The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-01-30
"KANsAs."
Address of Ralph Faxon Who Spoke
for Native Sons.

One hundred years ago Kansas was
part of the Louisiana purchase. Two
generations since. it was a portion Of
the American desert Today it is a
great state of this union. This Is the
evolution of Kansas in century s
tina-
Kansas came into existence as a pro-
tesla protest against the further
spread of slavery. It is still a protest
"a protest against the evils that beset
people and a state. Courage and viz
tue and impulse are its chief attributes.
The east. which knows Kansas when
only now and then appear reflections OF
acts of undesirable and irresponsible
persons, declares INCONSISTENCY to be the
states chief characteristic. It says we
are erratic. But the east never has
quite properly comprehended Kansas
though the day is fast coming when 1t
VIII.
Kansas has had to struggle for every
inch of standing it has gained. 1t was
a battle-ground before the war of the
rebellion. The first blood of that con-
dIct was spilled on Kansas soil. When
the contest was over, Kansas made
more rapid progress than any other
state in the union. until 1890. Then
new warfare began-against financial
dishonor and political insanity. After
that was won, there was still another
This time it was to win a place among
proud states which imagined they had
never committed error, and therefore
refused to acknowledge Kansas as an
associate And Kansas won that fight.
1t has occurred to me that we do not
properly appreciate the entity of a
state. To my mind. the state is a be-
ing. It has history and principles and
associations and actual existence. It is
not merely an aggregation of numbers.
One of Webster's definitions for the
word state is: ANY community of
particular character" That is exactly
what Kansas is. and the definition
sometimes seems to fail of comprehen-
sion.
Each state has distinct character.
1t is a moral being apart by itself. 1t
has life and qualify Its entity is de-
rived from the factors which set it
apart from its fellows. Men have had
reverence for states since history be-
gan. Witness Greece and Rome glory
land. The entity Of a state. the sepa-
rate character. gives the reverence of
its citizens.
With the liberty and glory of this
union of states devotion of the citizen
IS perhaps greater than elsewhere in
the world. Patriotism is of the highest
possible type. Yet after all is said and
done, is it not our own individual state
we love the best?
For instance, Kansas. The native and
the adopted son alike have the same
feeling as of the child for the parant.
We know every line of its history We
its sorrows. We love its state char
act~~.
The state character began in 1854. The
Sturdy pilgrims who crossed the Drai-
Ties as their fathers crossed the seas"
brought much with them that was
wholesome, upon which to found the
new state character Later arrivals
made their contributions adding the
touch of liberalfty that was necessary
to make the blend OF the state character
perfect, composed as it was in the be-
ginning of chiefly Puritan attributes.
Character in an individual is never
Pow cd 4-
with state. The early Kansas citi-
zens had their adversely, but the sue
Ceeding generation had not participated
in it. It's trial was to come later; and
to be a sore one, when it did come. It
was felt in deprecated values and de-
pleted populations. Physical and finan-
cial ruin all but followed. An era of
discomfort and imagery existed. Mad
ness came to men. A political move
ment was started, with many honest
Rdherents, but with the ever present
leader who succored the movement for
personal ACKNOWLEDGMENT. Lights burn
ed at midnight in thousand school
houses, dCttng the prairies all over
Kansas. Fanaticism and desperation
were uppermOst. It was the crucial
point in Kansas character. Did the
state survive, memories were left for
ever to haunt it and teach it political,
moral and financial rectitude. Did it
fail it was crushed and Inundated
among its fellows; stripped of character
and Of reputation. But the state re-
covered 1t put away the tempters It
maintained sanity. Kansas today with
Its million and a half of proud, happy
citizens is not reproached; nor is an
outcast. Tt is the peer of any state.
And best of all. it still has its char
acter.
AS to other things, what matters it
that there have been occasional winds
which withered; and fanatics who did
their best to harm their state? They
N,a1rl to, he to +1,a I.x- 80 81
and adversely and character formation.
The days of the present are of happiness
and prosperity and character preserva-
ton.
Ten years ago tonight, w. F. Guthrie
of Atchison responded to the toast
kansas" It was a wholesome ad-
dress In conclusion he used these
words: I'VE ought to be upon the Skin
mlsh line" Five years and one week
later, Kansas was upon the skirmish
line-at the Manila outposts: represent
ed by the Fighting Twentieth" An
attack upon the American flag was re-
PEELED. The result of the Instruction
that followed gave the world a new
theme-that America could civilize and
govern, as well as conquer. Through
out those events, Kansas was always
on the skirmish line. It was on the
EkirIuish line in frontier and anti-sIav-
cry warfare in the fifties. It was on the
skirmish line in the war of the rebel
lion. 1t was at the very front in making
the Great American Desert the garden
spot of the continent. It was on the
skirmish line in the warfare against
financial dishonor and political ruin. It
IS upon the skirmish line today in
moral, social, financial and political ad-
vancement- It has always been upon
The skirrnisn line. and it always will be.
Its place among states is high and
proud. Its very position challenges
homage And SO we here tonight. Young
Republicans and citizens of an historic
commonwealth, should seek ever to
maintain our states position: to fur
Their the vantage hitherto gained; mind
full always of the character and entity
OF any state; but more particularly Of
ours.