davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07
A WESTERN MUSEUM.

The proposition to establish a Western
museum in Kansas City should meet with
every possible encouragement from the
people of the West in general and from
the citizens of this city in particular. Such
an institution. especially if 'fostered to some
extent by the general government, would
stimulate the habit of collecting and pre-
serving records and properties having his
torical interest. 1t need hardly be said
that such a stimulus is needed. The West
has been developed SO rapidly, its people
have been so imbued with the spirit
of conquest. and its interests have been
so largely material, that there has been
little organized effort to put into per-
inanent condition the endless historical
data that are still accessible, but which
must not be allowed to remain scattered.
1t is probable that never in the history of
the world has a great domain undergone
such rapid physical changes. witnessed
such great racial transitions and expe-
rienced such vast industrial progress as
| have attended the development of the
West. When 1t is remembered that within
| TIE lSlhOiy VI ANi1l6 pcoPlS ASoi 'S Oil 'HS
| territory of the great commonwealths this
| side the Mississippi were stretches of al
! most unbroken prairie or ranges of almost
unexplored mountains, one realizes what a
| tremendous Transformation has taken
| place. The march has been too aggressive
! to permit of a careful study of incidental
values. The necessities of putting into cul-
| tivation this vast area begot a spirit of de-
structiveness that gave little consideration
to the history that was being made.
Yet there are great many private col
lections of historical data in the West.
Many of these could be purchased at small
cost and others would be donated to gen.
| eral museum. The historical society al
| ready formed in this city would form an
| excellent basis for more extended enter
| prises than have yet been contemplated
Kansas City would be the natural location
for such museum. 1t is the very center
of the great West. The suggestion that the
old postoffice building, which is imprac
ticable for mercantile purposes and there
fore is not marketable for anything like it:
intrinsic worth, might be donated by the
government for a Western museum, is
very interesting one. The sooner steps ar,
taken toward the founding of such an in
stitution the better, for much valuable ma
! terial will be lost by delay.
Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07

King, Kalioeh. Iegate Martin. Park,
Prouty, Prentis Rossington, Rice. Ross,
Speer. Thacher and Wilder. Only Anthony
at Leavenworth still actively at his edito-
rial post, although King and Prentis are in
Missouri. near by, ready to stand up for
Kansas Besides their ability as editors.
the fraternity always included talented
speechmakers, poets and preachers. Eu-
gene Ware. although ! believe not an ed
itor, made his first impression on the asso-
citation as u poet at Fort Scott in "a by
reading his since famous 'LopG-Ilaired and
Short Haired Poets. EX-Congressman An
derson preached at Put-in-Bay and Dem
Yer; this last sermon was printed in that
| years minutes.
Whatever any of the others who We're
part of the association may think, those
| excursions were the happiest pastimes Of
my editorial days, and many Of the ac-
quaintanceS then made and the friendships
| formed will be lasting as life. The sport
us married fellows used to indulge with the
| young crowd was great. Folks, of Wei
| lington, made the Galveston excursion his
wedding tour and Riddle, then of Girard,
took his best girl along the same trip. Pro-
| feSsor Carruth made love on the steamer
to Mackinac island, and young Bierer, OF
| Hiawatha, whose marriage soon after end.
| ed in u scandalous divorce, was the envy of
! all in Colorado. The excursions We're gen.
| orally expensive affairs; but the short
| grass fellows We're not clone the borrow
ers. To Mackinac island, Jake Stotler in
| weighed the association to take along the
| Emporia band at an expense of $3.50 This
| was an unusual and unprecedented eXtrav-
| agance, and so enlarged the expenses of
| the trip that not money enough was left in
| the crowd to cane Captain King, the pres
| ident in charge that year. On the other
hand. the first trip of the association to
Fort Gibson was record breaker for
cheapness. Colonel Bob Stevens not only
| furnished free transportation, but took
| along 4 circus tent and provisions, and the
bill of fare served on the north bank OF
| the Nerdigris river, in the then unsettled
territory, was equal to the banquet given
| later at Sedalia. But the short grass fel-
| lows in time outnumbered Eastern Kansas
they organized district associations anC
talked of forming a new state of their sec,
ton; railroad building ceased and the ole
| State Association quit meeting, and, Of
course, quit junketing. I am glad the Kan.
sas City, Pittsburg &c Gulf railroad is in.
| terested in Port Arthur, and through Pres
ident Stilwell has invited the Kansas ed
itors to go down and see this new city Of
the South. If Port Arthur is as hospitabl
membership of the association should ac
cept the invitation. A weeks feast on Gull
diet will put the boys in shape to hibernat,
on Kansas truck till some other railroad
wants writing up
Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07
,IoRE WOE FoR KANsAs.

The dispatches from Topeka leave little
reason to doubt that the PopuIist major
ity OF the Kansas legislature has fully de-
teimined to adopt a bill which provides
for the initiative and referendum" Coin
cideut with this announcement comes one
from Switzerland. after which country the
Kansas legislature is copying. which re-
lstcs that at the next session of the ma
tiCnal assembly the referendum system is
most likely TO be abandoned.
The Kansas Populists have gone the
bill which is now before the legislature
In Switzerland the Initiative" is not a
part of the system. All legislation must
originate with the general assembly, and
not until bill is there passed can it be
voted on by the people. The Kansas bill
provides that at any time the people may
originate a measure Independent of the
legislature. and that an election must he
called to vote u2on 1t whenever 10 per
cent of the voting population shall so pc
tition. 1t is provided that local questions,
affecting counties or cities, may be orig
mated and voted upon IN the same man
ner. and the legislature is forbidden to re-
peal any measure which has been in such
manner adopted. 1t Is further provided
that at any time any law which the Iegis-
lature shall have passed, or which is upon
the statute book in any manner. may be
submitted to vote for repeal upon n petit
ton from IS per cent Of the voting popula-
tion.
1t probably will not deter the Kansas
Poprlists in the slightest TO learn that
Switzerland is about to abandon the refer
endum system. On the contrary, the dis
covery that they are advocating something
which no other nation on earth would
have Is more likely TO urge them on. Meth.
or Is It probable that they would lister
for a moment 10 the suggestion that theil
bill Is providing method OF keeping Kan.
sas in a chronic state OF election eruption
As It now proposes, elections might b,
he!d every day in the year, excepting Sun
days. the only requisite being the findin:
of about 3O,oO9 voters who were willing I,
sign petitions. For example, the Mysti
brotherhood could secure 800 elections fl
any one year upon the question of prohI
biticn.
However, It should not he supposed 70
q moment that the passage of this bi
Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07

From the New York Herald.
There seems to be an inadequate supply
of good plays at present. The stage is not
altogether without them by any means,
but with the multiplication of theaters
and the constantly increasing theatrical
clientele there are not enough playwrishts
TO provide the public demand for new ma
terial.
1t was hoped that we might draw some
excellent recruits from the ranks of sue
cessful novelists. but recent experiments
have not been over-encouraging. Enter
tanning books have made capital plays,
adapted by skilled dramatists, but enter
tanning novelists do not seem to have the
knack of staging their own works.
Mr.. f. Marion Crawford. n delightful
story teller, has been the latest to make an
attempt at playwriting, and there is singu-
lar unanimity in the opinion that he has
come cropper at the first fence" so TO
speak. The failure of Monday night at the
Fifth Avenue theater was doubly regretted.
because his success in DIR. Claudius'
would not alone have pleased his many ad-
mirers, but would have been hailed as the
discovery of a new dramatist at time
when he IS sorely needed.
But Mr. Crawford is by no means crushed
by the adverse criticisms that have been
offered from all quarters. If the critics
| don't like his play, so much the worse for
| the critics, says Mr.. Crawford in effect. Nc
! little trifie like that can cast him down. He
| has merely sent out for another bottle OF
| ink and will write a few more plays.
Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07

all probability he doesn't want that. The
chances are unless Foraker reconsiders,
that Hanna will continue to ornament un-
official life as private citizen for some
months to come.
When the Ohio legislature meets next
winter 1t can, and doubtless Will, sit down
with force on the Foraker Bushnell con-
spiracy and elect Hanna to the position he
covets: but this involves q delay which is
displeasing to Mr. Hannas friends, and
which is unsatisfactory to Republicans
generally. Mr.. Foraker stands well with
the party all over the nation, but blocking
Hanna's pathway to the senate will not
add any to his popularity.
Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07
THE PREACHERS AND BRADLEY
MARTIN.

A very funny thing has just happened IN
New York city. = few years ago when
Snapper Garrison, the well known jock
ey, was at the height of his popularity. he
purchased for $4,000 a house in one of the
swell residence portions of the city and oc-
cupied it with his little family. The aris-
tocratic inhabitants of the square in whieh
this house was located were very much
shocked that their responsibility should be
tntruded upon by a race rider. and per-
sistent attempts were set afoot to buy
him out.
This was finally accomplished By Mr..
Nfrabeau Towns, who IS described as
poet and lawyer. Having no use for tho.
house himself Mr.. Towns at once inserted
an advertisement in the newspapers offer
ing it for. sale again, and it is this adVer-
tisement which attracts attention TO the
transaction.
."This fine property is offered for sale
commences the notice, only to ministers.
The minister who buys it must be one who
has stuck by the ten commandments and
the Sermon on the Mount. and who did not
I'm the recent campaign preach politics
from the pulpit. Neither will bid be en-
tertained from any minister who shall
have denounced the Bradley Martin bal
masque.''
IT is evident that this poet-lawyer is
something OF a crank or else satirist OF
very subtle essence. Whatever may be his
character. however, his shaft will touch a
responsive chord in the bosom of many an
American citizen who has been offended by
the political preachers and who is bored
by ministerial criticism upon the Bradley
Martin ball. If we can comprehend the
argument of most of the sesmons which
have been delivered against Mrs. Brad
iey-Martin's proposed party it may be con-
densed into the statement that 1t is wrong
for any citizen TO accumulate great
wealth. but, if by any chance he does SO.
It is u greater crime still for him to spend
it. Abstractly neither of these propositions
is right and therefore there is very little
justification for the great hullabaloo which
has been raised against the affair from the
New York pulpits 1t will be admitted
readily that such ostentatious displays are
in wretched taste. but it cannot be forgot
ten that differing only in degree the same
parade of wealth may be discovered in a
dozen of the New York churches.
1t is the suspicion that these New York
preachers are not altogether sincere which
lends the greatest objection TO their cru
sade against the Bradley-Martins. There
is a false ring to a cry for reform in up
per-tendom which peals out from $1,000
puIpits, over $1,000 pews, into millionaire
ears, in churches from which the worthy
poor man is practically barred. 1t savor'
more Of sensationalism than reform, anC
is suggestive of nothing so much as tn,
parable of the eye, the mote and the beam
Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07
Then and Now.

There was joy in heart of PETER,
There was glory in his eye,
Fer the Pops mad carried Kansas
And their geese were hanging high.
Then he hoped that for long speeches
And the crankiest ideas
The Pops would send him back again
To serve for six more years.
So his whis-
kers he spread on
each side of his head and
he brushed them apart every day
Till the hair all extended with Boreas
Blended and stretched over PETER this way
Now there's gloom in soul of PETER,
And Il sadness clouds his brow,
For tho Pops out there in Kansas
Have no use for Willie now.
All his speeches. all his notions,
Go to join his blasted hopes.
While another man. named Harris,
Pulls the senatorial ropes.
That
whis-
kerry
beard!
This
way it
appear
ed when
he heard
the news
so grim;
every
hair
hung
straight
and dis
conso-
late like
this col
umn tall
and thin.
Washington Post.
Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07
A Fearful Financial warming.

From the New York Advertiser.
A year or two ago the shocking revela-
tiou of Democratic miscalculation of the
revenue TO employ the mildest euphemism
at hand, would have justified any amount
OF partisan eNultation on the Republican
side and enjoyment of the confusion of the
enemy. To-day, however, the situation is
50 pathetically bad that Republicans equal
ly with Democrats look on it aghast and
apply themselves wholly to the business of
Strengthening out the snarl. 1t is, at least,
to the credit of intelligent Democrats that
they have ceased even TO pretend Satis-
faction at the result of their efforts to
remedy affairs without obstruction. With
Il deficit up to date OF $l26.SII,2l6, which the
most sanguine income tax estimates could
not have eXtinguished, and a constantly
increasing shortage, not the most impu-
dent financier of them all could hope to
make plausible defense of the tariff of
''perfdy and dishonor,' which the presi-
dent refused the responsibility of signing.
So much for the Democracy-but what
of the party now in possession of some
power and shortly to be empowered to the
utmost? Is there not reason enough in
the Democratic collapse to warn Repub-
licans against a similar mischance? 1t Is
impossible. of course, that Il tariff law so
| lamentably futile as that which bears the
names of MeSSrS. wilson ana Torfnan
| could ever receive the sanction of Repub-
lican approval; but parties are not more
| immaculate than individuals, and it will
| become the powers of the next congress to
be constantly on guard lest some such err
| rors as disgraced Democratic legislation
creep into the Republican substitute.
| Where the chief danger lies no body OF
men is better advised that the ways and
| means committee of the present house,
| whose members have heard or read all the
| arguments, selfish and otherwise, OF the
| witnesses whose testimony is on file They
| must know that virtue lies between eN-
tremes, and that the rank heresy of the
| free traders does not embody all the vices
of tariff legislation. The extraordinary con-
| traction of our import trade in the past
| year contains a warning on the other side
| of the case that wisdom bids them study.
| AS regards their ultimate conclusions the
country has few misgivings, but in the
! presence of such an awful exhibit as the
| Democracy makes at its last accounting
even the Republican party may be excused
| for a little anxiety and overhauling of its
| systems and hypothesis to make certain
that every belt and buckle is in place.
Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07
Silence. like a poultice. come
To heal the blows of sound -
A Different View of 1t.

From the New York Sun
In few weeks more Mr. Thurber's Off
cial responsibility will have ended. 1t is n
solemn thought.-kansas City Journal.
Why solemn? Why not joyous rather?
Upon a sensitive and poetical mind, such
as Mr. Thurber's is in high degree, the
strain of constant service in the presence
chamber of grandiosity must be severe.
TIL. mighty fans of thought forever pat the
consecrated air of that shrine, ali air suf-
fused with intellect and sonorous with the
echo of the everlasting Ego. The docilc
strings of an imaginative temperament
must be constantly tense in such an at
mosphere. Every moment is pulse of
mental emotion. Even on ducking days
there are arrears of correspondence to be
settled. scores of reflection that must be
paid Even on Sundays the heavy and the
weary weight which rests upon the pillar
of greatness allows no day off. The sub
lime but necessarily wearing thought. OF
what a Man am / the Private Secretary
goes with the poet into the fields, and the
rattle of the trolleys does not shake 1t off.
1t must be happy day for Mr.. Thurber
when he departs for his beloved Michigan
AMI throws down the cares of state. Great
ness may be catching, but it may also be
severe on the constitution.
Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07

fastens the system upon Kansas. The most
the legislature can do is to submit it to
the people in the form of a constitutional
amendment and there need be no fear that
it will be adopted. The people of Kansas
MAJ seem at times trihe eccentric, but
that Is no evidence that they have gone
raVinE crazy.
Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07
THE WEATHER.

Washington. Feb. 6.-For Oklahoma and
Indian Territory: Increasing cloudiness
and probable showers; winds shifting TO
north and colder.
For Missouri: Increasing cloudiness ana
probably rain or snow; east. shlttlnS 10
north, winds; colder Sunday night
For Kansas: Cloudy weather. with
snow; colder; winds shifting to north.
Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07
M hounds i'm ,,Is gtoFy. 3 tbe lion II IL

POUNDS TIN his Story OF The Hon. = II Is
this and this only, and the Psalms of
David are full of it: The will of God is
ineXorable. Go where you may, dodge as
your poor finite ingenuity suggests. shuttle.
evade malinger-cast yourself into the
sea. if you wIll-there is the agency at
hand to bear you to the astounding eXaS-
geration of the recipient whale. Nature
herself, the poet bids us understand, ira
verses her own laws, should such Il miracle
be needed rather than that the will of
the Almighty shall be set aside.
1t does not strike us that there is any
thing very comic or Pickwickian in this
1t is true.
Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07
ADeceptive Vocabulary.

From the New York Press.
..Oh mammal" cried the little chimpan-
zee. scrambling through the jungle in great
excitement Come quick! l am sure Pro-
fessor Garner has come back; there are
some men out there in the clearing playing
with sticks, and they are talking monkey
talk
No. my son." returned the mother fond
". II saw them yesterday. They are on
" some prospectors playing golf''
Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07

From the Downs Times.
The throng of Kansas editors who were
there will write only in praise of Kansas
City. They will aid in swelling the popular
channel of trade which is already set in so
thoroughly from all parts of this great
state to the busy and ambitious city just
below and beyond where the waters of the
troubled Missouri cease to lave the Kansas
shore.
Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07
The New Journalism.

From the Indianapolis Journal.
What dis | heah about yo goin' into
iunnelism Ephrahaim?"
We'll. Mistah Black, we done issued a
yaller kid cullud supplement down at ouh
house las week, dat's ALL
Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07
A Silent Scnntnr.
he Boston Herald.

From the Boston Herald.
MI Henry Heitfeld, the just chosen Pop
ulist senator from Idaho, is said to be a
man who never makes a speech. This is
probably intended as slur upon him by
n political opponent because the same &C
count says that he speaks the English
language with difficulty, when the fact is
that he was born in ST. Louis in 1889 But
suppose he does not debate-there will be
Populist loquacity IN the senate sufficient
to keep up the average of that party.
There is the irrepressihle Stewart, of Ne
vada, and the echoes of the tones of the
interminable PETER will remain in the SEN
ate chamber. The recollection of them
will make
silence. like a poultce. come
To heal the blows of sound.,'
Allen, of Nebraska, though an abler man
than the others, and not an uuinteresting
talker, seldom allows Il day to pass in the
senate without taking the floor from one
to Il dozen times. There Is also Jones. of
Nevada, who is not great deal in the
senate, and who seldom speaks when there
but who is on record as having made the
longest speech ever delivered in that body.
Under these conditions, we are inclined to
think that the reticence of Senator Heit-
field will not be found uncomfortable or even
and successful business man. who has
repeatedly been elected to the legislature
of Idaho.
Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07
The Thin Lady.

From the Indianapolis Journal.
She looks like a picture.
leminds ne mere Of frame.
Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07
In Whist.

From the Chicago Record.
Papa, what Is the glad hand?"
give trumps and a long suit"
Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07
THE KANSAS CITY JOURNAL.
ESTABLISHED 1854.
NEW SUBSCRIPTION RATES

The journal Company, Publishers
journal Building, Tenth and Walnut.
Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07

Single copies
Sunday -.............'.'.'-''-oc
Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07

T. Jefferson Coolidge, who, 1t is said, has
been slated by Major Mckinley for a SNUG
berth abroad has certain claims for con-
sideration which other candidates for dipIo-
matte preferment do not possess. As min
! lister to France under the Harrison regime
Mr.. Coolidge achieved the only distinctive
| diplomatic triumph of that embassy in re-
| cent years. He it was, Frank Pixley says,
who rounded out Il diplomatic career of sin
| gular quietude by giving official dinner
| which charmed even the blase Parisidus.
and introduced to the world Loie Fuller. Il
| comely young woman, who,cIad in the staIs
and stripes, gave such an exhibition of sal
tatory high art as to set all Paris to talk
| ing.
Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07

A recent visitor to the drawing rooms OF
royalty and the English aristocracy" re-
ports that the book most frequently TO be
seen there is Mrs. Ella Wheeler Wilcox
poems.
Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07

One generous, wise giver in Chicago, Day
X. Pearson, has placed six great institu-
tions of learning west of the Mississippi
upon their feet and assured their future by
creating permanent endowments of about
81 100 900. 4 few are yet incomplete. but the
spirit is abroad that insures them He
makes no effort to do the entire work him
self but leads. and induces others TO enter
tho curne field
San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-08-28
Disinfectant Tor BOOKS.

Under the direction of DR.. John s.
Billings, series of experiments have
been conducted for the purpose OF dis
covering an effective disinfectant for
books. A number of old patent office
reports were inoculated with an as
sortment of bacteria and were soon full
of germs of measles, scarlet fever,
smallpox and other diseases. Trials
were then made of substances to de-
stroy them, and DR.. Billings says the
gas formaldehyde is perfect disin-
fectant. A saucerftil of solution of for
malin in water is left for an hour or
two in glass or metal box with a
volume, at the end of which time not
a live germ can be found in the book.
1t is said that this process is to be used
in the New York public library. twill
be of general interest to know that for
malin will also destroy the croton bug.