The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-03-24

Ben McLean's campaign will end next
Saturday night; the Ross campaign will
not end until a week from next Satur-
day. Mr.. Mclean says he would rather
see Wichita have a congressman than
to be mayor for ten years in succession
and he has given the word out that his
campaign must end Saturday night. so
that he and his friends can put in the
following week working for Victor Muir
dock at Great Bend. He has been urged
not to do anything that would leopard
ize or sacrifice his own interests. but Ben
Is full of impulsive generosity and he Is
going to that convention as a ''rooter'
for the Wichita man regardless of conse-
Guences to himself.
Practically the Republican campaign
is ended now and the organization candi-
dates are ready for the vote. Every
gun of the enemy has been spiked, every
lie of their campaign has been nailed.
The people understand the issues and
are ready to pass upon them. The enc
my is still keeping up a sort of gorilla
warfare, only shooting a few poisoned
arrows now and then from ambush.
It has been one of the dirtiest cam
paigns in the history of Wichita. Some
awful lies have been told. Nobody knew
who originated them nor has anybody
been able to trace a single one of them
10 its source. McLeans forces could
not be up against it any stronger If
they were fighting the Ladrones in their
native Philippine jungles. The first shot
from ambush was directed against the
police department. 1t was aimed to preju-
dice church ministers and other leaders
of moral forces but fortunately the po-
lice department had already made these
gentlemen acquainted with the facts in
volved having furnished them with type
written copies of the information that
concerned them. The next shot involved
the expenditures of the public money,
but when the people understood that Mr..
Mclean had to pay Sl24,O0O to redeem the
obligations of the city under his prede-
cessors. and never issued a refunding
bond during his administration, this sec
ond shot was a boomerang and the oppo-
sition didn't fire any more of them.
The big card of the opposition was
TO play up the alleged increased taxes
under the Mclean administration. but it
was a small card when they got through
with it; for the fact is provable by the
city records. that the tax levy under Nc
Lean has been one mill less than under
his opponent in this campaign when the
latter was mayor. But taxes are high
er" was the wall that came from the
opposition They did not reflect on the
fact that il was the taxes of the state
and county that were higher and not the
city tax. The county taxes were higher
on account of a judgment against it for
S30,el0 The average man ought TO IN
derStand. If the facts were given to him
honestly. that the more the county eX-
penses are the more the citizens of
Wichita have TO pay. for the reason that
Wichita nays two-thirfs Of the expenses
OF the county besides her own expenses. /
= hey also ought to understand that Ben
Mclean has no more to do towards reSu-
lating the expenses Of the county than
the man in the moon.
But the greatest failure about that
big Card" of high taxes was the fact
that Finlay Ross appointed the assessor /
that made the valuation of all the prop
erty in the city since Mr. Mclean has
been mayor. Mr.. Mclean could not inter
fere with the assessor he had not ap-
pointed him. There was no remedy for I
but a legal remedy an1 that /
was to have gone 10 the board o. equiliza- |
tion and complain. When the opposition |
found that they were trapped in the |
matter of high taxes. and that the levy
had actually been a mill less under the /
Ross administration. they very promptly /
'ducked" the issue and nothing has been |
heard about high taxes since.
But" they said, the appropriations |
have been extravagant." They soon aban- 1
doned this when they were told by the |
Eagle that Mr.. Charles DAVIDSON. one /
Of the heaviest taxpayers in town. one /
Of the cleaneSt and best citizens Of |
Wichita. one of the most conscientious |
public servants in the history of the city. |
was at the head of the committee which |
passed en- every bill. The people knew |
that Charlie" Davidson would not stand 1
for bill that wasn't correct. The oppo- |
sition knew that the people have the ut
most confidence in Mr.. Davidson and the |
attack on the appropriations was soon
stopped
At this hour not charge made by the
in every case from am /
bush and without its source being trace
able-has either been abandoned or sup !
pressed in indefiensible shame.
But the Mclean forces have made I
,harge that stands out like an embodied
nightmare before the eyes Of the oppo-
;ition. II Is the charge Of ingratitude or |