The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-02-19
Hutchinson Wins State Fair
SkirmiSh in Senate.
Too Much "POrk Barrel" Ruin
ed Topeka Chances.
DISREGARD FOR CONSTITUENTS
Advantages of Location Not
Considered in Fight.
Logan Referendum Amend
ment Defeated.

Persons walking through the state
house corridors late Tuesday after
noon shifted the air when they de-
tected an odor that reminded them
of the "palmy days" of the senate
lodge" The odor was nothing less
than that familiar frying of pork that
accompanied the vote on the state
fair fight between Topeka and Hutch
inson. And as usual, after the barrel
was packed and nailed tight, Hutch
inson with her Emerson Carey,
master carpenter and head chef, took
the preliminary rounds of the skirm-
ish for the location of a state fair.
Normal schools, educational appro-
priations, county experiment farms,
pet measure support-the best kind of
pork barrel material-all loomed up
above the senate horizon when
the results of the promises of
Senator Carey of Reno county
state fair vote. Hutchinson won the
first state fair battle in the senate
the committee of the whole recon-
mended the bill from the city of salt
and sand for passage subject TO
amendment and debate.
The senate by vote of 20 to 10
turned down the Logan of Mitchell
proposition to submit the state fair TO
d vote OI the people. Then the To-
peka bill was defeated and the Carey
measure was recommended for pas
sage. In other words, the senate dis
regarded the Topeka offer of grounds
and equipment worth a quarter of
million dollars and a bonus of $20,-
00O-and decided that the state ex-
position should be given to a city
where no bonus is offered, where no
fireproof buildings-with the excep-
ton of a 10 by 15 ticket office-are
Ilon bod r17n ch do fTo n
be detected and where the people
twice have turned down bond issue
to place the fair in the hands of the
county.
Waggener's Long Journey.
1t was a vote hard to understand
standpoint. Politically no one was
surprised at the result. The pork
barre1' was too plain to hide the vote
of the senators. But it is hard to see
why Waggener of Atchison. for in
stance should vote for Hutchinson
when his entire city would favor To-
peka-they are only a few miles apart
And also when Topeka sends train
loads every year to the Atchison flow
er carnival.
Then take Stillings of Leavenwortn
another mystery. Leavenworth
would have to go through Topeka to
get within 100 miles of Hutchinson.
The Leavenworth newspapers favored
L
Carney and His Normal Bill.
A Mahin of Smith county. The
people of Smith county would have to
travel for more than a day to get with
in sight of Hutchinson. And Wilson
of Jefferson-this includes Lawrence
and the territory just east of Topeka
how these people would flock away
out in southwestern Kansas to a state
fair! Then, gentle reader, take Car
ney of Cloud county-do you know
where the people of Cloud would have
to go to find Hutchinson? Gray of
Osborne, Joseph of Butler, Price of
Greenwood. Malone of Rawlins,
wilson of washington-other won
derful examples of loyalty to
constituents who would go to a state
fair within railway distance of their
homes.
Paid No Attention to Referendum.
The senate has placed itself on rec
ord favoring the referendum-the de-
sires of the people. But when it came
to allowing the people to vote for the
state fair according to the Logan idea
never. There is one senator-one
citizen, mind you-who wanted the fair
at Hutchinson and this senator had a
broad smile, an affectionate slap on
the back a clever line of talk and
and-well, he had a vote. And as long
as he came here for the one purpose
of procuring the fair for Hutchinson
that vote was within reach. Mean
while thousands of people in eastern
and adjoining counties who voted to
send their representatives here as
senator's will read in the list below
that they voted to take the state fair
far away from their homes and the
reach of their pocketbooks-
OF course the fight isn't ended. The
inal vote is subject to amendment and
debate. Here will come the final tussle
between Topeka and Hutchinson. Then
tbe matter must be taken up in the
house. And there is an underlying
sentiment favoring no state fair at all.
But it was mighty interesting Tues
day afternoon to watch the votes.
Senators-and they admitted it
admit vote for the location of the
state fair because they thought their
neople would rather have it in Tope-
I1a-they voted for Hutchinson because
they told Carey they would. And
vote 10 please Emerson Carey is much
orefera BILE to a vote Iavoring the peo-
nIo at home. Think of the people of
Atchison, Leavenworth and Jefferson
counties, for instance, expressing their
desires to travel clear to Hutchinson
to see a fair! Frame this picture and
hang it on your wall.
Here is a list of senators who voted
against the Logan bill that would al
low the people of the state to choose
their own state fair: Carey, Carney,
Denton, Gray, Human. Joseph,
Nahin. Malone, Overfield, Paulen.
price of Clark, Price of Greenwood,
Shorse. Simpson, Porter, StiIhngs. Sut-
ton. Trott, Waggener, Wilson of JEFF
ferson Wilson of Washington.
Here are the senators who wanted
their people to decide the fair location
were willing that it should be left to
the ones who attend and not to one