The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-06-11
We Have Them Just Like Rus
STA, Says w. r. Stubs.
Then Former Governor Tells
Washington of War Spirit.
CALLS BRISTOW IDEAS lilies"
Quaker Comes Out Above Board
for War Program.
In Volunteers Kansas Ahead of
New York and Penn.

Without naming names, Walter Ros-
coe Stubs of Lawrence, former gov
ernor, has branded the Bristow ex-
pressions of Kansas sentiment as a lie
an outrageous lie. In an interview
in Washington, Stubs sought to blot
out the stigma and disgrace heaped
upon Kansas by Bristow's utterances
His interview of June is in direct
contradiction of the Bristow Washing
ton interview of May 20 and seeks to
set Kansas right in the eyes of the
nation and the world.
StubbS'S interview as contrasted
with the Bristow interview is vitality
important at this time in view of po-
litical conditions which are gradually
shaping themselves in advance of the
1918 senatorial campaign. Stubs is
most likely and quite probable can
dldate for the Senatorship. BristoW
and Capper are already in the race.
Now Stubs comes fairly, squarely and
openly to the front in support of the
nations war program. Bristow is
seeking to enlist the support of the
Stacker, disloyal and anti element.
Governor Capper has stood on a mid
die ground of strict neutrality without
directly criticising the national ad-
ministration policies or calling his
| public utilities chairman to time for
his disloyal and near reasonable ut
teranceS.
, Quaker Is Adroit.
Political leaders in Kansas did not
fail to note the contrast in the war
expressions of Stubs and Bristow. The
former Quaker governor adroitly and
shrewdly avoided any mention of Bris-
tow's name in his interview Yet he
didn't dodge an expression as to the
Kansas sentiment, nor did he seek to
conceal the contempt in which he held
|
sought to to arouse diSsenSiOn in the
present crisis. Stubs is not a believer
in war EFT once in war-just as in
a political battle-Stubbs believes in
fighting. And in his interview he
handed the lie to Bristow and his fol-
lowing in unmistakable terms.
It's a lie-an outrageous lie" said
Stubs in answering the charge that
Kansas is disloyal to the policies of
President Wilson. There is not a
more patriotic state in the Union.
This is shown by the great number of
men who have already volunteered
for service. Already nearly the full
| quota required of Kansas has been
enlisted voluntarily. In the number
of volunteers, Kansas is far ahead of
| New York and Pennsylvania"
wild Men"
Then Stubs frankly told the Wash
ington correspondents what he
thought of the Bristows. They are
| simply WIG men, ne SAID.
Like Russia" said Stubs, kansas
has its wild men, Socialists. agitators.
i some of whom are sincere in their be-
! liefs, but none the less insane. These
men make themselves heard, neces-
sarily, but they do not represent any
| portion of the people.
| kansas people believed that Colonel
! Roosevelt should have been permit
| ted to raise a division of volunteers
for service in France, and there would
have been many Kansans among the
| Roosevelt followers, for the colonel is
still popular in that country. Now,
/ however, that CONSUMPTION is the law
| of the land, the people of Kansas are
for CONSUMPTION. And you will find,
when the reports come in that fewer
men of consumption age have failed to
register in Kansas than in any other
state
In addition to the editorial which
| appeared over his own signature in
his Salina Evening Journal branding
the war as a period of loot and grab
and plumber, Bristow also gave an
anti-war interview in Washington. At
tending a freight rate hearing in
Washington, Bristow took a look
around-permitted himself to be bit
ten by Senator LaFollette, as William
Allen White suggests-and gave an
interview putting Kansas in the slack
| er and anti-war state. In the national
capital at state expense and in the
| Official position as chairman OF the
Kansas public utilities commission,
Bristow said:
People Against War.
I'VE are approaching the greatest
period of political unrest the country
, has ever known said Bristow. This
situation, of course, is the outcome of
our entrance in the European war.
Leaders of both the great parties have
been advocating war. Colonel Roose-
Welt, the Progressive leader, has been
for it. The president, only family for
war before the election, become an
ardent champion afterward.
1.-The mass of the people in all sec
lions are against it. They have been
plunged into it against their will, and
when the full weight of the extra rdi-
nary burden of taxation falls upon
them, as inevitably it must, the po-
litical upheaval which will sweep the
nation will stagger and astound us.
I'm Kansas the people do not be-
lieve the conditions or the emergency
justifies the imposing of taxes in such
gigantic proportion as congress has
done. They do not believe conscrip-
ton necessary"
Those are the utterances of the two
Kansans in Washington-utte
which will be filed away by many men
and women for future reference and
may be extensively quoted in the 1918
campaign.