Kansas agitator. [volume], September 29, 1891, Image 4

About Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905

Image provided by: Kansas State Historical Society; Topeka, KS

                
KANSAS AGITATOR.
Devoted to the interests of
THE MASSES.
A Fearless, Aggressive, Progressive
Advocate of All Reforms.
PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY EVENING.
W. 0. CIIAMPE, Editor.
W E Alexander, ) Associate Eds.
J. M. Alexander, )
SUBSCRIPTION RATES :
Local edition, per year, - - $1.00
Foreign edition, " - - - 50
K. R. P. A.
prohibition and Resubmission.
It is not without regret that we
witness the effort of Prohibitionists
to create a prejudice against the
proposition of the last legislature
submitting to the people, in 1892,
the question of holding a constitu
tional convention to revise and
amend the constitution now in force.
To assume, as did the late Prohibi
tion convention, that the proposition
is a re-submission scheme, is entire
ly unwarranted, for the facts do not
justify the charge. The members
of that convention knew that a
proposition to re-submit was voted
down by the last legislature. If
they had reflected that no vote of
any kind was to bo taken until 1892,
and then only as to whether a con
vention should be held, they would
have seen the absurdity of their
position. Now, suppose the people
vote for a convention in '92, the in-1
coming legislature will have to pro-!
vide for its being chosen, and its
work will go before the people for
approval or rejection ; so that the
question of re-submission cannot be ,
voted on till '94, if at all.
Now, we believe the constitution,
aside from the prohibitory clause,
should be amended. Some of the
best lawyers and prohibitionists be
lieve in a constitutionol convention
because we have outgrown the old
constitution. The people can, and
ought to, be trusted with their own
affairs ; so let the question come up
on its own merits, and be voted on
accordingly.
Shrewd bankers and other men
with money have been buying a
great many farms in western Kansas
within the past year, getting title
to them for little more than the
mortgage. These buyers will real
ize from fifty to three hundred per
cent, on the money they actually
invested. Ottawa Republican.
In other words, the farmers of
western Kansas ltave had to give up
their farms to the mortgagees. No
doubt,' every time one of those
farms was gobbled up, some Repub
lican paper of that section got upon
the house-top so- to speak and
yelled, "Another mortgage releas
ed !" That's the way they do in
this part of the state.
What is It?
If the present so-called Republic
an party is not a secret political
party, then what is it ? We haven't
heard of its being denied that the
Knights of Reciprocity is a secret
political order. Then if it be a se
cret political order, it is a partisan
one, of Republican origin. Its
signs, grips and objects are partisan
Republican politics. Next is the
Republican league, a pledge-bound
order, also of Republican party
origin. This one is the outside
sentinel or door of the order of
Knights of Reciprocity. These
two are a unit within and for the
party, trying to save the life and
success of the party. Their objects
are one and the same. If we were
going to write the name of its se
cret order, we would write as
follows: Order of R. P. pledge
bound league of Khights of Reci
procity; which, when itterpreted,
would mean, Republican party in
secret league, bound and pledged Jo
protect capitalist monopolies and
combinations of trusts.
That Bogus Resolntion.
We are in recoipt of a letter from
Byron T. Park, of Erin, N. Y., con
taining a clipping from the New
York Advertiser relative to the al
leged Hutchinson resolution, pub
lished by the Interior-IIerald. We
have published the bogus resolution
and the resolution that was really
passed by the reform editors at
Hutchinson ; hence, we think it un
necessary to publish them again.
We will simply say, for the benefit
of our correspondent, that the bo-!
rus resolution is a lie, made out of
whole cloth, and was published and
circulated for the sole purpose of
injuring the People's party. .
The Republican Calamity League
party adopts thesame old stereotyped
campaign resolutions, make the
same old stereotyped campaign
speeches, with one or two excep
tions, which are, first: They now
give the People's party the whole
amount of abuse that they formerly
have been giving the Democrat par
ty ; and second, they leavo out that
resolve, that "prohibition is the
fixed policy of the state, and that
the party is in favor of enforcing
the prohibitory law." So we see it
has unloaded prohibition and taken
its load of abuse off the Democrat
party and heaped it on the People's
party. We says calamity is not
making the party change from bad
to worse.
Trying to dethrone the money
king, while leaving the beer king
undisturbed, is like trying to carry
a hornet's nest while the hornets
are in it. The Beacon.
Trying to dethrone the beer king
while leaving the money king un
molested, that stands behind the
beer king, is like trying to kill a
mad Dull by cutting off its tail ; or
trying to raise hornets without a
nest. The way to kill a mad bull is
to cut off its head. The way to get j
rid of hornets is to destroy their
nests. The way to down the beer
monopoly, or any other monopoly,
is to knock the money power from
under it. It's the power that is
holding up the cussedness we have
in our government.
Calamity Republicans, and How
Mortgages are Being Paid oil
in Kansas.
We clip the following from the
Iowa Tribune :
The census bureau has sent out
its report of the mortgage indebt
edness of Kansas. The report
shows that the estimates used by
the Alliance speakers and writers
have been accurate. The total
mortgage debt of the state is $2,35,
485,105. This is all. on farms and
lots, and does not include the state
and railroad land contract debt,
amounting to $7,061,718. Of this
total debt 167 millions is upon acres
and 68 millions on lots. Thirty
four per cent, of the debt on acres
is in the western half of the state
and sixty-six per cent, on the east
ern half.
The assessed valuation of all
property in the state, except rail
roads, is only $290,593,711. The
mortgage debt equals eighty-one
per cent, of this.
The Kansas Republican papers
ought to begin action against Por
ter at once for "slandering their
state, advertising their bankruptby,
discouraging immigration and driv
ing away foreign capital." Porter
has certainly given the Kansas Re
publican editors a very black eye,
but they come up smiling with a
new lie about the rapidity with
which the farmers are paying off
their mortgages. A Stevens coun
ty, Kansas, farmer, who has until
recently been a staunch Republican,
writes under date of August 26th
to the Chicago Sentinel as follows :
"The editior of the Topeka Cap
ital, (Aug. 16, 1891), a leading Re
publican daily paper, devotes much
space to prove that the fanners of
Kansas are in a prosperous condi
tion ; not borrowing a dollar but
paying off their farm mortgages at
a rapid rate.
He quotes figures from the rec
ords to prove what abomtnable liars
the "calamity howlers" are. He
names Stevens county, and that is
what I wish to explain, and what is
true of this county is true of all
tlie southwestern counties in the
state.
He takes the month of July, 1891,
and shows how many mortgages
were filed for record none.
In another column shows mort
gages paid off and canceled (large
amounts.)
Now for the facts in the case.
Long before July, 1891, every
loan company doing business in this
county withdrew their agents. Not
a dollar can be had on any terms.
Then, again, the amount of can
celled mortgages as shown is noth
ing more or less than the poor
farmer, who was threatened with
immediate foreclosure and could
not meet his interest coupons semi
annually and had waived his right
of appraisement, (knowing the land
would not bring one-half the indebt
edness, and if sold at forced 6ale,
would leave a heavy personal judg
ment over him) reluctantly agree
ing to deed his cherished home to
the loan company. Many of them
did not receive a dollar ; some few
were paid ten or fifteen dollars be
cause it was cheaper than foreclos
ure. Not . a single farm mortgage in
this county was paid off by the
mortgagor.
That Telegraph Report.
The following is an extract taken
from Col. L. L. Polk's speech deliv
ered at Iowa's capital :
"The telegraphic report," he said,
"was a lie utterly without founda
tion ; there was no such demonstra
tion ; he was as safe on the streets of
Wichita as in his own city of
Raleigh ; he had never been in or
about a confederate prison in his
life ; had never reached a higher
rank than third lieutenant in the
confederate army ; had never cap
tured but one Union prisoner, and
if he were here to-day he would
testify that he had treated him as a
brother. He would give $1,000 to
any man who would produce any
reliable evidence contradictory to
this denial. The report was in its
conception, its spirit and its utter
ances, a wicked, malicious, coward
ly lie."
Col. Polk then denounced in the
most emphatic manner those who
would tear afresh the nation's
wounds, and who were determined
to prevent if possible a fraternal
union of the producers north and
south. He declared that in the
south the Farmers' Alliance has
been the most potent factox in bring
ing back 'reconciliation. With
much emphasis he declared that any
man who in the south would appeal
for support on the ground of dead
prejudice would be politically buried
by the Alliance, which controlled
the majority of the Democratic
votes of the south. Who ever (
waved the bloody shirt there would
be buried, with the unsanguined
garment as Ins shroud, face down
ward, and told to scratch to the
place where he belonged. In North
Carolina, he said, any speaker who
abused the north would be hooted
off the stand. Unfortunately both
north and south a few newspapers
and loud-mouthed fellows misrepre
sented the feelings of their sections,
and the honest people had long been
misled, but thank God, the scales
have fallen from our eyes, and from
your eyes, .and we know that on
both sides there is but oris feeling:
a desire, to seo this country become
free." There was never a time when
our hearts did not beat in unison,
but our party bosses did not want
us to know it. I appeal to the
young men who bear no wounds of
war, whose ears have never heard
the beat (f the war drum, whose
eyes have never seen the red glare
of battle, and whose hearts should
have none of the hatred, animosity
and prejudice of other years to
heed this message of peace we
brng to you. In 1865 God de
creed I repeat, God decreed we
should be one people, and let us not
with our puny efforts try to set
aside the intentions of the Almighty.
Send Ten Cents for a bundle of
Reform papers for distribution among
your weak-kneed friends.
Get up a club. Send for rates.