The Globe-republican., 1903-01-15
Grateful to the People Of Kan
sas for the Honor.
FEELS THE RESPONSIBILITY. !:
Al Address Which win b
Pleasing to the People
Of Kansas.

! ~ n0"'0o'
Profoundly grateful to the people "
Kansas for the great honor they have
conferred upon mo BY elscting me their
chief executive for The ensuing two years,
| am also conscious Of the great RESPONSE
bility that this honor brings: responsible.
titles before which a man Of greater ex-
perlence In public life might well pauae
and hesitate. Indeed, | would feel my
self absolutely inadequate to meet these
new obligations did, not believe that In
every honest purpose to give good gov
ernment and to build for the present and
future welfare Of Kansas, | will have the
hearty cooperation Of every lover Of the
state. @Na5 ~o
Forty-two years Of Kansas history have
been written and as we today turn back
the third leaf Of tile new century and
commence to write another page Of Kan
sas history, let us remember the high
ideals Of the men and women who laid
deep and strong the foundations Of Kan
sas character, and let her prophetic motto
still be our guide, ITO the stars through
dinlculties.''
Forty-two years In the building Of a
state Is bu. the prelude to the great con.
summation, yet mighty commonwealth
10 here, and standing today upon the crest
that tells Of our growth and development,
| wish to pay this tribute to the men and
women who gave Kansas her character,
for states have characters rs well as men.
When the time came to place Kansas
star upon our country's flag, the public
conscience had been quickened to that ex.
tent that 1t declared the extension Of hu-
man slavery must stop, and II WAS not her
sun.kissed prairies nor her fertile valleys
that invited the Kansas pioneer. He
came as the champion of that great car
dinal principal Of human liberty that all
men are created equal before the claw, and
upon this rock they built the character Of
great state. When the struggle was
over that settled forever the question Of
human slavery; when the young men
who had given the best years of their
lives to preserve the Union laid down
their arms and returned to the peaceful
walks of life, the great undeveloped West
invited them to become home builders,
and by thousands they crossed the fertile
prairies Of Iowa and Missouri and come
to the state that was the child Of the great |
struggle in which they had played so
prominent part. And they brought
with them the same love for the Union,
the same love of liberty that had fired
their hearts al the sound of Sumpters
guns. These were supplemented by the
flower Of young manhood and young
womanhood Of nearly every one OF the
older states. II was not the doubling,
besitatlng young man who was alIured to
Kansas. 1t was the sturdy self.rellant
men and women who had faith In their
country and Its Institutions, faith in their
ability to win for themselves q home,
faith In their power to make for them
selves place In the great battle Of life,
who were Kansas pioneers.
These were the men and women who
gave Kansas those peculiar characteristics
that are dlstlnctlvely Kansan. These
were the men and women who wooed the
wild prairies and won from her the homes
they love, builded our cities, founded our
splendid free school system and laid deep
and strong all the environments Of our
splendid civilization. t
But "a history Of forty-two years In
character making and state building
would be incomplete II we told Of the
sunshine and not Of the shadow; Of the
successes and not Of the failures; II we
boasted Of our trlumphs without telling
Of our dlsappolntments, for no state has
ever gone more quickly from the noun
tain TO the valley than has Kansas In her
brief history. From period Of unpar.
alleled developmentand debt-creating, we
passed through a period Of depression and
readjnstment Of inflated values, hard
tunes and discomfort. This, supplement-
ed with period oi political lunacy that
threatened and imperlled our credit and
made the name Of Kansas a byword, tells
the story Of q decade familiar to US all.
But the true Kansas spirit has survived
and Kansas with her character maintained,
greets the new century with her credit re.
stored and finds herself In harmony with
tho advance of the nations progress, and
like tho giant oak that has wlthstood the I,
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