The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-01-06

priation Of money to fight the Kansas
Colorado water suit. Mr.. STAIRS idea
is that If Kansas can stop Colorado
from using water, that western Kansas
part OF the state which will be benefit
ed is Wichita He suggests that Wich-
ita is trying to fix things so that the
Arkansas river will be navigable
stream up to that point. Mr.. Scott says
in his paper:
THE question is, does eastern Kan
sas fear western Kansas as rival in
the production of crops? or, are the
cities along the Arkansas river In
southeastern Kansas in league with Ok
lahoma and Arkansas for the purpose
of making the Arkansas river naviga-
bic up to Wichita by the aid of ma
90 they wart or need more water in
the flood regions Of southeast Kansas?"
Clyde Allphin, reading clerk of the
house at the last session, and now
county attorney of Wichita county.
was circulating around the Copeland
anything, but says that the legislature
has a great attraction for him. He
studied law and baseball at the state
university, and was one OF the best
reading clerks the house ever had.
William Parks, a farmer living near
Abilene has demanded that the Abi-
lene board of education pay him for
Mr.. Parks lives more than three miles
from the school house. The board or
education has asked State Superintend-
ent Dayhoff for an opinion in the case.
The attorney general says that the
board is authorized to pay the bill, but
that the maximum amount which can
be claimed is SIS for 100 days.
Under the head. 1.-The Latest Kansas
Freak" the Chicago Inter-Ocean froths
over about Fred Dumont Smiths ten
year marriage proposition. The way the
Inter-Ocean goes after freaks leglS-
lators is rather inclined to curb the hu-
morous tendencies of some of the mem
bers. The Inter-Ocean says;
IF. Dumont Smith, a member of the
Kansas state senate, announces that
he will introduce a bill authorizing
limited marriage the mar
rtage contract terminating at the
end of ten years unless the parties
choose to renew it
This is a reform which various no
toriety seeking 'reformers' have been
trying to get discussed seriously, but
without success so far. Kansas has the
doubtful honor of producing the first
lawmaker to take it up with apparent
seriousness.
Granting that Mr.. Smiths an
nouneement was not the result of too
free celebration of New Years day
with beverages legally unstable in
Kansas, it is evident that his proposal
is the result either of an itch to get
condition from which it was generally
supposed that Kansas was trying to
get away.
'eThe state of Kansas has been said,
neither untruthfully nor unkindly, to
possess more acute brains and more
arrant cranks in proportion to popu-
lation than any other American com
nonWealth. The condition thus de-
scribed. with its virtues as well as its
defects, is the product of the history
of Kansas, as determined by the men
who began to make it, and by the
mental atm mosphere they created, ana
by the kind of men whom that atmOs-
phere attracted to Kansas to keep on
making its history.
There are probably no people on
earth who grasp a new idea quicker,
get its benefits more fully, or carry
It to more absurd extremes than the
Kansans. However, it was generally
supposed that the Kansans had reach
ed a consciousness of the defects OF
their Qualities and were pretty we'll
agreed among themselves to try to
repress their crankery, while continu-
ing to cultivate their intelligence. f
Dunont Smiths proposal proves that
the Kansans need to make more
strenuous efforts in that direction:
sIf Mr. Smith continues to ener-
vesce on his present line when the
Kansas state senate assemblies. the
duty of that body to Kansas is PLAIN;
Mr. Smiths limited marriage Dill
should not be even referred TO com
rnittee for quiet burial. 1t should pc
sent to the capitol furnace at once.
For this latest Kansas freak IS not
only silly but constitutes a public
afford to countenance for a moment