The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-04-19
STANLEY ON TRUSTS.
Says That Combinations Are Men
ace to the State.

After Mr.. Fellows had concluded Col |
onel RossingtOn spoke of the manner in !
which Chicago had grown from marsh |
to city of a million people within the
memory of people now living, by the |
united efforts of those who had the in |
terests of their city at heart He also
read a letter from Congressman Curtis,
conveying his regret that other duties
called him away from Topeka at the
present time, and expressing his faith
in magnificent future for Topeka.
Governor Stanley was then introduced
to respond to the sentiment, Kan
SaS," and he said:
L thought while your president We
giving his excellent report and geving
honor to whom honor was due, that
he omitted just one thing. All over
Kansas the Modocs have sung their
way into the hearts of the people.
When the people of the state think
of Topeka they think of the Modocs
and of their leader, Senator Anderson,
and when he asked to have things put
through the legislature for Topeka,
they just couldn't refuse.
What can L say new about Kansas?
tors have been inspired by her name.
They have written about her sunny
skies, her majestic fields, her beautiful
women and brave men. You have
can I say about Kansas that is new?
L asked this question of Judge Guthrie
before We came in here tonight, and
he began talking about John Speer, and
Thacher, and Stotler, and Sol Miller.
| and John Martin, and the others with
whom he was associated in the early
days. thought about the Kansas edi-
| tors who welded their pens in the
early days to make Kansas the birth
place of freedom. 1 thought of An
| thony, and Murdoch, and StOtler, and
| Martin, and Sol Miller, who were con-
nected with the early history of the
| state. I thought of old John Brown,
| until in the Wilderness they burned up
| the last vestige of slavery. I thought
| of those blue slabs at Osawa tonne and
| the heroes who lie under them, who
were just as much martyrs to the cause
| of liberty as were the men who fell at
Bunker Hill.
There is nothing new to say. We have
| had high tragedy and low comedy. John
| Brown, dying at Harper's Ferry for his
zeal, was high tragedy; and the people
| going wild, with loud huzzas, over
| their new teachers, some of whom, as
Ike Lambert says, gained distinction
by wearing skirts and others by going
| without socks, was the low comedy.
| Kansas could not help being great.
| On her east is Missouri with her long
| rivers and magnificent resources. her
| great cities-one of which we have built
| for her, and we are still keeping it up
| her quail hunters and other eccentri-
| cities; on our south in Oklahoma so like
| what Kansas once was; on the west
| is Colorado with her mountains and
| great mineral resources, and on the
| north is Bryan. Gaughter). Kansas
4
| This is a business crowd It's not pol
| iticians who are shaping the destiny of
| Kansas-it is the business men. You
| have the same right to do business in
| Topeka that they have to do it in New
| York or Massachusetts. You have the
| same right to the natural advantages
| which this community affords as have
| the men of great cities east of US to
| their advantages. Individual enterprise
| has the same right to do business in
| Topeka as in Chicago. Any kind of an
L ,,e-TS t1sof mt RI 10
| business must have the attention Of
| our business men.
| IL a starch a straw board factory
| wants to do business in Lawrence, or
| Topeka, or Hutchinson, or Salina. or
| Wichita, it has a right to the natural
| advantages of those locations. Every
| man has a right to do business where
| he pleases, and, so long as he does it
| honestly, when he pleaSeS. A business
| enterprise should be no more handicap
| ped in Topeka than in st. Louis or Chi
cago.
This is a question which must be met
and settled in the next decade. I under
1 stand that the trusts which have been
organized just recently have capital
| of three billion dollars. If a nail and
| wire factory can't do business in Law
| renee now, the time will be here soon
| business in Topeka. Your commercial
| club must join with other commercial
| clubs in meeting this question. 1t is
| coming-yes, it is already upon us. 1t
/ affects you, and you must meet it.
You can talk about our blue skies, our
1 great fields of alfalfa, our cattle on
| thousand hills, our magnificent schools
and the other great things belonging to
| Kansas, but, after all, the question
| which interests you and the people of
| Kansas now is, how much you are ham
| pered in establishing enterprises here
| in Topeka. When this battle comes it
| will not be a battle of Republicans, or
| Democrats or PopuliStS, but 1t will be a
| battle in which the people will assert
| their right to do business unhampered
| by combinations and trusts. The BUSH