The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-01-18
WHAT WHITESAYS
The EmpOria Editor Tells Chi
cagO of Kansas.
Speaks of the Editorial That
Brought Him Notice,
ALSO MANY ROASTS
Has All the Comments Pasted
on His Walls.
Relates Incidents of Kansas
Boom Times.


ia (Kan) Gazette:
What's the Matter With Kansas
White has come and gone as the guest
of the Fellowship club, but he didn't
tell the members of that jovial organi-
cation all he knows about the sunburn-
ed and bleeding commonwealth of John
Brown and Jerry Simpson. The bright
est scintillations of this boyish country
editor, who won national fame by a
single editorial and has achieved sue
cess by his first volume of short stories,
were reserved for the readers of the
Evening Post.
Sitting in the office of his Chicago
publisher, William Allen White hung
his knees over the arm of his chair and
reopened the topic of Kansas.
Yes" laughed the round faced and
blue eyed young man, that screed on
What's the Matter With Kansas?
brought me fame as unexpected as a
rainy season in Fountain county. But
that wasn't all it hrought-nOt by the
whiskers of Pefferi The walls OF my
den in the Emporia Gazette office are
plaStered with the burning epiStleS of
Populists who cruelty the grammar
afresh in hundreds of letters, which
breathe out threateninGS and slaughter
against me. Why, those letters are so
hot that the temperature of the room
will stand at 80 degrees above zero in
the coolest day that this winter will
bring. They'll save fuel for me this
winter. but I'll have to put 'em away in
the risk of spontaneous combustion.
Every single roast that I've received
is on exhibition and I'm proud of the
collection. 1t beats the WarmeSt poster
show that was ever got together. Dur
ing the latter days of the campaig aft
er that editorial appeared, no PopuliSt
procession was complete without a
Transparency or banner on which was
emblazoned the head of long cared
jack and the colorless legend. White
Sometimes the latter was left off but
oVoTVhO0V understood the DiPflIrRiS Sier-
nificance. There is no doubt about my
standing with the Populists of Kansas.
| They regard me as the arch defamer of
my state"
But you can well afford to suffer the
anathemaS of these people in view of
the unprecedented reputation which
your denunciation of Kansas cranks and
| their methods brought yOu,'' suggested
| Mr. Whites interviewer.
| Certainly" he responded, but that lit
| tie piece in the paper was not written
with the thought that it would ever
make a ripple beyond the modest edi-
| torial dens of. Kansas. L didn't even
! have as much forethOught about it as
| did jerry Simpson when he made his
! first congressional campaign. Jerry
| had not the slightest expectation that
| he would be elected. He didn't even in
| dulge in the hope that he might be car
ried to success by some unaccountable
tidal wave. But he did derive a passing
moments amusement from specializing
upon the novel features of the situation
! if lightning should strike him-and that
| was more forethought than was guilty
of.
after Jerry had made his last speech
and there was nothing more to do but
wait for his returns, he gathered his
faithful friends about him and they
| held little pOwwOw in Medicine Lodge
Well said he, it's all over and I've
put up as good a fight as I could. Of
course, it's sure thing-for the other
| fellowl'
Then followed few moments of 81
lence, in which every body tried to think
| of something consOling. A broad
| gagged smile stole over the bare footed
features of Simpson and he broke the
| silence with the exclamation:
| I should get it, .
DO conditions as terribly bleak and
| desolate as those which you have de-
| picted in your stories-say in the Story
! OF Aqua Pura, for instance-prevaiI in
your slater the young kansan was
| asked.
There is no imagination in the at
mospheric conditions of that Sketch -
he replied. 1.-The scene is laid in the
western quarter of the state. where the
the country is cursed of man and for
gotten of God. The original of that
town was Saratoga, and the entire
toWnsite could now be purchased for
one-tfird of the money which the
plum bling of its hotel cost 1t is now
simply collection of sun baked cell
lars They tell story in the fertile
middle and eastern sections of the state
| which illustrates the condition of the
| western quarter. If anyone doubts tn
truthfulness of this narrative, let him
| refer to any man VINO witnessed the
rise and fall of a west Kansas town.
when the Union Pacific railroad in
vaded the rainleSS district of the west
its terminus for some time was a place
called Sheridan. Tt was division head
quarters and it doomed like a cannon
cracker. But when the road was push
| ed forward the division moved with il
| and carried the entire popula ton alone
in h. x-e,1 10 h I.a.-
to be done by those who owned the big
gest portion of the town lots and they
employed a smart promoter to visit
| Boston. He took with him photograps
of the thriving young city, which ha6
been taken at the very height of the
| boom.
These photographs did the business
| and the townSite was sold to a capital
ist who paid bis money and received
his deeds When these formalitie.
were concluded he decided to accom-
| pany the promoter to the scene of tn
| prairie metropolis.
when they came alongside the town
of Sheridan the promoter signalled tn
conductor to pull the bell cord, stop tn
train and let them off. The capitals
stood for a moment on the bald prairi
taking in more square miles of seen
cry at a simple glance than was eve
! reflected in one momeEt on the retin;
Of his eye before Then he looked a
the promoter, expecting him to turf
into q cargo of sacked salt. But h
didn't-not the western Kansas pro
moter He looked as pert and sauc.
as a native sunflower and exclaimed:
" Just come over here and look a
| these splendid dirt cellars There's
| fortune in 'em. They're as Cry as tn
| day thew were dug. and if you'll TAX
'em. up and ship 'em 10 Denver, wher
| cellars have to he blasted out Of soil
rock. you can sell them alone for NOR
. | money than the whole town has cos
| you
.s-This story Is a standard Kansas paT