The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-03-27
BETS FAVOR
BEN NJ LEAN
Twenty to Eight in Favor of
His Election.
FIRST WARD Is SOLID
West Side Will Favor Him by
Two Hundred.


paign will close tomorrow night and few
men of good judgement have any doubt
OF the result. The usual indications OF
politics point strongly to the reelection
Of Ben Mclean The betting is largely
in his favor and so is expressed senu-
ment. Bets have been offered of 500 each
that he will carry every ward in the city,
take one, take all,' with nobody to
touch them. A bet of $1,000 has been
posted that he will carry the city and
odds of 200 given. This bet has remainec
untaken. The usual betting is $40 TO -
that he will carry the city.
Some interest Is -cen1ered in the Fifth
ward. Four well-known sporting men
offered bets Monday night that Ross
would carry the ward, but they were
taken on the spot and they had to dig
up more money. They were bet out of
countenance and out of money and have
abandoned speculation in that side OF the
river They were scared out when they
heard that Parkhurst would beat Ross IN
the Fifth ward and that Mclean would
almost beat both OF them there.
The prediction lis made that Mclean
will carry the First ward by 800. A Dem
ocrat who has lived in the ward sixteen
years made 1T. He bases his opinion ana
his prophecy on the fact that the present
administration has done more for the
First ward in two years than all other
administrations in the time he has lived
there He claims that until Ben Nc
Lean went into office the First ward
had been treated as a sort of Kerry
Patch but now II has as good streets,
crossings and cutters as any place in the
CITY. The First ward is essentially
ward OF home owners. Being home own
ers they think Of their interests alike
and act with a neighborly unison. They
are practically all united for Ben Nc
Lean. believing that within two years
with is progressive ideas and his total
disregard of favoritism the ward will be
equal to any other in point of desirable
jty as 2. residence section. He has treated
the ward fairly in the distribution of
lights and it was through his influence
that a very decent street car service was
given to its people.
a substantial citizenship in the First
ward goes on the theory let well
enough alone" They are noticeably free
from discomfort when they are treated
right They have no '-fads' or dreams.
They know when they see Water street
that il is improved a thousand per cent
over two years ago and Market street,
Lawrence avenue, Topeka avenue and
Emporia likewise. 1t is not claimed that
the administra ton of Ben Mclean did
IL all The people themselves did most
of IT, but under the Mclean admintstra-
ton when a block of citizens set out 10
Improve their property the city was will
ing to join them and do its share of inn
provement The First ward people are
not kicking on taxes for they all feeI
that they have received the full value of
their money.
A few days ago when a prominent cam
didate on the Citizens ticket-Gn Justice
10 MIR. Ross it is stated here that he was
not the man-was told that the First and
Sixth wards were strong for Mclean he
said: Il agree with you. but those fell
lows down there are mostly laboring peo-
pie and renters and have not so much
interest in the business affairs of the city
as we have" Like a great many poor
economists he did not realize that after
al. the people who pay the taxes indi-
rectly are laboring men and renters.
Besides he was wrong in other parts OF
his statements for a dozen men in the
First ward can prove it by the city
assessor that as great a proportion of its
people own their own homes as in any
ward in town. And ii is not unlikely
that the same is practically true in the
Sixth ward where the employees of whole
sale houses have bought many homes
during the prosperity of the past few
years.
In the Fifth ward the people are for
Ben Mclean, except a few. who are said
to have axes to grind. and they are more
than offset by others who know that Ben
McLeans energy ard enterprise in rails
ing the fund for the re-establishment
of the great college over there have added
materially to the value OF every foot Of
property on the West Side. Ben Mclean
is not in the habit of saying Il did it, 4"
or he would have boosted OF the fact that
# has practically cost him $1,000 to Sc
cure the Orient shops for his side of the
river. He has done more for the West
Side than any mayor of Wichita in thirty
years. If the full facts or his sacrifices
towards getting the Orient shops were
known. the West Side would vote unan-
imously for him and the influence of his
work would benefit him in every ward in
the city where there is a man who appre-
ciates a man of loyalty to Wichita s
intxvests. And that is not all Mr.. Nc