The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-03-16
KANsAs 10 cHToAeo.

The following is from Queries and
Complaints in the Chicago Post. The
editor takes occasion ar the top Of the
column to say: The Evening Post is
in nowise responsible for views enter
tanned by contributors to this column"
This follows:
Chicago. To the Editor: Noticing
the interview with William Allen White,
editor Of the Emporia lKas.) Gazette. in
your columns and crediting him with
the best of intentions in endeavoring to
say all the good he can Of his state,
beg to answer the question, What IS
the matter with Kansas2' by saying:
Kansas needs SOAP. Her people need
it badly. Soap, the greatest invention
after the ten commandments; soap IN
all its ramiflcations and practical appli-
cations. Kansas needs more laundries
and a better patronage OF those already
existing there. Her men need more
clean collars-one a week is hardly
enough, one a day may stagger them as
an outrs geous proposition, but 1t is the
rule of civilization; more clean shirt
bosOms from the humblest 10 the best
classes. To put on a white shirt is
duty without rewashing for eleven ap-
pearances is not correct; it has a. bad
effect on the rest of the public To
get shaved every Saturday or every
other Saturday and run around during
the interim with a stubby beard and
the Aforesaid collar and shirt is not
nice. Long, matted hair Is also out or
date.
kansas needs sanitary plumbing;
bath tubs are comparatively unknown,
and as to the farm districts, ] venture
to assert that all the farm houses in
Kansas together have not ten bath tubs
between them Kansas uses less shoe
polish than any state of her size. The
Individual towel in any hotel lavatory
in Kansas is an unknown necessity
Kansas needs a thorough washing and
brushing up on the part of all her peo-
pie. she needs soap. When her people
present a clearly appearance at home
in their own state Kansas will begin
to reform in the right direction II
Will then dawn upon her that for the
last twenty years she has done nothing
but carp, critiCise, dictate and run on
the lines of antagonism. The creative
spirit Is unknown within her borders;
for instance, her people never invented
anything. but they do take care, in case
an inventor from another state puts a
business branch in Kansas, to see to 1t
that he will have trouble and to prevent
him, if criticism can do it, from making
any money AS state she is entirely
lacking in American progress Take
the appearance of her people, her SLOW
emily looking towns and her whole make
up She looks as though she belonged
to Turkey rather than to the great
American union So far as American
progress is concerned, CoIum bus need |
not have discovered America If Kansas
and her backwoods makeup were the
example.
a good physical appearance is essen
rial to civilization. The immediate |
remedy for Kansas is soap, and soap
throughout. Tt is hard at first, but peo- |
pie get used to it, and once 1T gains /
Roadway Kansas will boom, become Gre
alive, build up and rise to be a central |
sunfiower of the union and beneficially |
affect a vast section Of country beyond |
her borders. SAYON."
What a pity it f. that "Savon," poor /
soul. has always lived in the smoke be-
smirched confines of Chicagoi What \
pity that he sees the world through the |
sickening vapors of the canal What a |
shame it is that he has to breathe the /
polluted atmosphere or a densely popu-
lated city and not know the exhilaration
one feels to breathe the pure wholesome
air of Kansas Poor man. He sees the
buildings and the streets, the ambu-
lances and the patrol wagons, the police /
and the denizens OF the notorious sIuma
of Chicago. the saloon keepers and the
politicians What if he could leave Cook
county and see Kansas, pure and unde-
filed. in the glories Of blossoming spring \
and see the sturdy, honest farmers and /
the farmer folk Would he then not
pity himself2 Could he come to a clean
state ard be beyond the dictatorship aud I
control of "Hinkey Dinlx'' and Bath /
House John" he might shake off such /
morbid fancies as he expresses when he
says Kansas needs more soap.
But what a pity il Is that Chicago.
wicked. dirty Chicago. can not be led to
the bath which he recommends for Kan
sas- What a lot OF sympathy and pro
found sorrow Kansas can lend to Chi
cago in her pitiful state. There are un-
doubtedly more acres of broad and ex-
pansive white shirt fronts in Chicago,
more high standing collars and more
closely shaver faces than there are in
Kansas but how many more God fear
ing, upright men and women who breathe
s. pure air and live life Of honest toll
are there IN Kansas than in Chicago2
How many bath tubs are there in the
farm houses Of Kansas? A great may
more than there are in the tenemerts
and cheap lodging houses of CLARK
street. Hasn't Chicago more OF her fierce
bearded, long matted haired anarchists
than Kansas? Kansas has no Haynar-