Mexico weekly ledger., 1897-04-15
The University Endowment Bill.
MR.. BRADLEY FIRES HOT SHOT
AT MR.. WOODWARD, IN AN
SWER TO HIS ARTICLE.
Mr.. Bradley is Perfectly Satisfied
With the Position He Has Taken,
in Which He Is Justified by
the State Constitution.
Correspondence of the Ledger.

Correspondence Of the Ledger.
MEXICO, Mo-, April 81 Q in
your issue of the 9th that MI. Wood
ward takes me very severely to task
because of my reasons for voting
against the endowment bill.
Now, / do not care to take time or
space to reply to that article at any
great length. To say the least Of it,
it is a very strange and peculiar mix
ture of inc%ongruities and %inconsist-
encies. l did not expect to give rea-
sons that would meet the appreciation
OF Mr.. Woodward. The fact is, I neg
lected to consult him anything about
1t. Those reasons were mine and not
his, and herein seems to be all the
trouble. I am perfectly satisfied with
my reasons and Mr.. Woodward is not,
and, therefore, he undertakes to
amend them. l feel confident that
those reasons were given SO plainly
that anyone who understands the
English language can comprehend
them. My opinion is that Mr.. Wood
ward thinks 80, too. And after all Of
Mr.. Woodward's blow and buster
those plain, constitutional facts still
stand unanswered and unanswerable.
Anyone who reads Mr.. Woodward's
article will have a picture Of the spirit
that dominated the lobby that attend
ed the Legislature pressing that meas
ure. 81 am the representative of all
wisdom, you are a fool; I am a friend
of education, you are an enemy; I am
progressive, you belong to a fossilized
age"
1 am not going to be switched off to
argue with Mr.. Woodward as to
whether / am a friend to education or
not. My history and my vote on all
school questions will answer that. l
shall not argue with him as to wheth-
er l am honest or dishonest; as to
whether I was actuated by personal
spite or from principles of justice. I
gave my reasons for my vote and I in
tended them to be SO understood. But |
cannot compel Mr.. Woodward to be-
lieve them, nor to believe they were
my honest convictions. When he i'm
pugns my motives that is a matter he
must settle with himself, as 1 suppose
he measures my honesty by his own.
He intimates that my real reason was
kept hidden only as read ''between
the lines" This "reading between
the lines" depends upon ones own
glasses. He says: 81 suspect Mr..
Bradley's real reason was a personal
one and ne did not like to give it." In
other words, Mr.. Woodward would
say, 1 suspect that MI. Bradley is not
honest he did not tell the truth. And
yet Mr.. Woodward will not fly in the
face of all intelligence and say that
Mr.. Bradley did not observe his obli-
cation to the plain language of the
constitution. I might retort in kind
but MIR. woodward shall know that !
am "above that"
Mr.. Woodward says: "The letter
kiIleth, but the spirit giveth life.'
Yes, my brother; and if 1 Am to judge
by your article would say that If you
have not been killed you have been
badly laid up for repairs.
Mr.. Woodward says: "The endow-
ment bill, if passed, would have i'm
posed no additional tax upon the peo-
pie"
The idea that the State would pay
five per cent interest on $4,000, 600
and cost the people nothing is too
absurd to need a reply. The fact is,
that is not my side of the question. 1
say that to vote this 81, 1000, 900 was a
violation of the constitution and
therefore a robbery. 1 will leave it to
Mr.. Woodward to show how easy it
could have been done. There seems
to be an idea that it does not matter
how much you steal SO it is not found
out. I would not intimate that Mr..
Woodward would do anything of the
kind, but his line of argument would
seem to say that it would not have
been very wrong for a legislator to
violate his obligations to the constitu-
ton. He seems to think the plan was
so cunningly devised that the people
could be made to believe that it was a
blessing. Ireckon Mr.. Woodward did
not hear Mr.. Bryan tell the legislators
that it did not matter to the man rob-
bed whether someone slipped in at
night and did it or whether it was done
under cover of law. Either one was
robbery. 1 say to violate the consti-
tuition to get money is robbery.
What would 1 do if I werei in New York
or Pennsylvania or some other east
ern state? he asks. Well,i il l acted out
that spirit of bigotry and intolerance
that over-rides the constitution, ig-
nores the interests of the great masses
of the people, l would doubtless be a
corporation attorney, or a champion
Of trusts and combines, in favor Of
taxing the many for the ~enriching of
the few, for building colleges for the
sons of millionaires while the poor
toiler pays the tax. II / were in New
York; but 1 am not there. I am here
in Grand OldMissouri under Missouri's
constitution, and l want a little more
of Missouri and western independ-
ence. / want little more of Missouri's
ideas and Missouri's interests in our
schools and colleges. Il am disguised
(however much Mr.. Woodward may
hold up his hands In holy horror at
the thought) with the idea that some
people have that all wisdom dwells in
the far east. When we learn that we
have here in the west men with west
ern ideas, western interests, grand
men, good men and men with an in
telligence comparable with anyone in
any country then we Will have Mis-
souri's greatness.
But enough of this. I will leave Mr..
Woodward to ponder over "man's in
humanity to man" and address myself
to the subject.
1 recognize the fact that this is a
subject upon which men may honestly
differ. Not as to the constitutionality
of the question, for its strongest ad-
-oookoa a-nraoaa1 a lnuhk ~ that hpk