The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-04-29

Roosevelt carried the same district by
$500. Senator Waggener served in
the upper house during the sessions of
1905-07 and the special session of
1908. Those were the trouble days
of the famous senate lodge and saw
/ the passage of the primary and anti
pass laws. Turnout the four years,
Senator Waggener was one of the fore
most figures in senate which, from
the standpoint of keen intellect, pos
sibly ranked near the top with state
legislative bodies. Senator Waggener's
political alignment didn't hold him to
the background and again he was
placed at the head of the judiciary
committee. which shaped some of the
most important laws on the statute
books.
Then in the early days of 1912 came
Senator Waggener's sickness.
His Welcome Homo.
Atchison didn't attempt to conceal
her joy when the beloved Waggener
returned from a surgical operation in
Rochester sanitarium. That home
coming day AtchiSon gave him a re-
ception such as is accorded nobility.
During those sorrow days, Atchison
children had prayed for the delivery
of their friend-the friend who gave
them the big annual picnic. For the
Waggener picnic had become an es-
tablished institution in the land. Each
July Is, trains were chartered, bands
were hired, circuses were engaged,
barrels and barrels of lemonade and
wagon loads of crackerjack were
bought. And it all went to make the
Riddles happy. The lawyer, the poll
tician, the statesman and the friend
of the kids rode with them at the
head of the parade. Everything was
free for a day. In 1911 President
Taft had attended the picnic and on
behalf of kids. grown and in trousers
and tresses, presented the father of
the picnics with a loving cup. And
so Senator Waggener had come to
hold a place in the heart of every
child in Atchison county. That is
friends deliverance when he was on
the operating table in Rochester
Children Awaited Him.
Winning the Craftsmanship of the
judiciary committee in a Republican
legislature was a triumph. But it
didn't carry with it the childish evil
dences of love and loyalty that came
the day Senator Waggener returned
to Atchison. That day thousands of
children lined the streets of Atchison.
Bands played. The children shouted
welcome and there were flushed and
happy faces as they marched and sang
songs for their hero. All other lauda-
compared with that enthusiastic well
come which came right from the
hearts of happy children-real friends
That year Senator Waggeher desired
to return to the upper house. Repub-
licans in his district had learned
great lesson eight years before In
1912 Senator Waggener was returned
without opposition. For opposition
was useless in a district where mere
party line contests for supremacy over
personal love.
Brought Train of Children to Topeka
Thru the sessions of 1913-15, Sena-
tor Waggener again served at the head
of the judiciary committee. This
time it was in a senate with the bal
ance of power one vote in favor of
the Democrats In the two sessions,
Senator Waggener wrote many of the
important measures of the Hodges ad-
ministration and the first term of the
Capper regime.
While in the senate in 1915, Senator
Waggener staged one of the most
spectacular plays of Kansas legisla-
tive session. Appropriation measures
threatened to deadlock the legisla-
ture A bill for a new school at the
Atchison orphans home was tied up
So Senator Waggener chartered a Spe-
cial train and brought more than 200
boys and girls to Topeka to call on the
legislature. After that demonstration,
Senator Waggener's bill was passed.
But the bill was vetoed by Governor
wanted to return in the 1916 election
and fight thru his measure, but his
failing health and weakness from a
series of operations brought COM
mands from his physicians to retire
from the activities.
Possibly Senator Waggener's keen
insight of human nature his sympa-
thy and sense of humor were never
better demonstrated than in the Or
ganization of the Democrat senate of
1918. An aged widow visited Senator
Waggener in his hotel. She was pen
niless, timid, ignorant of political
pulls. Yet she wanted a place in the
legislature. She couldn't write short
hand. She couldn't run a typewriter
But she could scrub and dust and
wash. Her story touched Senator
Waggener deeply. IF L have any in
fluence in this session, you will get
job" the senator said. He slipped the
woman a rather large bill as he shook
hands when she started to go.
A few minutes later a stylishly
dressed woman in expensive 'furs Wis
tied the senator. She too. wanted a