St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1901-03-27
Our Kansas Boys.

Miss Madeline Southland of Topeka
contributes the following letter to the
Union Signal relative to Mrs. Nations
work in Kansas:
Dear Union Signal:-In striking con-
trast with Governor Stanley stands his
son, Harry, editor of the "Baker Orange"
a college paper. The following is an
editorial from his pen:
When a joint has been allowed to con-
tinue in open violation OF law, as the
Senate" in Topeka has done, almost
under the very eyes of those who have
sworn to enforce the laws and uphold
the constitution of the state, then the
people welcome any one with moral
courage to do what the state and local
officers, in direct violation of their oaths,
failed to do. Long live Mrs. Nation"
says the Orange"
There is but one voice from the great
chorus of endorsement coming from high
schools and colleges all over the state.
At the Topeka high school, where she
spoke at the invitation of the senior
class, Mrs. Nation was greeted with
most enthusiastic applause. Washburn
College boys joined eagerlyin the Topeka
crusade, and in many other cities where
colleges are located special mention is
made Of the fearlessness with which stu
dents assist in driving out the lawbreak
erS.
In the state capitol the pages swarm
ed about Mrs. Nation as soon as they
were at liberty. The writer will never
forget the picture of this kindly grand
mother passing from the Senate to the
pages escorting her. Two of them had
thrown their arms about her ample
waist, Others crowded as close as pos
sible to her, while some ran ahead to de-
mand entrance at the door of Represen-
tative Hall.
In one city shiny club has offered its
assistance to help her smash the joints.
To people outside Kansas it may seem
that spirit of anarchy and disregard
for law is taking possession of our boys.
But this is a mistake. These boys
and young men have been born and
raised in state where selling whisky is
as illegal as stealing horses. Their eyes
have never grown accustomed to the
sight of staggering men. But in the last
few years backed by money from all
over the world, confessed criminals have
been scornfully violating the Kansas pro-
hibitory law. What wonder that, see.
ing this, the blood of the young man
boils? The same spirit that made him
shout for the freedom of Cuba, that made
the Twentieth Kansas famous through
ort the world, now makes the young
man OF Kansas ready to fight, if need be,
for the honor of his state. Do you con-
denim him because he cannot sit quietly
down and see the mud and filth and
slime from all over the nation turned in
on his own clean state?
We beg critics to notice the class of
boys identified with this movement. A
certain mother expressed surprise at the
action Of the Topeka high school. Her
sixteen year-old son took it up. "Mrs.
Nation" he said, needn't fear the high
school boys; it's the boys out of school,
smoking cigarettes and shooting craps,
who talk of rotton egging her,"
When the boys, accustomed from baby
hood to prohibition, have the reins of
government in their hands then all the
millions of the brewers trust shall not
be sufficient to corrupt Kansas officers.
None know this so well as the whisky
men. This is why they fight so desper-
ately in Kansas now. But the battle is
a losing one for them. If our men fail,
the boys filled with holy wrath, will
| drive the rumcurse from our state.
THAT which we plant in our schools we
shall reap in our national liIe." Never
was this more clearly demonstrated than
at the present time in Kansas. If white
ribboners deprecate this spirit shown by
our boys let them call back the work Of
the last twenty years that has educated
our youth to know that alcohol is their
most deadly foe and made them brave to
fight against it.