The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-05-31


to resort to such unjust extremes that
the ground which had been gained by
the free state party under Thayer and
Robinson might well have been lost.
Fortunately, however, public opinion
had then become so fixed that this late
movement did not cause the reaction
which certainly would have been
caused had its projectors appeared
much earlier upon the scene 1t
would not only take too much time,
but it would be most perplexing to
enter into a discussion of the Topeka
constitution and the I.ecOmptOn CON
stitution and the controversies which
arose in respect to them and their
varying provisions as to slavery. That
| happened which, with the light we
now nave, ought perhaps to have
1 been fOreseen. The forces represent
ing the freenen of the country. who
are. the natural pioneers, settled in
Kansas and the slave owners and the
border rufhans from Missouri who
could not resort TO more than an oc-
casiOnal invasion, ceased to play a
part which could be important only
when there was no actual settlement
/ or population The slave owner was
timid, and did not care to expose his
property to the very decided risk in
| VOWED in guarding it in disputed
territory like that Of Kansas, so that
/ the number of slave owners who
| moved here was quite small. This
1 beautiful state, with its magnificent
| agricultural possibilities, attracted the
! energy and the enterprise of the
northern youth, stimulated as thew
were by immigration societies in all
the northern states. Even the south
\ ern people after three years saw the
/ contest IN Kansas and Nebraska,
4 from southern standpoint to be
| hopeless. The agents whom President
| Pierce and President Buchanan sent
as governors and secretaries to the
they were, though prejudfced re-
turned to tell their principals the
/ truth that Kansas was and must be
| a free state; that any election that
/ showed otherwlse was only the result
/ OF fraud and violence. There are no
greater heroes in the history of this
\ country than Eli Thayer of Massa chm
sets and Charles Robinson of Kan
sds, VINO almost alone and singlehand-
ed entered upon the work of peopling
/ a vast territory with free and brave
/ men, so as to forever exclude human
slavery from its limits. So it was that
on me zlst OF January, 1861 almost
/ WITHIN hearing of the guns that
/ doomed out the beginning of the civil
war at Fort Sumter Kansas wa
chrlstened and accepted as a state of
Ihe union from which slavery should
4 ever be excluded. 1t was the people
\ of Kansas who did this 1t was the
people or Kansas that rose against the
injurious measure devised for the
purpose of fastening the system of
slavery upon these prairies, and who
| Dy lhelr own bravery, courage and en-
terpr1se made slavery impossible.
TOday's Meaning.
! we celebrate today the enactment
/ of the Kansas and Nebraska bill as a
tremendous obstacle to free govern
/ ment which the people of Kansas
! themselves overcame by their cour-
| age, their persistence and their intel
! ligence.
We celebrate it as the first step ir
the birth and development of this
/ great state, which, reaching from tht
| Missouri river to the Rocky mountain
states, compels admiration of all who
look upon her. From a few Indiar
| tribes to a highly intelligent and PAT.
rlotlc population of a million and q
\ half of souls in fifty years, is a transi.
I ton which finds no parallel save il
] other states OF our own country sim.
! llarly situated. The state has had The
] diseases of childhood. It has beer
swept at times with notions and ideas
superhcially attractive, that if tn,
creditor class could only be obstruct
/ ed IN free collection of it's debts tn.
| debtor and the larger class would
/ profit to the benefit of the community
! Hard experience has taught the fu
Unity or such experiments and hal
shown that the only method of secur
| ing progress and prosperity is to insis
on exact justice to both creditors an,
debtors, because the creditor class cal
always protect itself against NOR
! IMAM one loss, whereas the debtor claS
losing all future and necessary credit
is rendered poor indeed. Then Their,
has been on the part of good Kansa
people the strong conviction that mel
and women can be made moral,
greatly better by legislation. Such
feeling always possesses an agricul
tural people of strong moral convic
ton, but as cities grow and as tn
population becomes more dense, tn
truth steals over the clearhea ded
| however moral and highminded. tina
there is a limit to the making or keep
ing of people good by law, and tina
when the law essays more than it cal
really effect, public morals are no
improved and the authority an,
sacredness of enacted law suffer
Born and reared as Kansas was in tn
atmosphere of an intense moral strife
possessing largely an agricultural ant
1 therefore a simple and honest people
the history of the politics of the stat
presents to the student of economic
and politics most useful lessons
Strong and enthusiastic as her peopI
are, favored by heritage history an,