The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-05-18
Inquiries Why Mr.. Leland Was
Not Attacked.
VOTED FOR SAMELAWS
Discusses the Various So-called
Reform Measures.
Believes Heart and Soul in Merit
of These Laws.

Balle r. Waggener pushed up his
queen few days ago and said
Check it became necessary for Mr..
Stubbs to play defensive game, and
tell about his record as an advocate
Of reform legislation. and prove that
he is neither hypocrite, charlatan or
political highwayman, as charged by
Waggener.
This is Mr.. StubbS' move: 49,
During my absence from home.
last week an interview from the dis
tinguished railroad attorney and sena-
tor from AtchiSOn county, Mr.. Bale
Waggener, appeared in your paper.
in which Mr.. Waggener describes
himself as a patriotic, public servant
with pure motives whom the people
failed to appreciate. He now seems
to have a very tired feeling and says:
I am through with the game; there is
nothing in it but wormwood and gall
Mr.. Waggener denounces the primary
election law as a mOnstrOSity; the
reform laws passed in 1905 and 1907
as more extreme and disastrous than
the laws passed during the widest
days of Populism, and says further,
not a single law was passed of any
direct benefit to the people, He de-
nounced the men who advocated and
helped to enact these reform laws as
'hypocrites, charlatans and political
highwaymen;' he describes one Stubbs
as the archf1end who has helped to
bring ruin and disaster to Kansas.
II presume gratitude prevents Mr..
Waggener, Ex-Governor Bailey, Dave
Mulvane and all the old machine and
railroad politicians who have fought
these reform measures in and out of
the legislature from attacking Mr.. Le-
land who publicly announces that he
voted for these same reform laws, but
I am entirely too dull of comprehen-
sion to understand why these wise
politicians are so devotedly sup
porting Mr.. Leland and so viciously
opposed to me if we stand for the
same laws. This proves to my mind
that Henry Allen must be right about
Uncle Cyrus knowing politics clear
down to the grass roots, for no ordi-
nary amateur in politics can catch the
voters "a comm and goin and Sc
cure the loyal support of the old ma
chine leaders and the square dealers
at the same time.
Refers to the Record.
Referring to the reform measures
which Mr.. Waggener condemns, the
following are perhaps among the
most important ones. If any one of
them has had disastrous effect upon
specifically wherein it has injured
any legitimate interest or industry in
Kansas For instance, in 1903 when
Cyrus Leland, Ex-Governor Bailey and
Bale Waggener- had almost absolute
power and. influence in the Kansas
legislature there was q maxim um
number of 430 legislative employees
| who were paid out of the state treas
| ury at the rate of SO per day. About
| 23O Of these employees were employed
| in the house of representatives and
200 in the senate. At the session of
1905, the members of which are con-
demned by Mr.. Waggener as 'hypo-
critics, charlatans and h1ghwaymen'
and of which I was speaker, the
number of employees in the house of
representatives was reduced from 2so
| to 63 making a net saving to the state
| of almost five hundred dollars day
on this one item of expense. Was
the action of 1903 session right and
| the 1905 wrong in this matter?
1.-THE official reports of the state
printer show net saving to the state
of over thirty thousand dollars each
year under the new state printer law
| of 1905. What hypocrisy is there In
| this law, Mr.. Waggener?
1.-The state depository law enacted at
| the same session has yielded an in
come of over one thousand dollars per
month to the state since 1t became
operative.
According to the best information
available the railroad laws of 1905 and
1907 have saved in freight and passen-
ger charges upwards of one million
dollars annually to the people who pay
| for railroad transportation in Kansas.
THE spirit and intent of the new tax
law, as 1 understand it, is to make all
property bear its just and equal pro-
| portion of the burden Of taxation. The
law was drawn and introduced by G.
L. Davidson of Wichita and was
amended and recommended by the tax
committees of both the house and sem
ate. This law should be amended so
that the county assessors and the state
tax commission will be elected by the
voters instead of being appointed. Ex-
per:ance will probably develop other
necessary changes in this law before its
results will be entirely satisfactory, bur
| it is a start in the right direction TO
1 solve a difficult problem by LEGISLATION.
| 1.-THE board of control law, school
fund commission, juvenile court and
| uniform bank instrument laws have
| proven by practical operation to be
| measures of unusual merit and OF
great value to the state
| ''The antipass law takes from the
| noliticians and their political friends
the right to ride free at the expense
| of those persons who pay for railroad
TRANSPORTATION and remove from the
j political battle ground one OF the most
/ powerful weapons that was ever wielo-
/ I'd nv the political fraternity. The po-
/ litical pass and the convention and
/ caucus system were the thirteen-inch
guns in the hands of the politicians
i that seldom failed to brinr down the
"The primary election law gives to
avery voter an equal voice in the
| nomination Of men for public office
| which makes every citizen delegate
| to the primary election on August 4.
and it is the patriotic duty Of every
| citizen Of Kansas to come TO the polls
/ ana serve his state conscientfously on
that day.
"The following statistics show what
widespread disaster and ruin the above
- -1c..t,nned on Pare Esght.l