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The Advocate and news. [volume] (Topeka, Kan.) 1897-1899, December 28, 1898, Image 10

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Persistent link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85032019/1898-12-28/ed-1/seq-10/

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10
DECEMBER 28,
THE ADVOCATE AHD NEWS.
THE ADVOCATE
I AND NEWS.
UK
SHOP
andfami
OPPICIAL PAPER OP TUB STATE
OP KANSAS.
i.l"iicJ Every WeJaeiJar.it Topeka, foam.
(1320. B. HARRISON & CO.,
Editors akd Pbofbibtobs.
Fi-Triptlon 1lUm;One copy one ytxvr by
rwi, tl. In club of ten or more, by mail, one
t ;yr, 76 cents each.
Ihe advertising rale of The Advocate and Newt
)' una. mamau vnu oe mane ana prv.ee jur
i lud on atmlication. No extra eharae for euts,
el. The piuUishen ns'.rve the right to reject any
o 'U'tionatjie adoertUina. The reader of this
1 'par may consider any advertisement wnicn ap
i '.an herein a reinrescHtlnu a firm whose reliabu
i vouched for by Uie piitdishers.
i.t..t ...... .Jl.)tSl...t iy. iUUtl nnA tnnm
t ''n'o'iiU-Ued with The Kama Newt in i&n. The
t v tomie and Neum is the official State paper, and
i n larger nrcuiaixon wan any outer n.ansa
i ly which receives advertisements.
iW information regarding subscription and
c ui'vfustna roue, aaareea
er-w THE ADVOCATE AND NEWS.
I.J W. Sixth Ate. TOPEKA. KANSAS
MKSTS HEARTS MUST UK KK3IIT."
, Elsewhere we publish from the Topeka
Capital a letter from Rev. Charles Shel
don, author of "In Ills Steps," which
tots a hard problem before us. It is the
cppear of brotherhood, and, as usual,
under our heartless system, it met with
ecant attention from the hurrying, self
ish world. As Mr. Sheldon said, he went
everywhere in Topeka where there was
a likelihood of work only to And at each
place the same situation, more men than
work. At the Santa Fe railroad shops
they told him that they were discharg
es men instead of employing additional
help. The net result of all their tramp
ing over the city and the strong appeal
ia the Capital was two offers of work.
One of these was to drive a milk-wagon
for a dealer who decided the next day to
go out of business and accordingly with
drew his proposition, and the other was
a chance to peddle patent medicines on
a commission about the most excruci
ating mode of starvation yet devised.
No one came to prayer meeting to offer a
job.
Now, there are two solutions offered
'f;r the problem this man and some mil
lions of others in this country have to
solve. Both are fundamentally Chris
tian. They are summed up In the
phrases, "Men's hearts must be right,"
and "The system is all wrong."
The first of these is the orthodox state
ment Its defenders are fond of dismiss
ing all argument or adverse research
with that simple statement. To them
that ends the matters. Everything that
ec-ms to be wrong must stay that way
until men's hearts are right, and many
'of them are content to go about their
business, not caring whether or not men
Live good opportunity to make their
I hnrts right
The upholders of the other theory are
eftan just as Intolerant and unyielding
to argument as their opponents. Some
of them want a change in the system,
&nd because such a change is not made
forthwith they seem to see nothing but
evil.
The balance between these extremes
seems to fall In favor of the latter.
Hen's hearts are right. If we admit
itherwlse we confess ourselves atheists,
51a fa a perversion, a straying away;
pod Is original. Love is found in every
man's heart It needs development, not
crushing out. The stand we should take,
therefore, must be for the ennobling and
tacouraglng that which is good, and the
suppressing of the evil.
We live under what Is called the com
;titive system, and it is that system
,Jilch Is frequently-attacked as being all
m roRg. There always will be and always
should be competition. But it should be
a rivalry springing from noble asplra
Jons, not a trial of cunning or brute
strength. If our business system will
stand an examination it ought to be
Allowed to stand unmolested. Mr. Shel
don's "In His Steps" testifies that it will
Vot pass a Christian examination, and
ne man who wants work, not a soup
ere, usually finds that our present sys
1n ia heartless.
Vo live under illegitimate and unfair
competition. A Christian cannot say.
"This Is my property to do with as I
, izq," for to the Christian money,
, Jl froperty Is God's held by him
in trust We have tried the system of
private individual trust , It has signally
failed. We are advancing gradually but
surely to a system of common public
trufit, under which we shall act as well
as believe In the brotherhood of man
It will give the man who wants to work
and live a chance to do so.
In the meantime, here is a powerful
plea to our legislators to pass a free pub
He employment agency bill at the com
lng session. An article in the Advocate
and News some time ago outlined a plan
to meet just such a condition as Mr.
Sheldon presents. Will the members of
the Legislature respond?
rKOSI'KKITY.
Kansas has prosperity, lots of It it is
the most prosperous State in the Union
and we do not rely upon the Topeka Cap
Hal's word to back us up in this. We
have the evidences. There are the big
crops and the many herds of live stock
and the new machinery on the farm and
the raising of rent in town. Then we
have statjstics and trusts, both sure sur
face indications of prosperity. There
are two kinds of statistics one to show
that Kansas could never be prosperous
under prohibition and the other to prove
that McKinley and J. Ralph Burton did
it and the only difference is that one is
the other polished up with kerosene. We
have the plumbers' trust, the coal trust,
and a host of other local trusts, as well
as those of national influence. They are
here and prosperity has brought them;
"no trust, no bust" was the motto dis
played In the corner grocery, you re
member, and the reverse of that is ex
actly the condition of our businesses
to-day. Self-preservation forces them to
abandon the sinking hulk of the com
petitive system for socialistic organiza-
ion, for competition is destructive of
prosperity.
But we degress. We started out to
call attention to a discordant and un
happy note that arises in the midst of
all this prosperity. The Kansas City
Journal and the Topeka Capital, which,
if their own testimony is to be believed,
are leading dallies of this State, have
called attention to the fact that our
prosperity has been misappropriated. In
Topeka and Kansas City it has been ma
liciously diverted from public and God-
given ends to private and selfish uses.
Through the sagacity of the Journal it
develops that certain persons in Kansas
City have used their cunning and Intel-.
ligence to accumulate wealth and erect
large buildings and provide lavish enter
tainments unmindful of the fact that
others whose souls are Just as divine
lack the physical strength or the mental
ability to do the same things. Therefore
Kansas City prosperity Is one-sided; it
leans away from a great many who suf
fer in consequence from cold and hun
ger. When the big snow storm came
last month, and again at Christmas time,
the Journal called attention to the des
titution and want and suggested that it
should be relieved. It will do the same
thing next year.
On the arrival at Topeka of last
month's cold snap the Capital urged that
those unprovided with the necessaries of
life should be looked after and notified
that they were prosperous and freezing
and were therefore entitled to a pair of
second-hand trousers or a Jacket or some
old shoes or maybe a visit from the city
physician. On Christmas morning the
Capital published quite a long list of
cases of destitution and sickness among
the poor, and said that they were only
few of the many in the city. It spoke
of one old man who had worked himself
out and was ending hl3 days with noth
ing but gaunt poverty surrounding him
and his old wife. Like the Journal, the
Capital wanted relief, not cure. It will
also make the same sort of an appeal
next year, although there Is every Indi
cation that Topeka will witness more
prosperity than ever before in 1899.
It was unkind, to say the least, of the
Journal and Capital to break In on pros
perity at the very time when people
anted to give presents to their relatives
and friends and enjoy themselves and
fomet why Christ came into the world.
They should have done this Just before
election.
Write for a sample copy of the Advo
cate andN ew8.
GOVERNOR-ELECT THEODORE ROOSEVELT, OP NEW YORK.
RAILROAD LEGISLATION.
The regulation of railroad charges
generally proceeds on the competitive
theory that "you have been robbing us
for a long time; now we will rob back."
In this game the railroads usually get
the best in the long run, because they
can confiscate quietly and easily while
the Inter-State Commerce Commission is
helnlefla and the Supreme court sleeps
on. tiut if some other fellow proposes
"confiscation of private property" the
railroads rudely wake up the Supreme
court and the ruffian Is speedily declared
unconstitutional.
This game, however, Is not being
played at the special session of the Kan
sas Iiegislature. The railroad attorneys
flocked In at the convening of the ses
sion and gave out the usual interviews
about conflcation of property. But it
was not the purpose of the legislature to
confiscate even though the railroads
themselves had set the example. They
set a committee at work to construct an
act that should be fair, and the law that
Is proposed is designed to prevent con
fiscation without offending the courts or
allowing them to decide that it is merely
a transfer of the confiscating power.
Of course all such legislation as this
ia merely tentative, no matter how
strongly constructed the law. The rail
road attorneys will find grounds for at
tack on the law, or, failing in that, they
will make loopholes for evasion. As
long as railroads or any other business
are run for private profit it will be the
main aim of the managers to pile up as
large a profit as possible, and the incen
tive will be to evade the laws and regu
lations instead of to obey them. The
larger the business of course the greater
the incentive. We are coming to find
out, and quite rapidly, too, that a palli
ative is not a cure, and this will be tne
case In the present Instance, although if
the law passes in such a way as to stand
the fire of the courts It will no doubt
last for some time. But we shall even
tually be driven to take the cure own
ership and control for public instead of
private profit
And, as President Ripley said about
year ago. this will be no worse for the
railroad men than the present system.
We shall have to have them as mana
gers, and they will have to be paid ac
cording to their ability. They will keep
on in the business, but will be relieved
of an Immense amount of worry and
double-dealing which they cannot now
escape.
The plan for a State miners' society
to elect a mine inspector is the best bill
that has ever been Introduced In a Kan
sas Legislature In behalf of the miners.
It cannot be declared unconstitutional,
for that point has already been decided
in regard to the State Board of Agricul
ture. It leaves the choice with the min
ers, where It belongs, and takes the ap
pointment out of partisan politics. But
the best feature of the bill Is the pro
vision that delegates shall come from
the miners' unions, thus encouraging
organization among the miners. As the
Advocate and News said last February,
the Kansas coal miners needed a strong
organization affiliated with the national
union more than anything else to better
their condition. They have the district
union in Cherokee and Crawford coun
ties, and the proposed law, if passed, will
prove a great impetus to their organiza
tion wherever there ia a mine in the
State.
ADVERTISING KANSAS.
During he past year the renewed pros
perity of the State has given the Kan
sans who wish to advertise it in the
East an excellent amount of material,
and they have used their opportunity to
good purpose. Easern people are pretty
well aware of the condition of Kansas,
and they have faith that it will continue
to develop along rational lines. At the
beginning of the year a representative of
Harper's Weekly made an investigation
of the State which widely announced its
advancement and prosperous condition.
Business men who have made trips into
the State have carried back East flat
tering accounts of what they have seen
for themselves.
We have two advertising bureaus at
home which have helped this spreading
of good tidings along In fine shape. They
are Secretary Coburn of the State Board
of Agriculture and the Santa Fe railroad.
The former's series of bulletins has told
of Kansas crops and stock in all parts
of this country and lu a number for
foreign countries. His summary of the
crop yield and live stock report is
printed at the end of the year in a very
attractive style and circulated widely.
The statistics of this summary were
printed in last week's Advocate and
News, and we publish elsewhere in this
issue a fac simile of the reverse side of
the card.
The Santa Fe sends out each year an
enormous quantity of circulars and other
matter, some of which touches directly
on Kansas interests, while all of it is
designed to induce people to travel west
ward to stop In or at least go through
Kansas. The Santa Fe's oooklet, "What's
the Matter With Kansas?" is an example
of good advertising for the State. Fifty
thousand copies were printed, and half
of these were distributed at the Omaha
Exposition or sent out by land and Im
migration agents, thus going into the
hands of persons who had an active in
terest In this region. The company has
seen to a general distribution of the re
mainder by its representatives in the
Northern, Eastern and Middle States, as
well as having advertised it extensively.
This is worthy of notice because the
booklet does not refer to the railroad at
all; it is purely an advertisement for
Kansas, and the benefits the Santa Fe
reaps are merely Indirect
Kansas has always managed to get a
seat up on the- platform in full view of
the audience; and the fact that she is
smartly dressed as well as quite inde-

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