The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-07-13
CURTIS ON TRAIL.
Bitter in Arrangement of the
Stubs Administration.
Attacks Governor as Against
Freight Rate Reduction.
HOLDS UP FOR TAFT.
Thinks He Is Best President
Since Abraham Lincoln.
WagstaR Making Contrasts With
Vig0r and Fire.
HOLDS UP FOR TAFT.

early in the afternoon from LaCygne,
where they stopped to shake hands
and eat dinner. Only stopping to draw
breath, they left in an automobile for
Mound City. the county seat. for an
afternoon meeting.
The meeting last night at this place
was held in the opera house and was
well attended. Senator Curtis made
splendid talk. He has many warm
personal friends here, a score of whom
were at the depot to meet him.. In
| fact, the senator has warm friends in
almost every town in Kansas. It's a
way he has, this making of friends.
and keeping them. The senator prac-
tically repeated his Olathe speech on
the tariff, covering few details that
he omitted there for want of time. But
at this place he paid more attention
| to state issues.
| The senator does not believe in any
halfway measures in his fight on
Governor Stubs and the square deal
| policies The senator is Standpatter
Of standard gauge size from Standing
| town located on Stand creek. He is
proud of the record made by the last
congress and he thinks that William
Howard Taft is the best president
since Abraham Lincoln, and he does
not hesitate to say so in his speeches.
He is after the scalp of one Walter
Roscoe Stubs, and he strikes his TOM
ahawk in the warpost at every stop
ping point on the campaign trail.
| Senator Curtis, in holding the Stubbs
administration up for bitter arraign-
| ment declared that the taxes have
been increased about million dollars,
and that the governor had advanced
| about four reasons for the increase
| each reason conflicting with the other
and none of them ringing true. The
4 "a 6QTrQS- grip full OF
them, and he uses them to support MS
statements regarding higher taxes
| Encouragement and the other
Grimes of the Stubs administration
| He used as the keynote of his talk
/ on state issues the quotation from Mr..
Schermerhorn of the state board OF
control. a Stubs office holder. who de-
clared some time ago to Joplin re-
| porter that those on the inside knew
| where the money went, but they were
| not in a position to tell or can not tell
| for what it was spent. The senator
raised his voice to the roar of lion
/ when he Numbered out that there
could be no excuse for any official or
| set of officials not telling the people
all about where the money went and
/ for what it was spent.
| He declared that while Stubs point
ed with pride to the reduction IN
freight rates that in reality he was
against the freight rate reduction
measures.
He talked about the penitentiary
payroll and cost of keeping prisoners
| and said that both had been increased
| under the business administration of
| Governor Stubs, after five hundred
| prisoners had been removed to Okla
| homa.
He called attention to the governors
| claim of credit for the establishment
| of a state printer on a salary and read
| from a house bill to show that the
measure had been passed while Hoch
| was governor and at his recommends
| ton, and while Stubs was speaker OF
the house.
| a surplus at Hutchinson and Lansing
and read figures to show the falsity
/ of those claims.
In fact, he raked the Stubs admin
istration fore and aft. using sarcasm;
rounded periods to show the Repub-
| licans in his audience where the COVER
| nor was leading them in his frenzied
campaign of reform.
| Curtis an Orator.
/ There are those who say that Sena-
tor Curtis is not an orator or spell
binder. Perhaps not. But the Last
of the Mohicans is employing every
art known to the forum in his cam
paign speeches this year. His descrip-
ton of the first insurgents in this
country was a masterpiece. He said:
Il There were insurgents in Lincoln
time, and 1 do not need to tell you
who they were. They voted for Me-
| Clellan for president. The insurgents
voted for Greeley as against General
Grant. saw party of insurgents at
the st. Louis convention and it was a
sad sight. These men wept as they
followed that old patriarch Teller out
of the convention when the gold plank
was adopted by the party. But I re-
spect and admire them when I con-
trast their courage and sincerity with
the insurgents of today: These men
who marched away with Teller be-
lieved in principle and they lived UP
to it. They could not endorse the ac-
ton of the majority of their party
} and they left that party; they did not
stick a knife into their party and turn
! it around
The senator at times in his speech
raised his hand toward heaven and
spoke as solemnly as a cathedral or
gan's tones. Again he hammered his
palm with his fist and drove his words
| home like rivets, speaking sharp and
quick and with a world of power in
his voice. Again he would walk for
ward to the edge of the platform and
lower his voice, speaking 'conf1dentialIy
: and with seductive notes. But the
greatest of all was his smile. The
Curtis smile this year is a poem illus
| trated by Christy. It breaks over his
sombre face like winter sunshine; g
score of little crinkles appear at the
corners of his mouth to announce itf
coming; the nose arches up in antici-
pated enjoyment. and the eyebrows
come down to see the fun. Then The
whole face gets busy and fits every
alignment into one perfect setting Of
joy that beams at you until you fee
good all over. Oh, yes, 1t has the
famous Taft smile looking like a Ian.
tern jawed man with the toothache.
Wagstaff Does Well.
. Tom Wagstaff is making a good cam
paign speech by this time. He puts
, more vigor and fire into his talk and he
is branching out into incidents of this
campaign in an entertaining way He
is not afraid to speak out and relieve
his mind on any subject under the sun
He has all kinds of convictions and th=
courage to express them For instance
he contrasts the Stubs administration
most unfavorably with those of Stan
J Low ma BAILEY He f<11d l1flrr If cost flae