The Advocate and news., 1899-01-18

Governor Stanley says in his message
to the legislature:
Kansas enters upon the thirty-eighth
year of its existence under the most IA
Vorable auspices. The recent achieve
ments OF the nation are cause for gen.
eral rejoicing, and the people Of this
State by voice and act have given gen
erous support both to the administration
and to its policy.
| No State ever realized in its experience
the sentiment contained in its motto
more fully than our own. We are reach
| ing the highlands Of prosperity, but we
have surely come up out Of the lowlands
of adversely. The period of speculation
from 1883 to 1888 caused the inflow Of
large sums of foreign capital, which were
largely swallowed up or forced to leave
the State by the reaction and depression
which followed; and as a consequence
we were for the first time in our history
compelled to rely upon our own re-
sources.
Our State Institutions.
The condition Of our public institu-
tions is not entirely satisfactory.
The management Of many of them has
been characterized by too much politics
and too little business
The people of the State, at large ex-
pense, have made provisions for the care
OF those who become public charges, and
nearly one-half of the taxes are being
expended in making provisions for their
comfort and support. The care Of these
persons Is a trust too sacred to be neg
lected, and the amount of money nee
essary for their support too great to
be placed at the disposal Of political
freebooters Efficiency, rather than par
ty service, should be the test of fitness
for appointment to responsible positions
in connection with the management of
our charitable and penal institutions,
and drunkenness, vulgarity and profan-
ity should be a bar to such appointment
and sufficient ground for dismissal, made
so by law.
1t shall be one of the objects of my ad-
ministratiOn to secure for our public
institutions the highest degree of hon
esty and capability in their management,
and to give to the wards OF the State
such sympathy and care as their unfOr-
tunate condition demands
Prohibition.
For eighteen years the prohibition Of
the manufacture and sale of intoxicat-
ing liquors has been the settled policy of
this State, but the enforcement of this
law has been attended with Indifferent
success.
The difficulty of the situation has been
owing largely to he fact that prohibition
has been made political rather than an
economic question. This perversion Of
the question has resulted in such con-
dition that, in Kansas, prohibition and
temperance are not synonymous. The
misfortune of prohibition is that it has
largely been made a political question
every two years, to lapse during long in
tervals, only to be rehabilitated and
brought into use at each recurring cleo
tion, for political purposes.
The result Of the last two general elec-
tions in Kansas demonstrated that, as
purely political question, it has about
run it's course. AS an economic ques-
tion it is entitled to much more Sc
riOus consideration and ought to COM
mand our earnest attention.
AS the law now stands it is hardly
profitable to discuss whether prohibi-
tion is wise or unwise. Many of our
best citizens differ on this proposition,
but prohibition is the policy of our State,
a part of our fundamental law, sup
plemented by legislative enactment, and
the enforcement of the law is entirely
outside the pale of discussion.
The talk that it Is better than other
laws and different methods should be
resorted to for the enforcement of it
is idle The talk that it should be dis
regarded and that officers should tacitly
IL not openly consent to it's violation
is vicious. All laws should have an
honest enforcement, the prohibitory law
no more and no less than other laws,
and the present administration stands