Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1903-09-16
NOT YET, MR.. HARGER.

NOT YET, MR.. HARGER.
G. NJ. Harger, q Kansas newspaper
mar and orator, accuses the Snnilow-
er State Of being Q material In an
address to the students OF the Uni
versity Of Kansas he said.
kansas, supposed TO be the birth
place of freedom, has a king and an
idol. II bows al the feet Of the god
Of statistics. So many bushels Of
this, SO many tons OF that, 80 much
money, 30 much debt, SO much gain
or loss. Kansas dreams OF product
and values. 1t takes Its morning
bath In averages, combs its hair with
totals and makes It's meal on patent
p~rcdigested breakfast food percent.
ages. My generation is responsible
not yours, We have deemed It better
10 know the per capita Of the curren-
cy than the story OF the lliad; we
have deserted the song of Shelley's
lark for the chatter Of the self bind
or"
The Kansas City star takes Mr..
Harger 10 task and says that In no
other state In the Union does ideal
ism prevail 10 The extent that Il does
In Kansas. When Mr.. Harger says
that John Brown Is worth more To
the state than d years crops the Star
points to the immortal Carrie Nation
and asserts that she Is every whit MS
much Of an idealist as was our old
friend John. Was not the method EN-.
ployed BY the hero of Osawatomie FOR
oyerturning slavery quite as lmpracti-
cal M the policy adopted by the pro-
phetess OF Medicine Lodge for casting
ont the Demon Rum?
II is not held by The Star that com
nlete sanity and intellectual poise
have marked all OF the ideas that
have from time to time e~nergized Kan
sas and quickened its people, but the
supremacy Of idealism has been none
the less apparent or conspicuous for
that reason.
What was the prohibition move
ment In Kansas but a great wave Of
idealism? II was bound to be futile
In the very nature Of things. but that
only proved the Kansas people the
greater dreamers.
Populism and Its conquering march
in Kansas was idealism pure and
simple. John Leedy, Ben Clover, Jer-
~ Simpson, Lewelling, Mrs. Lease,
Annie Diggs and NIL OF the rest were
idcalists ana nothing else. Their In
fatuation and the %iniatuation " their
followers-who were numerous
enough to gain control Of the govern
ment OF K~ansas--for doctrines that
were wholly chimerical In the judy
mient Of calculating men, and that
we're so proven. demonstrated conclus-
lively that kansas Is the place Of all
others where ideallsm prepcnderates
over the care for material things and
for the regulation OF society In har-
mony with safe and conservative
Mr. Harger himself belongs TO al
OF idealists who are held In
much higher favor in Kansas than
any capitalist In the state. What 9th.
or community can produce better OK.
amplcs OF idealism than Noble Prem
Tia. Eugene Ware. William Allen
White. Albert BIgelow Paine. Ed
Howe ana c. NJ. Harger7 How many
bankers aud wheat kings and cattle
barons are there In Kansas who en-.
10y the celebrity or the homage Of
which these apostles Of ideaisim are
The constant objects?
The people of Kansas are by no
means Indifferent TO the material pros,
pcrity which they enjoy. u IL only
that people who have s%trlvcn
hard. and at times against discourag.
Ing odds. should feel much satisfac.
Ion in the rewards which have come
o crown their efforts. But undoubt.
the star 10 correct when IL
that the time is not yet In
when an Idea or principle wild