The Topeka state journal., 1908-05-26

may compel railroads to show their
oooks, and publish statements similar
10 Inose published by national banks.
Inere Is what Bristow stands for. 1t
case OF the people against the Big In
!erests: IN his speeches Bristow also
IS declaring for the income and in
nerltance tax asked for by President
roosevelt Senator Long at the state
convention declared that he would
stand upon his record, which lines
him up against all Of these things;
ror ne mas a vote on record against
every one of the propositions in Bris-
lows platform, and has not taken the
trouble to save his face by recording
another opposing vote, as he has in
some cases upon other things. So it
is Bristow declaring for the things the
Kansas people are demanding, and
Longs recorded vote against them.
Mr.. BristOw's Speeches.
Br1stow is making speeches all over
Kansas this spring. He has been in
the Second and Sixth and Seventh dis
tricts. and at his meetings he tries to
bring out the sentiment of his au-
d1ences He encourages people to ask
questions that they may know exactly
where he stands. He has nothing to
hide, nothing to conceal. But his chief
platform plank is that rates on rail-
roads be based on the cost of the SER
vice to the railroads, and not based on
the value Of the service to the con-
sumer. 1t is epitomized in a paragraph
from his Belleville speech:
Take the Santa Fe railroad" said
Bristow. What amount is it entitled
to earn interest on? It's bonded for
$4,000 mile and stocked for $22, 900 a
mile. President Ripley in a widely pub
lished statement recently claimed that
it was worth every cent of that. It
recently paid a 21z per cent semi-an
nual dividend on it's common stock; last
year it paid per cent. This year it
will pay per cent on it's stock Com
petent railroad builders say it can be
duplicated for $50, 900 or $35, 900 a mile
1t is assessed this year at its full value,
and itself made a return of $25,000
mile as its actual value. What is it
actually worth? 1t is earning or 6
per cent on its stock and paying inter-
est on its bonds-wheich means that
it is paying interest on $4,000 a mile
and can be built for $35, 900 a mile, and
is assessed on its own return at $4,000
a mile
Bristow's contention is that until the
actual value OF the road is known the
railroad commissioners cannot say
what will be fair freight or passenger
rate on the road, because they cannot
say whether a or per cent rate of
interest should be charged up as a fixed
charge against $25.Oo0. what it claims
to the assessors 1t is worth, or against
s35, 900. what competent railroad build
ers say it is worth, or against $50, 900,
what it's bondhoIderS and stockholders
feel it is worth. In the end that must
be the solution of the railroad rate
problem. For usury-extortionat in
terest upon staple Investments, will not
long be tolerated in this country. And
Senator Longs record on this subject
is with Wall street; his recorded vote Is
against giving the railroad commission
ers a right to inquire into the cost of
the service to the railroads, in deter
mining what rates shall be.
The figure of Bristow in this fight is
rather unique in Kansas politics. In
the first place he is without funds; he
is a poor man, fighting a state machine,
and a federal machine. and combined
alliance Of all the big interests in Kan
sas politics with all the money it can
spend. He has no organization. He
Of Congressional Records, containing
Longs votes; he makes two or three
speeches in a county, shakes hands up
and down the streets Of the towns, leave
a few pamphlets, and disappears. There
are 100 counties in Kansas, and Bris-
tow will have visited them all before
August. But he will have no machine
in any of them. He will have only the
unorganized people. He has no offices
to promise, and has made no promises.
Patronage does not interest him. For
the first time in Kansas history,
candidate for the United States senate
is making a campaign without cons1d-
ering patronage. Bristow is af1ame
the people of Kansas are being unfair
" treated by the Big Interests.
And yet for all his fervor in this
cause Of the people, the machine and
the machine strikers in every commun-
ity treat Bristow as one who has COM
mitted a great crime. They vaid him;
they sneer at him; they revile him,
and abuse him. What is his crime?
What has he done, that these profess
sional politicians should treat him with
contempt?. The answer is not easy,
for the crime is rather a mysterious
one: it consists in Bristow's attitude
toward the politicians. He ignores
them. They are not called into his
room for a conference" at the county
seat hotel, when Bristow comes into a
community; they are not whispered to;
they are not tempted with bribes of
offices for working the people. Bristow
is not "parcelling out" jobs. He has no
complete set Of federal appointees in
every congressional district. He has no
lieutenants and fxers, who expect to
control things. He is in short, Cold"
That is the Mysterious Crime of Joe
Bristow He Is not a cheerful warm
hearted liar, who is all things to all
men. He is merely cadaverous,
eager-eyed, simple hearted straight
forward mana man who has made
good In every station ne mas nelo-d
man whose name has been cursed IN
more jails holding grafters than the
name of any other man in public life
today. Bristow always has given the
people the benefit of the doubt when
any exists as between thief and the
people, and so they say ne is Colo. II
remains to be seen whether the ma
chine can buy with promises of patron
age enough men to reiterate that story
of Bristow's coldness, long enough ana
loud enough to send a man to the sen,
ate who will vote with Wall street anu
against Kansas for six years more.
WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE.
RAIN IN TREGO COUNTY.