The advocate and Topeka tribune. [volume], September 07, 1892, Page 6, Image 6

About The advocate and Topeka tribune. [volume] (Topeka, Kan.) 1892-1894

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

                
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THUS ADVOOATll
WHAT OF BALPH BUBT02T?
Let None but Incorruptible Men be
Sent to Congress.
There has been enough of bribery
and corruption in the congress of the
United States during the past thirty
years. That has been the cause of
the pernicious legislation with which
the country is cursed to-day. If there
is one thing that is needed at the
present time, and one thing which, if
wd mistake not the trend of publio
sentiment, the people are determined
above all things else to have, it is
pure and incorruptible men in our
state and national legislatures. When
corrupt men are put in nomination,
theref ore,f or these positions,we believe
it is right and just that the people
shall know their history and antece
dents so far, at least, as they relate to
publio life, in order that they be not
deceived in those to whom these
high trusts shall be committed.
We are led to these reflections in
consideration of the character of the
men who are placed in nomination
for congress by the republican party.
We have already devoted consider
able space to the history of Geo. T.
Anthony, and it becomes necessary
tins wees to give certain facts relat
ing to the candidate of the Fifth dis
trict As in the case of Anthony, we
are enabled to give good orthodox re
publican authority respecting Mr.
Burton.
We find the bit of history to which
we call attention on pages 16 and 17
of the report of the state insurance
commissioner for the year 1800. It
occurs in the proceedings against the
wildcat "Topeka Insurance com
pany," which Commissioner Wilder
prohibited from continuing business
in the state. The following is Mr.
Wilder's statement concerning the
commencement of these proceedings:
On the 30th of November, Hon. John Guthrie,
of the district court, appointed Judge Eth Sutton
receiver of the Topeka Insurance company.
The State Journal on that day said:
A sensation was caused in the district court
this afternoon when F. P. Fuller, secretary of the
defunct Topeka Insurance company, was placed
upon the witness stand to give a sworn account
o! the disposition of certain funds of that com
pany. Mr. Wilder says:
Fuller swore to paying a legislator 9550. Later
he denied this.
To J. R. Burton, representative from Abilene,
the company, he testified, gave four or five notes
of 1500 each. He was not positive that there
were five notes, but he was sure that four were
Issued. Mr. Burton, he said, deposited these In
the Bank of Topeka, for collection, and $381.85
was paid and endorsed thereon. In addition,
the sum of $13 was paid as interest.
The notes, he said, were signed by himself and
the president of the company. The witness
qualified the remarkable statement by saying
that the notes were not binding against the com
pany, but this statement was overshadowed by
one made the next Instant which was: "The
directors of the company authorized me to make
these payments to Burton." He said that on Feb
ruary 22, during the session of the legislature,
Burton was paid f 50.
The proceedings grew Interesting. A score of
attorneys and as many spectators crowded
around the witness stand to hear every word of
the startling testimony. Judge Sutton tightened
the screws, and more revelations followed.
He testified that W A Hackney, of Welling
ton, was paid 1150 "io help in a case" about
that time. It was explained that the case was
one brought against the superintendent of Insur
ance to enjoin him from revoking the charter
of the Insurance company. Hackney was not a
member of the legislature, but a lobbyist.
Fuller said that O. A. Conner, clerk of the com
mittee on Insurance of the house, was paid (50
as salary for services rendered In keeping the
company posted on tola Introduced, or about to
be Introduced, affecting the Insurance business
In general
It was testified to that the following cash pay
ments were made to Hon. J. B. Burton : On May
3, 1889, 5131.85; on May 13, 9160; on June 8, $150;
on July 6, 9500; on July 8, 9150.
AH the testimony of Mr. Fuller regarding the
payments was given with the greatest reluctance.
He took occasion to guard himself by the fre
quent assertion that the payments were made as
" attorney's fees," but upon being pressed for a
more direct reply, be said, to " influence legisla
tion." Continuing his testimony on Janu
ary 3, 1890, Mr. Fuller insisted that
this money was paid for attorney's
fee?, but his admission on December
30, 1889, that it was to "influence leg
islation " leaves no doubt as to the
particular capacity in which he acted
as attorney for this wildcat company.
As a representative in the legislature
he acted as such attorney to secure
legislation favorable to the company's
interests, or to prevent such as was
unfavorable; and in this undertaking
his efforts were seconded by that well
known patriot, W. P. Hackney, Bot
kin's partner in the Springfield
robbery.
Do the voters of the Fifth congres
sional district propose to be repre
sented in congress by a man who has
already demonstrated his venality,
and who could be expected to sell his
influence or his vote to the corpora
tion that would make the highest bid
for it? What say you, men of the
noble Fifth? '
Foxt the edification of the "inter
ested citizen" whose vague, incoher
ent artiole on freight matters ap
peared in Saturday's Capital, we will
say that a reduction in the freight on
one article in a particular quantity to
one man in one town, or on four arti
cles in specific quantities to five job
bers in four towns, is not our idea of
reducing rates; but a reduction in
the rates on all goods in all quanti
ties to all towns and all people in the
state, no matter whether their wants
be great or small, is what we would
consider an adjustment of freight
rates. This Geo. T. Anthony refused
to do or to permit to be done. It
might as well be said that a contract
for a reduced rate on 100 cars of lum
ber to one large merchant in Great
Bend, while all other dealers paid a
higher rate, would be of inestimable
benefit to the builders and property
owners of the state, as to claim that
Geo. T. Anthony's order would save a
cent for any consumer, or do good to
any but the five wholesale grocers.
Who wants or can use a carload
rate excepting the wholesalers? If a
special rate to them that simply en
ables them to add so much more to
their profits is an "equalization of
rates," the moon must be largely made
of green cheese.
Tni Great West and one or two
other exchanges reproduce the Chi
cago Daily Press fake purporting to
be a Wall street circular. The thing
originated in the fertile brain of F.
W. Gilmore, who held a position for
a time on the Press. He has been
challenged time and again to produce
the original if it is genuine, and has
failed to do so. The thing is a fraud,
and so is its author, and neither of
them is worthy of the confidence of
thd people.
THAT DJTEMATI02TAL SILVER
GOBPESEffOE.
The following from the Kansas City
Journal, the faithful exponent of the
gold-bug creed at the mouth of the
Eaw, clearly indicates what we pre
dicted some time ago as the outcome
of President Harrison's silver confer
ence: ,
Although all the leading nations have re
sponded to President Harrison's Invitation to
participate in an International silver conference,
the outlook for faverable results of the con.
f erence are not quite as bright as they were when
the meeting was first arranged for.
It Is reported that the instructions given the
British delegates are the same as were given the
delegates to the Paris conference of 1881. Great
Britain, It Is said, was bound to repeat these in
structions for the reason that the Paris confer
ence of 1881 was never really dissolved. It
adjourned to a given day, but for some reason
failed to meet on that day. The question has
been raised by the French delegates to the
former conference whether the United States,
after accepting the Invitation to the Paris con
ference, has acted fairly In asking the nations to
again assemble In a monetary conference com
posed of delegates from the same countries
which took part in the conference of '81. The
proper course for the United States, It Is as
serted, was to have requested the French gov
ernment to reconvene the unfinished conference
and resume the bl-metalllc discussion, as was
agreed when the Paris conference adjourned.
The fact that the great nations have consented
to honor the president's Invitation, however, Is
evident that they consider the proposed confer
ence proper and timely. The eleven years that
have elapsed since the Paris conference are
enougn to warrant tne conclusion mac me iau
ure to formally adjourn tine die has been cured
by time. The only thing to cast a shadow over
the prospects of the coming conference is the re
ported instructions to the British delegates
Great Britain being the country from which the
president hoped for most valuable assistance.
Headers of the Advocate will re
member that only a few weeks ago
we published the preliminary declara
tions of the delegates to the Paris
conference of 1881, making known
their instructions from the govern
ments they represented. Not a single
delegate was authorized to enter into
any agreement looking to the inter
national remonetization of silver, and
very few were even authorized to vote
upon any question coming before the
conference.
Here we have the assurance that
Great Britain has given the delegates
to the present conference the same
instructions as to those of the confer
ence of 1881. These instructions are
stated as follows in the preliminary
declaration of the delegate:
My instructions Impose upon me the duty, a
duty which I shall be only too happy to perform,
of furnishing you all the Information you may
desire concerning the laws and the monetary
system of England.
They do not permit me to vote upon the prop
ositions which may be submitted to you.
The American delegates to the
Paris convention are supposed to
have graduated under the "instruc
tions" of this British representative,
and a new set has been selected for
the school of 1892. No man with a
thimbleful of brains ever supposed
the coming congress would agree to
the remonetization of silver. No such
result was looked for or desired by
President Harrison. The whole in
tent of the conference is to deceive
the people, and through this decep
tion secure their votes once more for
the republican party. The conference
will not conclude its sittings until
after the November elections, and
then the protests of the people will
be impotent, as they have been here
tofore. Voters of America, remember that
the price of agricultural products
runs parallel with tha price of silver,
and if you are men, and regard your
own interests and the welfare of the
entire country, cast your votes this
year for a party that is pledged to
restore silver to its former position as
a money metal regardless of the will
or the dictation of foreign powers.
What the American people need is an
American, and not a British system
of finance, and we require no instruc
tions from British subjeots as to what
that system shall be. Let American
voters vote once for American inter
ests. WflAT OEAND PATBI0TS.
The Atchison county republican
convention adopted the following
among other clap-trap resolutions:
Resolved, That the men who saved the union
are entitled to fair and honorable recognition
from the nation, and we unqualifiedly condemn
the sentiment now advocated by the alliance
party and their allies, the democracy of this
state and county, that in order to forget the past,
patriots shall be relegated to tbe rear, and
traitors advanced to places of public trust.
' Now, as a plain matter of fact the
People's party has more soldiers on
its ticket than the republican party,
and none of them are accused of be
ing cowards, tyrants or thieves. It
boasts no such "patriots" as Geo. T.
Anthony, Ralph Burton or Bruce
Lynch, nor does it care to. The less
the republican party has to say this
year about its soldier candidates, the
less will be their humiliation.
The Emporia Republican grows
desperate in its appeal to the old
soldiers of Kansas to turn down the
People's party. But it lies shamefully
when it states that the Advocate
"heaped abuse" upon the old sol
diers of Kansas in speaking of the
political outrage in Wichita. We did
heap abuses upon the political shys
ters who managed the reunion at
Wichita, and we have some more
abuses in store for them. Now we
assert that Botkin is a criminal of so
vile a character that if a vote were
taken among the old soldiers of Kan
sas, nine-tenths of them, republicans
and all, would protest against allow
ing him to speak at their reunions.
And we repeat upon soldiers' au
thority that Geo. T. Anthony was not
a soldier in the real sense of the
term, but that he acted as a coward
and a common swindler while in the
army, and that by republican testi
mony he stands convicted of embez
zlement, false swearing, and defraud
ing of creditors since the war. Also
that upon his own evidence he is con
victed of willfully violating the con
stitution of Kansas while acting as
governor. We also repeat that Jerry
Simpson was not invited by any au
thorized committee to speak at the
aforementioned reunion, and there
fore had no right to speak there. If
the Emporia Republican can deny
any of the above, we shall be glad to
apologize. What are you going to do
about it?
Will the Capital dare to sustain
its correspondent, "Interested Citi
zen," editorially in defense of Geo. T.
Anthony's freight rate ruling? Let
us hear from you, neighbor. Why this
solemn silence?
Whxbi, O, where is Fletcher Mere
dith, alias Burton Moon? Is he still
standing up for Kansas?