The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-10-23
REPUBLICAN COUNTY TICKET.
LET THE BUILDING TALK.

On your way TO the polls election
morning, if you live in the city o
Wichita, you will pass the Sheets build
ing on the corner OF Market street anC
Douglas avenue VIII it influence you
vote?
Does that building tell a story today
Does it speak in louder, stronger. more
persuasive tones than any Populst Or
ator in the field? Does NOT its line o.
weather-stained bricks and its line c.
bright red bricks fresh from the kill
in their silent contrasting appeal Il
the mind contain a certain dumb bu
overwhelming eloquence?
Years ago that building was IL
course Of construction. 1t stood on one
Of the most prominent corners of the
greatest town Of the southwest Its
architectural plans were superb. Ii
represented the pride and hope Of its
owner, a citizen. 1t represented the
pride and hope of every citizen. In
November, 1892, Grover Cleveland was
elected. The building was up to the
1rst story, giving the On-looker just an
intimation Of its coming beauty of de-
sign. The surrounding side walk was
covered with sand, with mortar, with
brick, with lumber. One day in De
cember, 1892. work ceased Grover
Cleveland was coming and with him
came panic, loss of confidence, tight
money and business stagnatiOn. One
day the men at work on the walls
came down And there, for four long
years, with Grover Cleveland in the
White House and Populism and Dem
ocracy in control in this nation, that
unfinished building stood, staring like a
statue of Despair, into the face of this
community.
Does the merry burr and happy buzz
of the saws on the building today plead
with you to vote the Populist ticket or
the Republican ticket?
For four long years that building
stood, with It's gaping walls open, with
its iron Orders rusting, with its rafters
rottening, with the piles of sand on the
ground wearing lower and lower, with
It's heaps of unlaid brick crumbling
away. No men were working upon it.
A beggar playing a violin or hand or
gan most frequently sat in the ruin and
took its kindly shade. But there were
no men on top of it, no men saving,
no men hammering, no men welding
the fiat, bright troweL Pedestrians
stumbled over the wasting material.
Two damage suits were brought
against the city because of that build
ing's incompletion. And still 1t stared
out into the community like a statue
of Despair, an evidence and a wreck,
sign TO all visitors that the town was
not prosperous.
Does the merry, ringing voice of busy
hammers on that building today plead
with you to vote the Populist ticket or
the Republican ticket?
Last year over perhaps your protest,
over Kansas protest, Sedgwick coun-
tvs protest, aye, Wichita's protest, Ma
jOr Mckinley was elected president on
the promise that he would bring pros
perity. Has prosperity begun TO come?
Look at the Sheets building Did it
not cease 10 grow with Harrison's de-
feat? Does it not begin to grow again
with McKinley'S election? Did it grow
under a Democratic administration?
its base? Do you see the new brick
piled beneath its front? Do you see
the men saving away on the rafters?
Do you hear the cry of ''mort?" Do
you see the hods going up and down
the ladders? Do you see the men lay
ing the bright, red bricks higher and
higher? Do you hear the tinkling OF
the busy trowels?
Does the merry tinkling of those
trowels on that building today plead
with you to vote the Populist ticket or
the Republican ticket?
Doesn't its progress today after over
four years Of idleneSS mean that invest
ors are no longer afraid? Doesn't it
mean that they have faith in the ad-
ministration Of the Republican party?
Doesn't it mean that confidence is re-
stored? Doesn't it mean thar the Re
publican party is doing not only for
the nation, but for Kansas, and for
Wichita, and fer the owner Of the
building, yes, for those laboring men
who are so busy working there today.
something good, something tangible,
something advantageous? Think about
ii. Politics is usually politics. In this
case il is business.
On your way 10 the polls election
morning You Will pass the Sheets build
ing. Look at it. Let its dumb mate
rails tell you how 10 vote.
HAVANA BUSHES MEN.