The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1897-10-22

lHE lula hEO1O i I'll
feared that this new schoolbook law
will become the most costly expert
ment Kansas has ever tried.
But perhaps the most striking
feature about this POpulist handbook
is it's absolute silence upon the matters
which have been most prominently
before the Kansas people tor the past
seven months. The people have been
awaiting it in the hope that some &C.
ceptable explanation would he offered
for the official acts which have made
Kansas an object of contempt and
derisiOn in every part of our common
country. 1t was hoped that some de.
tense might be offered for the legis-
lative scandals of last winter, which
resulted in an investigation, where,
out of the mouths of POpulist witnesses,
testimony was received which con-
victed the first PopuIist legislature in
Kansas OF being perhaps the most
corrupt body of men who ever as
sem bled in legislative capacity any
where. 1t was expected that some
extenuatiOn might be offered for those
POpulist senators and representatives
who were accused under oath by their
fellow members of receiving brides.
Il
1t was expected that some explanation
would be offered for the forgery by
which the appropriation for the
contingent expenses of the railroad
commissioners was more than
doubled. 1t was expected that Lew
elling, the first POpuIist governor on
earth, would be indicated from the
shocking charges leveled against him
by his associates in the present Pop
uliet State administration. 1t was
expected that some apology would be
offered for the incOmpetency through
which no less than fOrty-twO statutes
which are null and void were adopted
into the session laws of 1897. 1t was
expected that some excuse would be
given for the fact that every pledge
given by the POpulist State conven-
tion 10 the people of Kansas was
repudiated by the PopuIist legislature
with the exception of two unimpOrtant
ones. 1t was expected that the
miners of southern Kansas, who had
been pledged exemption from COM
petition with convict labor, would be
Informed why convict labor had been
more extensively placed in competi-
ton with them than ever before in
the history of the State. 1t was eX-
pected that while the condition of the
State treasury was being attributed
| to the extravaganza or economy of
State administrations it would be eX-
! planned why it is that for the first time
! in fifteen years the State treasurer is
now unable to pay the warrants of
/ Kansas and is forced to send them out
/ to be shaved by the banks. 1t was
/ expected that some feeble defense at
least might be made for the reSppOint-
ment of the notorious Dr. Pitcher,
and that some pledge would be
volunteered for reformation at the
/ Topeka insane asylum, where scandals
are becoming as prOfuse as during the
administration of Lewelling. 1t was
expected that denial would be made
of the charge that Governor Leedy's
police commissioners everywhere
have gone into partnership with the
buns, thugs, joint keepers and
gamblers by licensing them to break
the laws of Kansas.
1t was expected, in short, that this
great Populist handbook would deal
in an open and courageous fashion
with the real issues dividing the two
Kansas parties, instead of which it
juggles with figures, falsifies records
ana avoids any mention of those acts
of omission or commission upon which
the POpulist party will be tried at
the next coming general election. If
anything were lacking to convince an
intelligent observer that POpulist re-
form is humbug it could certainly
be found in this manifesto from Pop
ulist headquarters.
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