The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-03-24

Officials Urged to Re-
peat Reform on Wheels Ride
Junketing Over the State as the
Guests of the Railroads
For the Purpose of Assessing Rail-
road Property, Which They Don't
Know Anything About and
Won't Even See.


the subject of riding in special cars and
feasting upon oyster patties, roast
goose, canvas back, champagne and
mineral water while assessing railroads
has, it is feared, not been chilled by
the criticisms which have emanated
from the plain people against such ac-
ton when taken by the officers consti-
tuting the state board of railroad as
SCISSORS under the Lewelling and Nor
rin Administered ions.
Notwithstanding all this, despite the
objections which were raised on pre-
vious occasions, the new board of rail-
road assessors, it is said, is planning
to plunge into the mad whirl of dizzy
touring to assess" Kansas railroad
property, bearing with them wives, bro
theirs, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles,
nephews, nothers-in-Iaw ct al, in spe-
cial trains.
What will the downtrodden farmer
say? What will the farmers wife
think, as she rushes to the door of her
modest home, her sleeves rolled up and
hands covered with 'sody" biscuit
dough, and sees the special train rush
by, while the dogs, not of the pyramids,
rush out and bark? What will the be-
levers in new monetary system Sug-
gest as measure of relief as they
stand idly by while the members of the
board alight at some out of the way
platform of the little depot?
Is it possible that these advocates of
reform Will go cavorting over the state
in a special train in Venetian luxury?
Will the book trust be permitted to
extend its nefarious ramifications while
the attorney general with his either
courts the muse, and lollygags on red
plush?
Will Captain Morris leave the train
at each station and with his historic
sword, preserved as a relic of the civil
war, marshal the assessors in unre-
lenting line to determine the value of
handcarS2
While the special train goes whirling
madly across the wild, bleak prairies
will Uncle Dave Hef1ebower find time
to do a may two-step?
Will Ed Little, carrying his little
bundle of Latin and Greek text books,
accompany the party and cover the
governor with glory by making
speeches at the cross roads while wait
ing for a freight train to get out of the
road?
Will the secretary of state have a
new desk put in the special car, or will
he borrow G. c. Clemens only remain
ing table upon which to prepare the
tabulated statements of valuations for
a railroad coal house assessed as the
train goes by at so miles an hour?
Will the lieutenant governor find
position to which he may appoint his
wife in order to bestow upon her an
official title, will he suggest to Mr..
Hurd that the engineer be manda-
mussed and compelled thereby to re-
cognize that the lieutenant governor is
on the train clad in all of his official
dignity?
Will the grand chorus of relatives
and friends, after the high carnival of
junketing is ended, chanting the praises
of the lavish dispensers of Missouri Pa
cific, Santa Fe and Rock Island "obli-
cation creators be interrupted by an
uprising of the people? Or will this
mad whirl across Kansas, totally use
less in whatever light it is viewed, be
permitted to proceed without objec-
ton?
The rather monotonous beauty of
Kansas cornfields, full of old dead
stalks, the shocking condition of the
wheat, the nominations of ground squir-
rels and prairie dogs and the flight of
the meadow lark will be marked while
the state officers and their wives, jour
neying across the state, flatten their
noses against the windows and "as-
sess'' railroad property.
The mystery of the whole thing is
that anyone should want to ride lick
ety-split' all over Kansas merely for
the sake of riding. People who have
to do it in their business detest the or
deal. The operation isn't of the least
value to the state to the railroads
and it is sure to produce comment ex-
tremely injurious to the party in power
Will the POpuliStS sell their chances
for reelection for a railroad ride?