The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-06-11

SSH MIN, tney charge that the votes
which they believe were cast wrong
were wall street" votes and those
cast right were in the interest of the
people. Mr.. White and Mr.. Bristow
agreed with me then and do now on
my vote against free silver, 50 they
say nothing about it. Some other
person who believes in free silver, in
making up list of my "Wall street"
votes would place that among the
nrst- Why do they not say anything
ABOUT my votes on Porto Rican tariff
ana Cuban reciprocity? was severely
critlclzed then and am now by persons
In Kansas who believed I voted wrong
on both these propositions. My po-
sltlon. on Porto Rico was violently at
lacked In the newspapers OF the state
and in the country at the time. I
have been censured and condemned
Cuban reciprocity. I have opposition
| now because Of this. am still
charged with having then voted in the
interest of the trusts and wall
street; on Cuban reciprocity. Why
| this silence on the part Of White and
Bristow? They both supported my po-
sition then and strongly endorsed it.
They could not very we'll criticize 1t
| now. SO they remain silent on these
questions to which I gave my prfnci-
pal attention and which were report
ed from my committee, and criticize
my votes on local bills from other
| committees which I had not investi-
gated personally, but in which fol-
| lowed the committee reporting the
bills
Any one having had service in a
legislative body, especially in the
house Of representatives, knows how
impossible it Is for a member of that
body to personally investigate every
question upon which he Is called upon
| to vote. A member, be he ever SO in
| dy1c eyfxy OF IN
| the great public questions and to
those that are considered by the COM
mittees of which he is a member.
1t seems strange that at this late
date these gentlemen should find -
much fault with my record in the
no fault with that record at the time,
but instead gave 1t many words OF
praise and commentator, privately
and publicly. After this record was
made. Mr.. Bristow loyalty and ear
nestly supported me for the senate.
In the article find this after the re-
cita1 of my votes in the house:
by that time Wall street knew Long
and SO, as Curtis has so aptly said
The railroads defeated me- And they
elected Long. They knew his tenpera-
ment; they knew that he might be de-
pended upon always when the issue
came up squarely between progressive
government and the things that are
and they knew when it came to separat
ing the robber from his plumber. Ions
did not have to be watched. Also, HI
did not have to be bought"
Times change and we change will
them. The opinions that are held to
day by some persons seem to diffe
from the opinions Of the same person
expressed sometime ago. The charg
is made in this article tina
senate. 1t might be well to re
fer to some political history connecte
with that election. There were thre
, leading candidates for the senate i
, 1908: Governor Stanley, Mr.. Curtis an
myself. We practically had the sam
number of votes in the caucus. M
!, votes came principally from the Sevent
, district that I had represented for ST
, years, while cast the votes for whic
am here so severely criticized. Their
were several sessions Of the caucus
: there was, no material change in tn
q votes. except that gained few vote
; and Governor Stanley lost a few.
! became evident that there could be n
: result in the caucus until one Of tn
! three candidates withdrew from tn
: race. My forces coming from the Sew
enth district familiar with the recor
n that I had made in congress, loyal t
: me as they had been through severe
, congressional battles. were not Of tn
1 kind or nature to abandon their candi
: date. The supporters of Governo
= Stanley held a caucus and decided
I withdraw his name. They also prac
tically unanimously decided to Civ
their support to me. This was done al
, ter full consultation with Governo
6 Stanley and his managers. and one c
those managers was William ALE
White.
: If the railroads elected me to tn
. senate, it was done by inducing tn
j supporters of Governor Stanley t
abandon him, and one of the instru
{ ments through which the. work wa
. done was William Allen White, the au
, thor Of this article to which I am re
, plying. He became my supporter lat
l in the contest, while Mr.. Brfstow ha
been my supporter from the beginning
, After the work was done and I wa
nominated in the caucus and electe
by the legislature, among the pleasan
press notices that I received, teh on
! think I appreciated the most was tn
following from Mr.. Whites paper, tn
Emporia Gazette, under date of Janu
| airy 20, 1908:
t 1.-THE career of Chester I. Long i
Kansas public life is an example of tn
5 man who has always recognized 'oppor
} tunity,' and who, when he once grasp
= ed her hand, never let go. He first en-
tered state politics about 1890 when h
( was appointed by Governor Humphre
e to fill out the term Of the state senate
| in his district which had been mad
4 vacant by judicial appointment. Al
} terward he was elected senator by hi
t people, Then he received the non1ina
a ton for congress in the Seventh dis
j trict but was defeated by Jerry Simr
v son. Then came an up-an-down sessio
t with Simpson and Populism that ex
t tended over term of years. year
q fraught with all the stress and uncer
). tainty of political life, when peopl
e were not governed by party principle
e and beliefs, but wholly by emotions
v hysteria. First Simpson would VIII
a then the reflex of that emotion woul
+ send Long to congress. Then anothe
s swing and Simpson. And so the thin
n went. but Chester I. Long neve
: budged. He only gripped the thin
a tighter. Failure only served to develo