The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1897-05-21
THE CHANUTE TIMES.
C.S. NATION, Editor and Prop.
mhrea Decades.

1876 the town lot craze struck them
and they became spectators IL
town lots; every other man you me-
had some kind of scheme to buy
small piece of ground adjoining some
town and lay out an addition an6
sell it in such way as to make spec
and for many the scheme worked like
charm.
Every man who. bought real estate
and sold it again made money; eastern
people were induced to put capital in
to town lots and fortunes were made
almost in day.
The boom was at its zenith in 'S4
and '65, but like all good things II
must have an end. Things took
sudden change, capital ceased to pour
in, mortgages began to come due,
interest and taxes must be paid and
paid in cash, the fellow with a lot OF
real estate in small town that was
bonded for railroads, electric lights,
water works and other modern con-
veniences, found his taxes enormous.
All of a sudden the bottom fell out OF
real estate; instead of buyers, everyone
wanted to sell. The bubble had burst
ed, men who had been considered solid,
became bankrupts; when individuals
failed, corporations holding their obli-
cations must necessarily fail, and so
it went. Many Of the more plucky
looked the situation squarely in the
face and went to work as they former
ly had done. Some, but they were
few, who had stuck to their farms and
FORCES were all right, while others be-
gan to look for some one on whom to
Law the blame; then it was, that dem
agogues began to look for new
scheme; there were few vacations open
to the fellow who did not want to work
for living; then it was that 1t dawned
upon many that they could convince
their neighbors that something was
materially wrong with the govern
ment; meetings were called and all
kinds of wild thereories regarding the
"way out' were advanced, old party
lines were oblterated; instead of spec
ulators men suddenly became
politicians; government loans,
government ownership or railroads,
government repositories or ware
houses where man might deposit
his produce as collateral and get
money or credit Of some kind on same
were advocated. A general re-adjust-
ment was demanded A new party
piloted by alarmists sprang into exis-
tence, each member of which tried to
advocatete something wilder and woll-
Ter than his neighbOr. Politics be-
came disease; some Of the republic
cans caught it; the idea of legislating
money into mems pockets became very
popular, and early in the '90s, the good
old party of Hamilton, Chase and
Sherman almost lost its senses and for
time, through the advice OF Perkins,
Ingalls, and others, made frantic ell
orts to outpop the pops.
Then it was that speaker Douglass
introduced and helped push through
the legislature the fool" bill regard
ing the foreclosure of mortgages-a
bill intended to help the borrower; a
bill making the collection Of debt,
secured by a mortgage so indefinite
slow and uncertain that capital was
almost driven from the state and in
terest went from I to 8 per cent per
annum, and business was at stand
still.
Douglas was for time hero, Duns-
more gained some notoriety, ingalls,
came so near popping, that his speech
es were rehearSed and quoted by every
cross road politician. But there came
a change. The republicans repudiated
Douglass, the pops Dunsmore. The
republicans came back to their senses,
discarded the prohibition fallac7, went
before the people with E. N. Morrill,
on an old time common sense platform,
swept the state and regained
their supremacy which they would
have held for aquarter of CEN
fury, but from the fact that the uni
ted opposition found new Moses in
the person of VIM. j. Bryan to lead
them out of the wilderness; the fires OF
discomfort were re-kindled, the free
and unlimited coinage Of silver was
the new panacea for all human ills.
Mr.. Bryan, young, aggressive and elo-
Quent, worked it to a queens taste in
Kansas, and many good people were
deluded into chasing the silver rain
bow; the opposition to the republican
party got what they had so long de-
sired-control Of all branches Of the
Kansas government, but with power
came responsibility. 1t was easy to
talk and make promises as long as
the party was not in position to full
fill them. A new condition now con-
fronted this party of promises; they
found themselves called upon by their
costituents to redeem some Of the long
list Of pledges. Governor Leedy who
quit farming and entered politics, as
he himself said because he could not
make living farming, who owns no
property and pays no taxes, was in ia
vor of trying some of the experiments.
Many members of both houses of the
legislature stood with him, but for
tunately some reasonable men had
been elected to the legislature; some
tax payers were there; some men like
NJ. T. Jones of Chanute, who had by
careful hard work accumulated COM
potency, did not propose to put it in
jeopardy to satifsy the whims of few
unfortunate alarmists. Enough con-
servative men among the pops, stood
with the republicans to prevent any
wild eyed legislation from being enac-
ted,
Only few OF the 1900 bills intro
duced, became laws, and most of them
have since been declared unconstitu-
tional. A new condition now con-
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