The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-12-05

Il saw many beautiful and stately
homes on the drive" said Senator
Brewster in telling of his trip. 1.-The
boulevards are grand. They wind
around past the palaces of Kansas
City millionaires and the well kept
grounds sweep undulating from the
macadam of the roadway to the mar
bic of the buildings. Luxury, grandeur,
beauty everywhere. But unfortunate
ly NV driver then took me across the
viaduct that connects the two Kansas
CityS. The contrast was that between
noon and midnight. Looking down
from the viaduct l saw the huts and
novels of les miserables. There were
hundreds of shacks not fit for human
sand and the litter and refuse of the
railroad yards. Smoke, CRIME, dirt.
filth, WretchedneSS we're the lot of
the jewellers here. I saw women and
children without hope Nothing but
sorrow and want here.
Then I thought of the boulevards
and the palace of Long, the lum Der
millionaire, and of how much they
ways. Under the viaduct there was
not enough. Not a shack that was
Windproof or that had fuel and food
for the inmates Not a marble palace
but that represented thousands and
thousands of dollars spent on fretwork
and extras and art. 1t was the ill
balanced distribution of wealth that
struck me. That drive strengthened
torted and overwhe Ginning contrast of
less than nothing with a mountain
and to spare.
Il wonder when society will awake
to the needs and evil of the times
There is enough in this world and to
spare for every one. Society is under
obligations to eliminate want and woe.
city that presents to the stranger
the boulevards of luxury and the
sandpits under the viaduct is as ripe
for punishment as was Babylon of
old. You can call me a Socialist here
after. young man, instead of a stand
patter."
s. NJ. Brewster is one of the unique
and strong men of the state. He
served in the last two sessions of the
state senate from Doniphan and led
the fight against the Stubs admins
tration. He defeated the I and r. bill,
a Socialist doctrine, and he grilled
William Allen White into docility on
the witness stand before the senate.
Senator Brewster fought every Popu-
list doctrine that the reformers set
before the senate the past four years
and he had the strength of ten in
debate and craft and in council. But
at the same time he drafted the custer
law and promulgated many sterling
doctrines of progress A close study
of his public career and the privilege
CT his confidence when he is talking
in his office leads one to doubt all
brands placed upon him by his friends
his enemies or himself. He is simply
a politician who is unafraid of public
opinion. He follows his own sweet will
and conscience. He is for or against
an issue just as he thinks about it and
he cares nothing for the man or fac
ton that invented it. He refused two
years ago to run for attorney gen
eral, and he refuses now to run for
governor He has received the pub
lie o. X of William Allen White and
he is high priest among standpat-
ters He is also a Socialist. He talks
but little. is hard to get acquainted
with. is inclined to be cynical, is re-
lentless when at work on a case. and
yet has day dreams, quotes from the
classics of philosophy and history. But
more than all these. he was moved to
pity and wonder at the novels of the |
poor among the sand dunes under the |
viaduct that connects the two Kansas |
Citys.