The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1902-04-01
Ohat's The Nat
terWhhHansas?
The Editorial that Made William Allan
White Famous.

nc IN the past year. There ARE about 1.s
~ - ta1 miles IA the state. aud there were
"VuWt lu,VVu babies born In Kansas and Vet
50 mary people have left the STATE thti Tho
2VOO net 'Ns' 'N"N
This has been going ON Tor eight WARS
~ there had been high brick wall
afouhl the state eight wears ago nnJ not a
soui had been admitted on permittnd "a
iieate, Kansas would be half million souls
httter of than she Is TODAY And Vet me
nation has increased In populatlon In
hEc years lo,OOOUuO people have been add
eV 10 the National population, vet instead
~ s"ihins snare OF this-s say half mil.
HVh-AansaS mas apparently hecu a plaguc
Spot ana in the very garden OF the world
every yehr
nus lost money. Every noneved man In
ne STATE who could get out wltaout loss
Is gone. Every month IN every community
sees someone who has little money nnck
up and leave the State This has been 20,
ing on for eight years Money has been
drained out all the time. In towns where
zen years ago there We're three or -FOUR or
mn mn 9oleh money lending concerns slim
nlating industry by furnishing capital there
= now none or one or two that are looking
aLtet the interests and principal ahcady
outstanding.
No one brings any money into Kansas
any more. What community knows over
one or two men who have moved In with
more than 5000 In the past three wears
anu What community can not count half q
score Of men In that time who have left,
taking all the money they could scrape to-
Getherl
s, aet the nation has grown rich, other
states have increased In population aud
wealth-other neighboring States Missouri
has gained over 100000. while Kansas
mas been losing hall n million, Nebraska
mas gained in wealth an6 reputation wnIle
hahSas has gone down hill. Colorado has
gained every way while Kansas has lost
every way since 1883,
Nhat the matter with hansasy
1here Is no substantial city in he State
Every big town save one has lost IN pOpu.
/ lauon. Yet Kansas City, Omaha. Lincoln,
~ LOUIS, Denver, Colorado Springs Seda
VA the cities OF he paEotas st. Paul and
Minneapolis and Des Moines--all cities and
towns In the West have steadily grown
rake up he government blueGook and
you VIII see that Kansas IS virtually or
the map Two or three little sCrubby con
sular places In yellow fever stricken COM
muhlties that do not aggregate $1,000 a
year Is all the recognition Kansas has
Nebraska draws about $1,000 little old
North Dakota draws about $4,000: Okla
homa doubles Kansas; Missouri leaves her
thousand miles behind; COLORADO Is al
ibo ,, seven ~ times greater than Kansas
TAKE 1t by any standard you please,
Kansas is not In it,
Go East and you hear them laugh AZ
hansas, go west and they sneer a her, go
south aud they "cuss her, go North aud
they have forgotten her Go into auv
crowd Of Intelligent people gathered any.
uete on the gloQe ana you Will ind the
hahSas man on the defensive. The news
paper columns and magazines once devoted
60 praise of her to hoastful facts and star
ing figures concerning her resources, are
now hlled with cartoons, glbes and PETER
Ian speeches. Kansas Just naturally isn't
and Tlmbuctoo
What's the matter with Kansas?
we all know; yet here we are at II again
we nave an old moSsback Jacksonian who
snorts and bowls because there is a hath
Ln9 IN the State house; We are running that
Shabby, Wid-eyed rattle-brained fanatic
VINO has said openly in a dozen speeches
mat the rights of the user are paramount
"a the rights of the owner" we are runniny
MIN for chief Justice. so that ibe capitai
WI come tumbllng over itself to get into
tRe STATE, We nave raked The old ash heap
or laliure IN the state and found an old
human hoop skirt who has failed as a bust
| ness man, who has failed as an editor. who
mas laned as a teacher. and we are going
70 run MIN for congressman at large He
VIII heip the looks OF the hunsas delegation
| at Washington. Then we have discovered
a kld without law practice and have de.
gGaed to run him for attorney general.
Ihen for fear some hint that the State had
become respectable might percolate through
| me civilized portions of the nation We
nave decided to send three or four harpios
out occurring telling the people that Ran
saS Is raising he'll and letting the corn 90
Oh this is a State to be proud of! We
are are a people VINO can hold up our heads!
what We need here Is more money, less
capital, fewer white shirts and brainS
fewer men with business Judgment, ana
more OF those fellows who boast that they
I are Just ordinary clodhopners but they
know more in minute about finance than
John sherman We need more men WIN
/ are posted who can below about the
I crime of ~. who hate prosperity, and wno
think because man believes in National
honor, he IL 4 tool OF Wall street We have
had few of them--some 150,OO0-but we
need more. We need several thousand glib
/ 6erinS idiots to scream about the, Great
Red Dragon of Lombard street, We don
need population, we don't need wealth, we
don't need well dressed men gu the street
we don't need standing in the nation, we
don't need cities ON the fertile praires you
! bet we don't, What we are after Is the
money power Because We have become
l poorer and onrier aud mcaner than Il
I spawned, distempered mule we, the people
OF Kansas, propose Ia Kick; we don't care 10
/ build up, we wish to teal down.
There are two ideas Of government"
said our noble Bryan at Chicago. There
are those who believe that If you Just leg
lsate 20 make the wehto-do prosperous
! this prosperity viii leak through on those
below The democratic idea has been that
II you legsate TO make the masses pros
porous their prosperity viii mud Its way up
/ and through every class and rest upon MS, ~
/ That's the stun. Give the prosperous
I man the dickens! Legislatc the thrifless
( the creditors and tell debtors who borrow.
| ed the money five years ago, wnen money
I per capita was greater than Ii Is now,
4 that the contraction of the currency gives
1 him a right 10 rPpudlate.
Whoop It up for the ragged trousers; put
| the lazy greasy hZZle who can't pay his
I debts ON an altar. and bow down and wor-
Z shin him Let the State ideal be high
What we need is not the respect OF our
fellow men, but the chance to get some
thing for nothing.
al. YES. Kansas is great State. Here
/ are people fleeing from II by the score every
J day, capital going out Of the State by the
! huIdreds of dollars, and every industry
/ but farming paralyzed, and that crippled,
/ because its products have to go across the
/ ocean before they can find a laboring man
I at work who can afford 20 buy them Let 8
don't stop this year. Let's drive ali the
decent. self respecting men out of the State
let's keep the old codhOppers who know 4
ali Let's encourage the man who Is post
! ed De can talk, aud what we need IS
/ NOT mill han Is Ia eat our meat, not factory
hands 10 eat our wheat. nor cities 70 OF
nress the farmer by consuming his butter
and eggs and chickens and produce. what
Kansas needs is men who can talk, who
have large leisure 10 al que the currency
nnestion while their wives wait at home for
mat uickePs worth Of blulng.
WHAT'S the matter with Kansas
/ Nnthinr under tho shining sun. She "
losing wealth, population and standing
She nae got her statesmen and the mn0oy
nover ts afraid OF her Kansas Is oil rign',
\ sbe has started In 10 raise nell. as Mrs