The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-09-04
FRIEND TRUSTS
Mrs. Ella Burton Denounces
Governor E. w. HOch.
Says He Plays Into Hands Of
American Book Company.
NAMED D. O. MORAY.
Book Trusts ssGeneraE~ on Text
Book Commission.
Fierce Attack May Have In
fluence in Political Affairs.

That Governor E. ". Hoch has turned
over the text book commission of the
state to the Vaccinations and manipu-
lations OF the book trust-The American
Book company-through the appoint
ment of D. o. McCray to the commits
sion, and that Crane & Co.. of this city,
had hand of considerable proportions
in the deal. We're the charges made yes
terday afternoon by Mrs. Ella S. Bur
ton in an address which she delivered
at Vinewood park during the course of
the Labor day picnic, which was held
there under the auspices of the Topeka
Trades and Labor council.
Mrs. Burton spoke to an audience OF
between three and four hundred persons,
who found seats on benches in a semi
circle under the clump of trees to the
north of the bandstand and restaurant.
And she spoke under unusual difficult
ties. The big bell used in the Hale's
tours, not very far away, kept changing
necessarily and little way on the other
side a noisy crowd were shouting their
approVals over the antics of a trained
horse. But despite these drawbacks
Mrs. Burton delivered a forceful speech
and was applauded frequently, especial
ly when her arraignment Of Governor
Hoch was most scathing.
1t was evident that Mrs. Burton knew
whereof she spoke She is a graduate
OF the State Normal college and has
served as teacher and assistant prin-
cipal of the Humboldt school in Kansas
City, Mo. While in this position she
married G. G. Burton, who was then an
agent for the American Book company.
After her marriage she worked with her
husband IN his office and became IaInfi-
lar with the methods of the book trust
and particularly as they related to Kan
sas and these methods became such that
Mr.. and Mrs. Burton felt that they
could not consistently reamin in the
employ of the company and they resign
ed and afterwards entered the employ
of Crane & Co, from which service they
also severed their connection They now
live with their two children on a farm
to the east of the city.
While with her husband in the en-
ploy of the American Book company
Mrs. Burton came in contact with a
good deal of the correspondence of the
terday she read copies of letters from
D. O. McCray to the effect that he was
friendly to the interests Of the COM
pany. This letter was written before
his appointment to the commission Mrs.
Burton read many other letters and tel
egrams showing the methods employed
by. the company TO secure their desired
ends.
Before launching into the book trust
business as It affects Kansas Mrs. Bur-
ton spoke in a general way on things
political. She said that individual in
difference lad allowed the affairs of
state to fall into the hands of flxers
$50 Indifferent has the public mind be-
come" said Mrs. Burton, that almost
any set of men can ask for Office and
get it. They seek public trust only to
barter it away. They knock on the
doors of society and are admitted when
even the clothes they wear and the
houses they live in were purchased by
the sale of their honor as they bartered
/ rio h cTtx- of
the masses. Things will be better if
each individual citizen can be made to
feel that he is directly responsible for
the conditions which prevail. People
must not allow the subsidized papers to
outweigh those in the interests of the
peoples rights There is no difference
between the political parties except in
the mere spelling of the name under
which they march. King George the
Third thought he had a right to tax the
colonists and the trusts in this country
are thinking and doing the same thing.
The negro was never more enslaved in
the south than are the white men today
throughout the length and breadth of
the land by the trusts. What one trust
does they all do. Their methods are one
and their motives are one.
And one Of the worst trusts in the
the land is the book trust. For years
the people of this state complained Of
the prices of text books. The prices
charged were unreasonable. The legiS-
IdIuTe was p6IlJlOneQ time ana Time
again for relief but without results
But the prices were not the worst fea-
ture of the conditions. After parents
had supplied their children with ade-
quate books the trust got busy and had
the books changed and parents were
compelled to supply their children with
a new set of books. One OF the saddest
sights of my life was to see children
of wealthy parents with new books ana
watch the dropping heads of other child
rem when they were asked where their
new books were and they replied that
their parents could not afford to buy
them. 1t made my blood boil to see
these millionaire book magnates of the
east fattening on the love of parental
| affection
Doodle Was Distributed.
But the petitions to the Legislature
were scorned until the Populists and
Democrats got into power. The text
book bill, which is now q law, was in
! tr0duced and the manager of the Amer
lean Book company asked an agent or
| the company how much money it would
I take to stop the legislation The agent
replied that nothing would stop it and
i then the manager said that he thought
Harry G. Wilson could stop 1t. Wilson
/ was one of their boodlers- And am
glad to say right here that not all
| of the agents Of the company are hood
lers. The agent insisted that Harry
could not bribe the legislature. The
manager said that he would take the
matter under consideration for a couple
of weeks. At the end Of this TINE Harry
Wilson came into this city and opened
up headquarters for work Everyone
knows the result Speaker Street put
a 800 bill in his has and he went back
over the line to Missouri That bill was
passed by the Populists and Democrats
and as the law went through it cut the
price of text books in half. t might
have cut the price still more without
hurting the book tsust The law also
provided that the text books could not