The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-01-11
Kansas Populists in Power again.

This is a week Of joy for that peculiar aud
interesting race, the Populists Of Kansas.
At Topeka to-day, JOHN w LEEDY will be
nducted into the office OF Governor. Inaug-
urated might be too warm a word, as Mr..
LEEDY Is a statesman of true geoponic
simplicity. and IL he is true to his principles
he will walk into the Capitol barefoot,
weather permitting. To-day. also, the Hon.
FRANK DosTER will take the oath Of Office
ms Chief Justice. Tomorrow the Legisla-
laturc, in both branches of which the Pop
ulists have n large majority, will assemble.
Mr.. LEEDY is the man who said during the
campaign that no would like to elbow
blood in the ears OF the capitalists" Mr..
DosTER is the Judge who has expressed the
opinion that the rights of the user Of property
are paramount to those Of the owner. Such a
Governor and such n Chief Justice coming
into Office. with a Legislature of their own
style to furnish them with laws, what have
the people who have investments in Kansas
TO expect' What Is to befall the railroads
and insurance companies and mortgage
companies which have been doing business
In the Stater
Well, in our opinion, nothing will befall
them, and all the people who have invest
ments in Kansas will nave little reason to
complain as far as the Populist Administra-
ton Is concerned. There will be many
incandescent .cranks in the Legislature who
will how for the downfall OF loathsomc
mortgages and capitalists, but wind has n
wide sweep in Kansas. 1t Is not likely to
do much harm there this year. In the first
place, the Populists are so thoroughly
angry on account Of what they conceive to
be the contemptuous attitude OF much OF
the outside world toward them, that they
are bound to show, IL they can, that they
benefit, and not ~injure. the credit Of the
State and the prosperity Of its farming and
commercial business. In the second place,
they have full control now. for the first
time. A sense OF responsibility Is awakened
by the nero fact that they are In power.
Any hot-headed voice was allowed to shrek
during n canvass or In n Legislature OF
which only one branch was Populist, but now
the solid men of the party will exert a con-
sentative influence; and there are plenty OF
them among the Kansas Populists. And
now the real leaders, those who are any
thing more than wheels and lungs, will put
brakes on the furious mere rartsrs.
Mr.. LEEDY, for all expressed desire for
~sanguinary exhalation, will probably be
found to be a quiet. well-meaning chap, a
little surprised because he is actually Gov
ernor and anxious to do credit to himself
and his family. Full Of queer language
still, perhaps, but language must be taken
at n treble discount in Kansas. 1t Is a
windy State, and native to crotchets. Gov
ernor LEEDY may scarcely remember Mr..
LEEDY's bloody sentiments.
In the third place, but perhaps most i'm
portant OF all the considerations which
seem to promise no great disturbance in
Kansas, the Hon. FRANK DosTER, Chief
Justice that will be in n few hours, the man
who will interpret the Populist laws, may
be described, II his admirers are nots mis-
taken, as n lawyer first and an extreme
Socialistic speculator, or philosopher. a long
way afterward. II we are correctly in
formed, he does not seek to inject his private
theories into his decisions. Whether this
be so or not, 1t is certain thai he has tried
to explain away his famous dictum about
the respective rights Of the owner and the
user Of property. The best explanation
would be that rs a Judge he proposes TO
follow the presidents, although as n specu-
lative thinker he has his private notions
about what the Law Of real property ought
to be in Kansas and elsewhere.
Any way, wait in peace and see what the
Kansas Populists will do.