The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-04-28

~OO'NNS
1t will be seen that 1896 was dead low
tide in the commercial conditions of
Kansas and 1895 in Nebraska; 1892 was
high tide in both states. The recovery
in Nebraska has been more rapid than
in Kansas, but if the sales of the first
three months of the current year are
kept up the total will pass the million
mark again in both of the states.
board of agriculture. confirms the stories
of Cancelled mortgages that Were told to
sioner, at Topeka the other day;
f has been wonderful t fiea n on
of this state,'' he said. Il cannot give you
state by several Sample counties 1 am ia
miliar with, think it is safe to say that
mortgages have been paid off in Kansas
during the last few years. The farmers
condition of prosperity and confentmenf.
OF course we have our share of ne er-do-
Communities of the eastEbut many Of
them are actually prospecting in defiance
diffcqit for anybody to court disaster dur
tae s5ce tT6 or panc Of @ the neone
have been skimping and saving and sell
their I'm fncome mes but they have caught d5 up
now and are buying the things that they
them are erV 6uiding new houses and Barns
and getting fine cattle, horses and hogs,
which accounts for the mortgages that are
being filed in the court houses these days;
Almost every farmer is replacing his old
chinery are swamped with orders. The
an e harness ana their YVES are getting
new furniture, pianos and cook stoves.
water and other conveniences In their
houses and barns There IS where the
off The whole trend is toward economy
a az they have learned good deal
and now they are taking adyantage Of the
makes life worth living Nor Will they
% R bB y haa eGea o ra the
community as well as the individual-this
results viii be of lasting benefit. Many
good people have fallen, but the survivors
are the nobility of Kansas
The prohibition law still prevails in Kan
local OPTION ToWns are vet i or dry
according to the demands of public senti-
large cities, generally speaking, there are
breweries and distilleries, and the drink
as in states that have no prohibition law.
There are, however exceptions Very little
ample. and in Lawrence, Leavenworth and
large majority of the second class cities
Prohibition is not a dead letter nor a fail
ure by any means, and I am told by al
ton to repeal the law would be defeated
by an overwhelming vote.
In some of the cities are singular exhi-
billions of Inconsistency In Pittsburg,
example, the city government licenses a
number of saloons in direct defiance of
the state statute that prohibits their exist
ence, and the proceeds, upward of 100
a month, are devoted to the support of the
schools. AT the same time PittSburg fur
nishes an unanswerable argument for the
enforcement of the prohibition law. for it's
police expenses and the docketS of it's po-
lice courts are larger than those of any
other town of similar size in the state.
That is universal rule. Wherever there
is a dry town the police force is idle and
the police court sits but once week. In
the wet" towns it sits every morning and
has plenty to do.
A temperance argument of equal force
can be found in the poorhouses. In some
of the dry counties none is needed. In
all the wet counties they are found well
filled.
The prosecuting attorneys throughout the
state are usually the autocrats who decide
whether community shall be wet
dry, and their action is generally gov
erned by public sentiment. Sometimes it
affords a political issue, and candidates
are elected with the understanding upon
a pledge that they will carry out a certain
policy, and thus the majority rules. AS I
have said, the great majority of towns are
two conditions according to circumstances
When the enforcement of the liquor law is
lax tragedy-a shooting scrape, a muir
der case, a case of wife-bea ting a fatal
accident that can be traced to liquor, the
embezzlement of money by some fast
young man-wiH shock the moral sense
of the community that the saloons will be