young whist crowd. the literary
crowd. the young dancing crowd the church
social crowd or lodge crowd, and the surprise
nartv crowd" Those terms define themselves
and the social and intellectual status Of those
they include pretty clearly. The family does
not belong to a crowd as a unit One daughter
attends the lodge socials and joins in spelling
matches Another bores herself listening to
the pretentious learning of the Browning Circle
A son crosses the railroad track to a noisy
dance on a kitchen floor, while the parents at
tend the meetings OF the Bon Ton Whist Club
and play for gilt-edged copies of Ben Hur ana
hand painted" smoking sets. The old style
camp-meetings and revvals hold sway with the
people who live in the side streets, and are re-
garded with ndugent superiority by the MEM
bers OF more fashionable churches.
Tenement houses are unknown In Kansas.
Wages are not high. but opportunities for saving
are many. The banker is generally retired
farmer or storekeeper, or successful real estate
man. The lawyer and the doctor are people or
importance The former is put in Office TO help
him pay his debts, and the latter 10 pay every
body's debt to him. The community is highly
moral In spite Of all the fun about women in
politics Mr. White declares their influence good.
They take little part in other than local ques-
t,ons their office holding has generally been
toke: but their silent influence has been uplift-
ing "In most towns in other States writes
Mr.. White the corners Of the principal streets
are occupied by dramshops. In the town where
this paper is written the influence of women
has been exerted forcibly that ynree Of the
four corners where the two main streets cross
are occupied by banks. Instead Of Hogans re-
treat on the fourth corner stands bookstore.
There the boys and the young men Of the town
find a meeting place. . 1t is town Of
eight thousand inhabitants. without a saloon,
without strange woman without a town
drunkard'
These towns have libraries and the politicians