The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-02-18

privilege of making laws here.
mot only is this article false abso-
Ilutely false, as to the alleged facts it
contains, but it is false and malicious
and Intentionally and wilfully SANDER
Gus in what it conceals and what it
leaves out, as well as what it says and
I charge the Topeka Capital here and
now with deliberately and intention
Tally attempting to deceive the people
of the state of Kansas and this legis-
lature for its own private political
ends.
THE object of this attack, Mr.
Speaker, and gentlemen of this house,
was to discredit the public utilities
measure that passed this body. I do
not know what their object was in sin
| Cling me out. l was merely one of
fifteen men of this house. who for two
solid weeks worked night and day.
| conscientiously framing bill that we
| thought would meet the requirements
| of the people of this state, and with no
other object in mind whatever, and
| when we got through, after we had
framed that bill. we went over it line
| by line, and paragraph by paragraph,
| and debated from every conceive BILE
standpoint, and its warmest advocates
were the administration men on that
/ committee. Mr.. MatsoD and Mr..
| Keene and the other members of that
committee were the warmest advo-
Gates of this measure, and I was mere
| ~ one of the fifteen. The so-caned
administration of this state had eight,
or nine, or ten members on that COM
mittee, at least eight members, and
I say nine or ten, and they not only
! framed bill which / believe was in
the interest of the people of this state,
but they framed a bill which absolutely
! met every argument that came from
Democrats and Republicans alike, and
from all interests that this legislature
considered.
'They say that 1 reported that bill
to the house. That is a false and SLAM
derous statement. You gentlemen
know that the chairman o. the COM
mittee reported that bill and want to
say that l would have been very proud
to have had the honor of reporting a
high class measure like that to this
house. L only regret that 1 could not
have been chairman of that committee
in order to have had my name at
tached to that kind of a measure.
Now they refer to me, time after time,
as the attorney for the Rock Island
railroad. That statement has been
made by men who do not know any
thing about the facts at all.
II want to say to you as 1 stand here
in this house, / am free man, but for
q years, Mr. Chairman, in my own lit
tie community, where 1 have lived for
about 26 years, have been a local at
torney for the Rock Island railroad or
for the Santa Fe railroad am not
their attorney when I get beyond my
county lines; 1 am simply employed
when they have a lawsuit in my coun-
ty, and they send the papers to me and
say, You attend to this business. A
local attorney is distinct and his pow
ers are entirely stopped, and he is not
attorney at all when he gets outside of
his own county. That is slanderous,
an absolutely false and slanderOus state |
ment which is always hurled at an at
torney who has ability enough to try
a lawsuit for a railroad company.
81 want to say further, that in my
county while 1 have been a local at
torney for the Rock Island railroad in
that county, yet so we'll have the affairs
been managed there to the satisfaction
of our people, that in 10 years, only one
case against the railroad company has
been tried out before a jury, and the
jury of that county, returned verdict
for the railroad company in that one
case. What do you think of that?
This slanderous newspaper, the To-E
peka Capital, this deliberately false, /
malicious wanton libel, stands here, it |
has been put out here before the peo- |
Pile of this state, in order to terrify leg |
islation and nothing else.
In the 20 years that 1 have been a |
local attorney for a railroad, Mr.. |
Speaker, and Gentlemen of this
House, the Republicans of my county |
have made me their standard bearer |
for representation in the legislature in
six campaigns. My people at home I'M
derstand that 1 represent a railroad |
when it comes to legal affairs in that
county. 1 simply try their lawsuits:
they have got to have SOMEBODY to rep
resent them. Another attorney, one of
the able attorneys of this state, also
represents the Santa Fe railroad in |
my town. He is a Democrat and l am
a Republican. bat I want to say to you
that my people know all these facts, |
and have honored me with an endorse |
ment in six separate campaigns, and 1
want to say that the nomination at |
the hands of the Republican party. is
the highest endorsement of mans |
integrity and of his qualifications that |
he could have.
why did not this malicious and |
slanderous newspaper-the Topeka Cap
ital-single out Senator Ganse in the |
senate? Senator GanSe is a railroad |
attorney and I want to say to you that
have never had one dollar of salary |
from a railroad company in my life. |
When l am paid, am paid at the rate |
of SO dcy for my services while in
court. That is my salary. Why did |
they not point at the fact that Senator |
Ganse, who is an abject follower of the |
governor of this state, in the senate is |
a railroad attorney, that he is a Santa |
Fe attorney who draws a regular sal
airy for his services. It was willful |
deliberate and malicious attempt to |
single out me, and me only"
There are two newspapers. of great
weight and inheritance in this country
of which the Topeka Capital is one. and
the Kansas City Star is the other, |
and while 1 do not state it as a fact, |
for [ have no personal knowledge on |
that subject, yet in we'll Informed cir |
cles IT is said that the owner of these |
two papers is one and the lie; that |
they are controlled from the same !
course, and I want to say to you that |
judging from reports of these newspa-
pers in the last five years, the only
object they have is to break up the Re- |
publican party in the state of Kansas.
THE owner of one of these papers |
in another state was under an indict- |
ment, 1 am told. in the state of Indi-
ana, as a knight of the Golden Cir
Gle and it is known 70 be fact that
Levi P. Morton on his deathbed made |
the declaration that the only thing that |
he had to regret was that when he was