The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-03-30
HE WILL SERVE.
Gov. st. John Will Make the
Campaign RedhOt
In Behalf of the POpulists in
the Second District
IF THEY so DESIRE.
He VIII Be Their Candidate
For Congress.
Says All the People ShO uld
Stand at McKinIey's Back
Because His Back is Weak and
Needs Support.
IF THEY so DESIRE.

A Journal reporter met Ex-Governor
John P. st. John on the platform of the
Union depot at Kansas City Tuesday
afternoon and asked him if he intended
to become candidate for congress in
the Second district. Mr.. st. John re-
piled with his usual vigor, saying:
If to be a candidate, a man must
travel over the district, form combina-
tions, buttonhole delegates, make po-
htical promises, that he don't know, or
care, whether he can fulfill or not; bore
editors and do anything, and every
thing in politics to get the nomination,
then am not candidate.
81 have full faith in the good sense
and sound judgment of the voters of the
Second district. They understand the
issues. They know that the great strug-
gle in the coming campaign will be be-
tween the money power combines and
trusts, and the common people. The
battle will be a desperate one. 1t will
involve the emancipation of the masses
from the evils which Cypress and i'm
poverish them, and even threaten to
rob them of their liberties. With such
a conflict before US, to me it would seem
unpatriotic for a citizen to enter into
mere partisan scramble for office.
THE people of the Second district
are fully competent to determine what
they want, and how to get it. When
their Representatives come together in
convention they will no doubt do what
they may deem best to insure the sue
cess of the cause they represent. Should
it fall to my lot to be chosen as their
candidate for congress, I would not only
appreciate the honor, but accept its re-
spOnsibiiities, and make the fight of my
life, to gain for them a victory for Lin
coins idea, of a government of the peo-
pie, by the people, and for the people
instead of the modern idea, of a gov
eminent of the people, by the money
power, and for the money power"
Have you been consulted about the
time and place for the convention?"
was asked.
Il have not, and know of no reason
why I should be. That is purely mat
ter to be settled by committeeman Sc
lected for that purpose, and have no
doubt they will do whatever may seem
to them best for the convenience of the
people,
What about the Spanish WARP"
"Well, 1 hope there will be no war.
But for the coWardly foreign policy of
Grover Cleveland and William McKin-
ley, the Cuban question would have
been settled long ago, and there would
not have been the slightest excuse for
the political buncombe that sent the
battleship Maine to Havana harbOr, to
be blown up, and possibly involve US in
a bloody war. War means harvest
for the ShyIocks of the world, of bill
lions of dollars of interest bearing
tuaIly be wrung from the bone and
muscle of the tOiIing millions 1t means
the Tightening of the grip of a few on
the Threats of the many. 1t means the
sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of
human Iives-and the destruction of an
immense amount of prOperty-but, if
it comes, let the firing of the first gun
be the signal for stopping all further
examinations and recriminatiOns, pOliti-
cal and personal bitterness and jeal-
Ousy, until we have given Spain such a
thorough thrashing that she, as well as
all the world, will be taught the lesson,
that so long as the United States of
America endures, a repetition of Span
ish atrocities will never again be toll
Grated even for day. Just now every
loyal citizen, without regard to race,
condition, politics or color, ought to
stand at the back of William Mckinley.
His back is weak. 1t needs strengthen
ing-impress upon him the fact, that he
is not simply the president of a favored
few but that he is the president of all
the people. That he is our commander
in-chief and as such we will loyalty
stand by him, until the last shot is fired,
and the final victory won, and the honor
and good name of our country and the
old flag has been indicated, and Cuba
made free"