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A THE ADVOCATE. N. R. P. A. Published Every Wudin?.i.y by the ADVOCATE PUCUSHIKG CO. B. McLalmn, PrrnMont, ) tt. AiCl.AM.ix! Editor. ' One Copy One Year tl.M Twelve copies cue year liO.ftO cl Twenty copies or wr .w eaen. AdTCTtluIillJ Il&tffl. Disomy M itter, 20oent.i per lino, A;j5,te Dieaa UT ia i)t (I I lnt to the Inch) itcsding Notices, 40 cerAS jver UnV Address all communications to the aoyqcatz nzuz:tm to. Taticha Kami. TOPDKA, KAN., FKMtUAUY 18, ( Entcrod an second olaaa matter la tho Tool 03oe at Topoka, Kansu-js.) biaxial cluii Liar. Tits Adtooati & National flcoaomlufc. . J1.90 " " Chicittfo ICiprwa 1.75 " " Dexter Free l'rona 1.75 " 1 Nonconformist........ 1.75 " Kar.mxj Commoner, ...1.75 " Toiler 1.85 " " Kaunas Farmer 1.75 Weekly Nationally... .1.80 " " Our Own Opinion 1.50 S. M. Scott cpoko to a good house at Lincoln Contor, February 2. Tho storm in tho morning prevented aa good an attendance aa might other wise have boon expected, and the peo ple dooire that ho shall come again, when they promise to do bettor. In tho report of tho vote for United States Sonator in tho issue of Febru ary 4, Messrs. Mitchell of Bono, Mor ris of Clark and Morrison of Labette aro roportod as having votod for In galls. Thia is an error on its faca The official neuron show that every People's party Itepreuontative in tho Legislature voted for Pcffer. The error i3 a typographical one, and we are glad to make the correction. Dsr amino, for once from our cus tom of rejecting all resolutions be cause of tho multitude of them re ceived, wo give this one because of the bittorncp.a of tho criticism to which this gentleman haa been sub ject In giving thia resolution a place, we wish to Bay that we havo re ceived a largo number of congratula tions to members of tho Hougo from their constituents, the very multipli city of which precludes thoir publica tion. We would suggest that these congratulations bo sent dirwtly to the ltoprotiontatives themselves. While we unite with tho people in eiprcEMons of approval of tho work done thus far, we havo not space to npare for all tho good words that come to U3 concerning our Repre sentatives in tho present House. Whereas, The political Intejrlty of oux Repre sentative from the Fortylbtb district bas been publicly assailed by ccrtali of bii comrades of tho G. Ju It., Keuolved, by Alliance No. 2115, of watch the Hon. Mr. I'atterson Is a member, That we fully approve of h!a course In tie House, and that he Las fully rout the wishes and Interests of bis con etltucuts, and la enCiled to our confidence and cordial support; and further that Major M. Tat tmun la member In good standing In ltebt. lisle Post of the 0. A. It. J. W. WANAMAKBR, rrCflidODt. CiU3. DiMUTHEir, Secretary. logic On your paper, and if "lb." is on it your subscription expires thia month. Head us a dollar at once, aa you can not a.7ord to mhu a number. The name of every subscriber ii dropped promptly on the eipiation of the time for which ho haa paid. HIIALL TIIS STATE IIIHTOIICAL 80CIKTY 112 ItWyiTEI) OUT OV EXISTENCE 1 In 1S7G the State Historical society of Kansas wa.i op.tabliahed and folly organized for tho exprorai purpcfie of gathering and preserving the scat tered materials of moro than two do cades of tho peculiarly evontfal his tory which had then transpired in the territory and ttate of Kansas. It particularly undertook aa a vol untaryaiweciation the work of get ting up collections of valuable his tory bo that nothing bo lout, for tho reason that neither the Kansas etate library nor any other institution of the Eitato had undertaken to do this work. The historical sscioty brought its collections into tho state house and placed them in receptacles farnijihod by the btato officers of Kansas who appreciated tho inharont value of this initial movement Tho state afjoumod tho eipensea of this work, which paymonts havo from tho beginning boon comparatively email, and thus tho society obtainod permanent quarters in tho state homo, making tho library and the variod historical collections as the perman ent property of this groat common wealth. Tho primary object of gathering, preserving, arranging and catalog ing the tutorials of the history of Kanfjaa has boon bo oipanded that the library has grown into a general huitoricajl, political and scientific library, tho works having came into the society chiefly by donation. "The play of Hamlet with Ham let omitted," would be much tho same a3 writing tho history of the United States for nearly the laat forty years with (he hiatory of Kansas loft out of it Indood from the day that President Pierce affixed his signature to tho Kamsas-Nebnwka bill on that laat apring day of 18I1, thoro haa nover bocn a continued period of six month's time, in which Kansas haa not fam ished comparatively much more than its quota to the general history of tho nation. The collections in the Kansas State Historical oociety moot assuredly have a priceless value and on a line of con tinuing work the prospective signifi cance of this great boon is beyond human estimation. No exaggeration of its magnitude is hardly possible. The proceedings of societies in tho interest of socuring bona fido Bottlers for Kansas, of political and religious organizations, tho manuscripts of early missionaries among tho Indiana of Kansas, of explorers, fur tradersjn dian cgonta and cornxnisoicneri?, all original materials of incalculable val ue, camo into the collection of tho state historical society. For, when the fact waa known that Kansas had a living, working, zcal- c:iA historical nccioty, w hich was gath ering and preserving tho elements of ita moot wonderful hintory, people throughout the conntry who had thono materials, as a kindly labor of love and patriot! jm, placed them in the keep ing of the society, whore they would over do good, and whoro they would remain accenoible for tho instruction of the studious for all time. It stands as an incontentiblo fact that in every state whore state his torical societies exist, maintained in whole or in part by the state, such societies aro givon tho complete con trol, bo to speak, of makiDg up a his torical, rnbcellanooua, political and scientillo library for tho ubo of the people. Aa a mattor of hintory of Bomothing that, figuratively speaking, "was done in the corner," it is fitting to refor to an occurrence of legislative history so irregular and obscure as to invoke careful attention at tho hands of dis passionate law-makors, who havo a jealous regard for tho public weal of thia great and growing common wealth. So kt it bo said that in tho soanicn of tho Kansas Senato of 1880, after all legiulation had ceased as such, and some of the Senators had depart ed for thoir homos, to wit, in tho afternoon of March 2, 1880, Hon. Charles IL Kimball, who occupiod a Boat in tho Sonato from Labette county, offered Senato resolution No. 91. That the plain, Bturdy people of Kansas may have oomo knowledge of the inception of this work, the follow ing is a copy of the mattor found on page 931 of the Senate journal of 1889. Senator Kimball offorod Sen ate resolution No. 91, as follows: Wharcai, The statutory provisions rolatlng to powers and duties of the various state depart ment:!, boards and commlHutonors are In many In stance v&zue and Indefinite, and without the precision and dlroctucss requisite to tho Intelli gent, systematical and mothodlcal conduct of state affairs and tho guidance of utate ofllcers and others Intrusted with the management of In stitutions and the expenditure of public funds; therefore be It Resolved by tho Senate, That a committee of Ave members of the Senate be appointed, wIioho duty It shall be to revise and codify all existing laws, or If in their Judgment the public Interests so demand, prepare for submisnion at the noxt regular session of tho Legislature, bills speci fically defining the powers and duties of state officers, hoads of departments, boards and com missioners created by law, and laws providing for tho state printing. Maid committee shall make Us report In writing to the Governor on or before the 1st day of Dvcomber, lsiw, and the Governor Is hereby requested to have the report printed, and to transmit a copy thereof to each member elect of the next House and Senate before the convening of the Legislature of 1801. The members of the committee shall re ceive as compcn&vtlon for thoir services tho same per diem and mileage In attending meetings as Is allowed to state Senators. The committee is authorized to employ a secretary, who shall re ceive the same amount per diem as Is allowed the secretary of tho Senate. The record following road3 thus: Senator Kimball moved the adoption of the resolution. A vote being had the motion prevailed. The president appointed as such committee Senators IlarkEORS, Kelloy of Crawford, Murdock, Kim ball and Moody. The report of thia self-styled re vision committee occupies thirteen pgc3 of a pamphlet, and after recit ing the gist of Sonate resolution No. 91, the following appears: The committee met on the sixth day of Janu ary A. D., 1330, and at once began a careful ex amination and discussion cf the existing laws to b revtocd, and In that connection made patient and careful Inquiry as to what were considered the defects tlicrel a and the cliauges dciiirod. That tli roiuniltieo illicit bo fully Informed f allcuuiwsof complaint, state officers, as well as ft-state ollli'crs, members of the various boards and commission: of the state and others who have had pnirttcul experience In the workUis of the laws now In force were invited to give the eommltti'o the benefit of their experience and ciitlctsms. From the sungestloiiH and t-rltlclumi so made, from our own experience and observa tion as citizens, and from our official delibera tions, the committee have miulo various amend ments and additions to the present laws upon the subjects under consideration, and framed sub-bills corning within tho scope of such reso lutions as were deemed advisable, ai will more fully appear from Iho bills herewith sub mitted. Sub-headings found in tho report appear to the number of eighteen, tho fifth ono of which is givon as the "State Library and Historical So ciety." And undor this heading are the following huge chunks of knowl edge and wiHilom: Hut little need bo said about those adjuncts to tho state government. The committee Is of the opinion that tho books of the library, and the books, charts, manuscripts, pictures, etc., of the historical society ought to bo brought to gether to form ono state library. Flint, this la largely In the Interest of economy, and this alone ought to settle the question, but to have a good library, one which will be easy of acceis, and properly managed they ought to be brought to gether and be put under one head. In this way the books which aro now duplicated, each library having the same books, the duplicates could be sold, thus creating a source of revenue. Now they aro supernumerary. Then again a great library Ih built up only by the process of bring ing together, not scattering. And agalnthe fact of two libraries creates Jealousies and unwhole some rivalries, ami extravagance In the appro priation of moneys. The commlttoo has there fore prepared a bill for tho consolidation of the two libraries Into tho state library, and for its regulation and maintenance, which Is herewith submitted. Tho people of Kansas in no portion of its broad domain have e ver thought it was a matter of propriety to abolish tho state historical nociety, and tho six gentlomen bolow named can not claim at this time to bo representing tho general thought of their consti tuents as exprossod at the polls at tho laat election hold in tho state. Lieutenant Governor Andrew J. Felt, who appointed this "revision committoo"of five Senators in a somi clandestino manner was in a minority at the laat election, Novombcr 4, 1890, of 05,109. The Republican candidate for Qovernor at said election in tho district represented by Sonator Hark nes was in a minority of 2,423; in tho district represented by Senator Kelley, in a minority of 1,715; in Son ator Murdock's district, 1,300; in Son ator Kimball's district, 1,201; and in Sonator Moody's district ho waa in a minority of 423. And in regard to Senator Kimball's equity to a seat, what intelligent person on this mat ter supposes he had a majority of the votes as they camo out of the ballot boies? But to return to these Senatorial revisors. It is most respectfully sub mitted that when this penny wise and pound foolish committee of five framed thoir bill to eliminate the state historical society of Kansas from the list of its sacred institutions, honored and revered by its public spirited citizens of tho highost typo, living and translated, they really gave to it tho titlo, "An act to pro vide for tho regulation and mainten ance of the state library." Would not a rose of any other name smell as sweet T . But it wa3 ever thus; when a pro tended reform was predicated on aa