The Advocate and news., 1898-02-02

sWlnuiHB tnal grew out OF thlS unDuSl-
nesslike way OF doing business were such
that the Bank Commissioner in his report
| for 1895, said:
The list of those who have been robbed
by these rotten institutions is augmented
until to-day there 10 a small army OF
Eastern people who believe that our State
Is populated with a set Of constituencies
rascals whose sole business is to prey upon
the people of the East"
The crash OF the boom came, with its
awful wreckage in Kansas and other
States. The crops were fair in Kansas up
TO that time, and even unusual as late
as the year 1892. Then the hard times set
IN; Crops were light, the. farmers had
ern investors were called upon, under the
double liability act, to put more money
IN the state. Some Of them did so, in
the hope OF saving part of what they had
invested. Most OF them let their invest
ments go at once, and took what salts
faction they could by denounclng the peo-
pie OF the State indiscriminately as swim
dlers: Few denounced themselves pub
llcly for lending money fOOlishly and fairly
forcing other people to take It. or the
nearly 400 loan companies only seven sur
VtVed. They were those that had refused
to guarantee interest and principal. They
paid lower interest than the companies
which went down Instead Of paying 10
and IL per cent, they paid only and 10.
Ihey received only per cent. commits
sion Tor placing loans, instead OF per
cent. one OF these surviving companies
actually kept $4,000 belonging to O Phila-
delphia clergyman-money that he insisted
on Investing at high rates In Kansas
from April to August, and then sent 1t
back to him. One easily understands how
those seven companies survived. They did
business on business principles.
All business was prostrated Money
stopped coming in. Some of the sWindlers
sent forged papers East, and then pleaded
for time in liquidation, hoping to escape
Dr09pnutiOn thFnnOh utn fnt ~ INIT
tions, which provided that two years was
the limit of time In which action in such
cases could be taken. Thousands upon
thousands Of farmers had paid their Just
debts, but the money had never reached
the East. Eastern investors were called
upon to pay double liability, and Western
farmers were called upon to pay a second
time debt money, and then each side began
TO call the other names. The Eastern men
called the Western men "repudiators," and
the western men called the Eastern men
"shylocks," "heartless money barons," and
other things, and meanwhile a small army
or sWtndlerS and adventurers, some Of
whom had sprung up In Kansas itself
and some OF whom had hurled to the State
TO play their game, went scurrying here
and there. to make way with their ill
gotten spoils, or to escape the wrath Of
the raging Eastern investor or the SWIM
died Western farmer
The political demagogue then grew and
hourished as natural outcome Of all this
the farmers that the people OF the East
were not as other men; that there was no
patriotic middle class in the East; that we
were all millionaires or paupers that a
man VINO had money was the natural en-
emy OF those who had been unfortunate;
that the way to remedy the evils was to
elect him to office And the people of the
East read these appeals and began to be-
neVe assertions that were also unjust to
the effect that the people of Kansas were
dishonest in spirit; that they were practi-
cally all cranks; that they did not believe
In ,debt-paying; that they were volatile.
and followers after every new bauble and
foible that came up; that they were a dis
grace to American principles and Ameri-
can spirit
Men in the East raised their hands and
cried, Can any good thing come out OF
Men in, Kansas lifted their voices in
reply, and shouted, Have the men of the
East any god but money!"
SO the Misunderstanding continued until
the great crops of 1897 came along and
State. The effect has been like a refresh
ing sleep to a strong but physically eX-
hausted man. The State has awakened
IN good humor 1t has ceased to rail at the
East. 1t is eager to pay its debts 1t even
has money OF It's own to lOan 1t wants the
East to change its views to some extent
also. 1t wants hearing to show that II
Is not community of cTanks and repudia-
lOLSB anu IL HAS SOME HBuTeS, SuCn as nave |
never been printed before to prove IT,
In my Investigations as to the increase
OF business in Kansas l had occasion to |
visit Bank Commissioner Breidenthal |
asked him II there was any public data |
Eastern investments and the |
amount Of money that had been lost and |
paid on them. He said that there was no |
official compilation of such matters, and |
hat the matter Of mortgage Indebtedness |
could only be secured by a laboriOus cor
cespondence with county officials. The |
Y United States census for 1890 had given |
the total amount Of mortgage Indebted
hess, but the exact figures since that time |
could not be secured. Mr.. Breidenthal's |
entire business and official life has been
AIKEN up with such matters, and he vol
lnteered some data from his own infor-
nation and experience, which ne said
;ould not be disputed by any well-informed
person.
Before giving this data 1t would be we'll
o recall that Mr.. Breidenthal is the man
who, although the head of the Populst
lartY In Kanaaa at the time nrnnlaiHnad