New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-06-03
KANSAS'S LATEST TROUBLE.

We thought Kansas WnS happy. prosperity
and silence seemed brooding over the land Inc
lungs of the statesmen and thinkers were I'M
usually free from the prevailing and devastat-
Ing atnospheric disturbances Of the region. The
LEGISLATURE had adjourned, and the people felt
safe In coming forth from their cyclone cellars.
The granarcs are empty of last years crop and
the farmers pockets are full Of dollars while
the lux,riant promise of this years crop glad
dens the cultivntor's eye What land would not
no bnppv under these beatifc conditions? OBJ
v,ously the answer to this conundrum is, Kan
sas When the bcatiudes were framed none
were adapted to the peculiar State OF Kansas
There Is always trouble in Kansas says
the usually optimistic kansas City star Inc
difficulty now is that material prosperity threat
ems the intellectual and spiritual welfare or the
State The president Of the Teachers Assocla-
tion predicts failure Of the mental crop Tor the
coming year. In years OF golden plenty me
young men who feed learning Into the brains or
the youth turn their hands to feeding grain INTO
the thrcshlng machines. The remuneration or
agricultural labor Temps them from their scho-
lastic vocation Education fourishes only with
the aid Of drouth. and hot winds, and chinch-
bugs. and grasshoppefs. and hailstorms, ana
cyclones" Some peculiarltes OF the Intellect
nal product of the State seem TO be explained by
this. Simpson. Leedy. MacNall, Doster and fhe
other leaders OF Populism doubtless attended
school in years when the weather conditions
favored education. They have favored 1t ex-
cessively for the last few years But we DO not
think the mental crop that Is cultivated under
those conditions Is the best. Kansas" said nm
editor OF that State. started In 70 raise HI and
had an ovcrproduction' We have no statistics
NJ hand 10 verify this statement. Indeed. we do
not know how large crop of the article would
be necessary 10 constitute an overproductlon IN
Kansas. bur do know that there has been an
overproduction OF the oratory. political economy
and political philosophy OF Populism.
We cannot weep with the president OF the
Kansas Teachers Association over the prospec-
tive failure 81 the mental crop. We cannot
agree with THE Kansas City Star" when II
saws at raises the question whether II would
mot be better for Kansas TO keep up her high
standard as an educational community. even
at the cost OF a general crop failure than 10
wax rich In worldly goods and descend In the
scale OF intellectual attainments' We think,
from what we have observed Of the intellectual
output OF Kansas. that mental weeds grow In
seasons when material crops ara bad. In seasons
of drouths. hot winds. chinch bugs, grasshop-
pcr< hailstorms and cyclones. Literature. for
instance. studied In cyclone cellars, By It's wild
mixture OF wind and words Is the inspiration
OF Popuistc oratory. The intellectual field may
well lie fallow for year. system OF educa-
ton which eliminates IN colleges whose pro-
fcssors arc political appolntces under obligations
10 teach doctrines compatible with the political
faith Of their bosses does not inspire much
confidence. PopulIstic histories are in the hands
OF the school children and for aught we know,
Popullstic arithmetics. too. No, we are glad
that Kansas teachers are feeding threshing-
chimes instead of brains. Material prosperity
will prove n great Instructor OF Kansas. Edr-
cation IL going on under new auspices, and In
short time Leedy, Simpson and Doster will real
ize that the educational fashion Of their youth Is
obsolete