The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-02-01

inot know whether he was in favor of
the bill or not; he was not yet con-
| WINGED of its sure benefits, neither
was he certain that it would not be a
| great thing for his state. One thing
| he was positive on and that was that
| if the bill passed at all it should carry
| with it a salary sufficient to insure
| the best man possible for the place as
| head of the new commission He said
| that while he lived in the exact geo
| graphical center of the state, yet his
| symp athfeS were always with the
| western section. All the appropria-
| favored eastern part of the state, yet
! here was a chance to apply money
! from the state treasury to the west
| ern section and it ought not to be
allowed to slip by. Foley was cheered
| by the Republican side when he sat
down.
Sekavec. of Ellsworth. was the next
to bat. and he made the speech of the
day. Sekavec's whiskers are the same
shape as those worn so gracefully by
Flanagan, but while the latter's beard
is coal black. those belonging to the man
with the strange name are as white as
snow Sekavec'S ancestors came from
one of the Balkan states, but Ellsworth
county is as Web served in the house of
representatives, as any county in the
state. Sekavec has been one of the
silent men of the house up to this time,
but here was his opportunity and he
grasped it with both hands. He knew
what he was talking about. He had
been through the mill. He knew more
about trees than he did the English
language, but he made the house I'M
derstand. Vic Murdoch could not have
made more convincing speech from
the angle chosen by the man from Ellis
worth. Sekavec said:
This forestry business is one dream.
II know it. Did I not settle in that
western Kansas so years ago and try
to get my so acre claim from the gov
eminent by making the trees to grow
on it? l plant those little trees and
care for them like they was my own
children. They grow. oh, so nice, and
I watch them and tend them and laugh
in my glee at the thought of the so
acres of land they would bring to me
in this great country. I cultivate those
trees like each was a hill of corn and
they grow, oh so fine. Then they get
too big to cultivate any more and
have to stop. They are so big and fine
now that they cannot help but grow.
They will shade my new land and the
cattle will stand under them in the
summer and grow fat and 1 will have
a nice little pond on this land. But bah!
Those trees die one after the other like
men with the black plague as soon as
1 cease to cultivate them.
You talk of one Pinchot, he who is
head of all the forest of this country.
tell you he could not have raised those
trees better than l did. They was so
fine and green and healthy when 1
stop and no longer tend them like a
garden. Not for $1,000 nor $4,000 can
YOU get a man who would do better
than 1 did to raise my trees. Not in
this country nor in Europe can you get
a man that will make the trees grow
after they get too big to cultivate. Not
in western Kansas. 1 will show you the
places in Ellsworth county that are
bare. and these places once had trees
on them like my land did. But they
have dug up these trees and planted
grass and wheat and corn there. The
trees, they died when the cultivation
1 should like to have the en-
acting clause stricken from this bill.
1t will do no good. 1 know for 1 have
tried and I tell you now just as it
was
Dolly replied to the tree planter from
as follows: 4 know that
there are certain parts of western Kan
saS where the Lord never intended any
thing to grow. but this bill is intended
for the benefit of the whole state of
kansas and trees can be made to grow
in many parts of even western Kan |
sas''
The motion of the man from Lincoln |
was beaten and the bill was recon- |
mended for passage with the amend |
ment noted above.
There will be no more race track
gambling in Kansas if the bill intro |
duced Saturday by Lander of McPher- |
son becomes a law. The present Kan
sas law on betting on the races pro- |
vides that no one shall keep books or
bet on races except in the paddock of |
the race track itself and then the game |
of chance is allowed but ten days in |
the year for each person. Lander be- !
lieveS that such d law is no law at all. |
He believes that if racing is prohibited |
$50 days in the year it should be pro- /
hibited all the time and his bill abolish |
es betting on races. This is a blow at |
the state and county fair meets held in |
the state at which books are kept on |
the races in modest way all over the
Kansas circuit.
In committee of the whole Saturday |
the house recommended for passage the 1
Stone child labor bill. The age limit |
was placed at Is years for children |
in factories and shops.
The Sheideler bill compelling school |
boards in the rural districts to allow |
10 cents a day mileage for children liv-
ing three miles and over distant from |
the school was also acted upon favor
ably as was the Amrine bill changing
the time of the annual school meetings
to the last Thursday in April.
TWENTY STORES BURN.