The Topeka state journal., 1897-09-29
UNEQUALLED.
Nothing Equalling in SplendOr
the Santa Fe Parade.
Silver Anniversary of the Santa
Fe Magnificent.
MEN BY THOUSANDS
March in the Procession Suit
ably COstumed.
Many Gorgeous Floats and a
Score of Bands.
1T WAS MILES LONG.
Mr.. Ripley Says "It Was the
Greatest Demonstration
In the History of the Country
and the Parade
Surpassed all His Expectations"
Highly Pleased.
PARADE WAS MARRIED
By VeXatiOus Delays, But Won
derfuI, Nevertheless.
Fifty Thousand People Came to
Town Today.
PARADE WAS MARRIED
BY VexatiOus Delays, But Won
derfuI, Nevertheless.
Fifty Thousand People Came to
Town Today.

An army of men, each individual a
part of the great machine that controls
the greatest railroad on earth, march
ed up Kansas avenue today to the mu-
sic of bands. The towns of Kansas
enptied upon the streets of Topeka to
day $4,000 men and women to do honc
to that army. There were nearly 60
men in the procession and SO floats.
There were no weapons among tt
soldiers in today's parade. In thei
hands they carried the tools of indus
try.
Enwrapped in the working clothes
they wore were the hearts and bodies
of those upon whom the stability of the
government rests. Every man in the
parade felt the honor of his position.
For months the employees of the
great Santa Fe system have been act
i've. Not a thing was left undOne to
make this the greatest celebration ever
seen.
Twenty-Five years ago Col. G. K. Hol-
liday addressed a little body of men
near the Kansas river. Less than 100
miles of what was to be a great rail-
people had assembled to celebrate the
opening of the little line. Col. Holli-
day had done more than any other man
to give Topeka a railroad.
Today marks the realization of the
dreams of the founder of the Santa Fe
The great American desert has been
turned into smiling fields which have
delivered this year to the granaries of
the world almost 10O, ,O0O, 900 bushels of
wheat.
The old and the new civilization met
today. The most delicate piece of ma
chinery of the present and the old forge
and anvil of the past.
The great locomotives which carry
thousands of people over Kansas and
the little old engine which served its
purpose in the opening of the state,
passed in review side by side.
The Indians of the pioneer days rode
in the procession with enlightened
working men whose families have all
that can be provided. quarter of
century of progress was spread out be-
fore the eyes of the people of Topeka's s
streets.
1t is not surprising that people arose
earlier than usual this morning and
took their stand on the sidewalk al
most before the morning sun had cast
its rays over the hOusetops. Ihey hao
an inklins of what was to happen.
At o'clock the streets were crowded,
at 10 they were jammed. People craned
those before them. Fringes of people
lined the tops of the buildings and anx-
ious ewes peered from every window on
Kansas avenue. Flags huttered IN the
Santa Fe Silver anniversary celebra-
tiOn.
AS the Santa Fe road has done much
to make Kansas what it is so Kansas
furnishes the life blood for the great
railroad When the state is prosperous
the wheels are not idle One depends
upon the other and what could be more
appropriate than the celebration of the
progress of the Santa Fe railroad in the
capital of the state to which it be-
longs.
President Ripley and officers of the
railroad should realize from the gath
ering today that the people are not
unmindful of the roads welfare. The
floats in the parade are but symbols of
the esteem in which the employees hold
the machine of which they are an in
tegTal part.
Topeka will have parades and cele-
brations in years to come but there viii
not be another more characteristic of
all that is great in the history of Kan
sas than that which wound through
the streets of the capital of Kansas to-
day.