The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-10-14
KANSAS COMMENT
rHE 1--we MR. R1PLEY.

You don't catch Mr.. E. P. Ripley,
president of the Atchison, Topeka &
Santa Fe, mapping. Day or night you
will find him always on the job. The
clang of boiler shop wouldn't keep
him from hearing whisper in the out
ermost precincts. He is a real live
wire. Those have found it out who
have attacked his railroad without
first seeing to it that their facts were
on straight. M. Ripley reads the pa
pers, and being proud of the Santa
Fe which, by the way, is a mighty fine
railroad and has become so mainly
through his energies, promptly resents
1t when anybody assails 1t or its mo-
tives. If it is a case that warrants
reply, Mr.. Ripley has it ready by
the time the messenger boy arrives
and this is no slam at the speed Of
messenger bows
Mr.. Ripley lately has noted what
he regards a spirit of antagonism to-
ward railroads in general, including,
of course, the Santa Fe. He has found
1T, among other places, in Kansas.
Believing that the Kansas Judgment
counts for a good deal in fixing pub
lie opinion, Mr.. Ripley proposes to
find out where the divergence began
and what has kept it up. So he is
sending to Kansas a party of Santa
Fe officials who know all about freight
tariffs and schedules, about rolling
stock and wage scales, about main
lSI1duC6 ana u Idlk II
over with the folks here. Mr.. Rip
ley, as we understand, doesn't propose
to do everything they recommend, or
even command, but it may be assumed
that he is disposed to be reasonable,
and that in future actions he will be
guided largely by the justice of their
complaints and criticisms.
The important thing about the whole
procedure is that Mr.. Ripley really
cares what the people are thinking
and saying: Almost from the begin
ming of railroading the most of the
men at the head of various systems
have been about as nearly Indifferent
as could be to the attitude of the pub
lie toward them and their methods.
The people were sort of given to un-
derstand that to ask entirely proper
questions about the railroads was i'm
pertinence, so 1t Is not surprising that
they have become a little bitter and
there may have developed among them
feeling of prejudice.
Kansas will welcome the visit of
Mr.. Ripley's party. He will find the
people willing to meet him more than
half way, and there isn't a doubt that
the visit will be productive of much
good all around.-Leavenworth Times.
BRITISH ILIITERATE VOTER.
A British government inquiry as to
the i1literate vote has brought out some
facts and figures that may well afford
food for thought to American optim-
lists. Out of $4,000 votes thrown at
the recent general election in England
and Wales but 17,151 were cast by
illiterates. The illiterate voters in
Scotland were as 2,044 to 100000, in
Ireland $4,000 to 100000. Unfortunate
ireland is already coming in for lee
turing on its educational shortco mings,
but these admonitions will be accom-
panied by bad grace from some quar-
ters. It may, for instance, be doubted
If every state in the Union can show g.
very much better average of educated
voting than Ireland exhibits. We
often speak of ourselves as the most
common schooled people in the world,
whereas there were in the United
States in 1900, according to the census,
61S0069 illiterates above 10 years of
age, of whom 3,2O0,746 were whites.
OF the iIliterates 5,224,2 26 could Meth
er read nor write. The native white
iIliterates numbered 1,46S,348. In IL
states adult illiterates aggregated over
100, 900 each, Georgia leading with
15S,247. The truth is that we are not
keeping abreast with some of the
countries of the Old World which have
made education a national function,
like Germany, France and Great Brit
ain. In Germany outside the Polish
provinces illiteracy is all but unknown.
The British voting figures speak for
Observation-Disclosures Transcript.