The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-02-24

they got their shotguns and their mus
kets and their rifles, and they ''rioted
and they killed and were killed The
broke the laws and they scandalize'
the lawyers. They were preached
against and denounced and ridiculed
But slavery found no lodgment Il
Kansas.
John Brown came out of Kansas
fanatic John Brown. At Harper''
Ferry he was hanged. He did no
argue against slavery. He fought it
fought it with the folly of the Russian
terrorist that murders grand dukes
and cars. Anarchist John Brown
whose soul went marching on" did
not reason much Fanaticism and
reason are not boon companions. It
was enough for him to know that
slavery was wrong and a crime against
humanity. to be struck down and ex-
tirpated as a foul thing. He died
died as many fanatic before him had
died. But slavery followed him to the
gallows and it. too. died. And Kansas
played a most creditable part in its
taking off.
The conservative, logical. orderly,
sober and safe men are ever in a
majority. 1t is much easier to bear
the ills we have than fighting fly to
others we know not Oft is far
more pleasant to let things slide than
to raise row. Life is fleeting. Time
flies. The fighting man viii die be-
fore the things he battles for are won.
Why worry and trouble ones self over
the wrongs of humanity and the in
justices and inequalities of society,
when one by attending to his own af-
fairs, closing his ears and shutting his
eyes may hear not and see not Of the
grievous things that beset him. But
the man of fighting blood cannot stuff
his ears or close his eyes. He hears
and he sees and he rebels.
Some say it is the climate of Kan
sas that has produced it's anarchists. =
its cranks ana it's fanatics. Climate
and environment are wonderful
things 1t may be climate-it may be
blood. 1t matters not what it is that
has made Kansas a fighting mans
state. And what sturdy fighters they
are! Not mere brawlers or fighters
for the love of fighting. Cromwells
roundheads might ind reinearnation
in Kansas and call it good.
Kansas was the home of Popu-
ism There arose the "wild-eyed,
the disconnected and proclaimed that
herit the earth. And they made a
mighty disturbance and have lived to
see even the stolid and Indifferent
awakening to the echoes of their
ringing battle cries. And now Kansas
mas taken issue with Standard Oil. 1t
has not stopped to split hairs or
weigh carefully its acts. It has pulled
off its coat and pitched in, not partic-
llar whether its blows hit below or
,bove the monopoly's belt. 1t is doing
Kings in a hurry. The fight has
hardly begun, and the end of the mo- |
lopoly=so far as it's lease of life i'll /
KANSAS is concerned-is in sight The |
legislature has created a state refinery. |
It has passed an act making pipe lines
common carriers. It has decreed that |
my corporation selling oil in Kansas |
must charge a uniform priee-that 1t
;hall not cut prices in one locality and
'ecoup itself by charging exorbitant
crushed. It is after Standard Oil
Doth and nail, and the Rockefeller
is growing groggy.
other states are opening their eyes
md sitting up and taking notice. The
lighting spirit of Kansas is becoming |
Colorado, Texas, Indiana !
md a half dozen other states are pro-
posing to follow the example of KAN /
as and free themselves from the I
clutches of Standard Oil. 1t was a
orry day for Rockefeller when he
topped on the toes of bleeding Kan
as"
When Kansas fights it fights hard.
t viii fight again. Sometimes we may
LppIaud it's lighting. when it bits a
oe that we dislike, and other times
We may sheer at and ridicule it, when
t takes issue with our cherished idols,
tut uD one side and down the other.
me and all of us that have no COM
mission to ride astride the burdened
Jacks of the worlds toilers might
veil join in chorus and thank God
hat there is a Kansas with the will
md the courage necessary to see that
light and justice shall not go with
tut champion, even though the
hats of sneers and ridicule may be
eveled at it from a thousand sources
4 oppression. wrong and of special
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