Kansas; a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence, Volume II, Part 61

Author: Blackmar, Frank Wilson, 1854-1931, ed
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Standard publishing company
Number of Pages: 960

USA > Kansas > Kansas; a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence, Volume II > Part 61

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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For the persons unlawfully manufacturing intoxicants the law pro- vided punishment. It defined the use of the term liquors and outlined the duties of the county officers in enforcing the laws. It provided pro- tection of "every wife, child, parent, guardian, employer or other person who shall be injured in person or property, or means of support, by any intoxicated person or in consequence of intoxication ; such wife, child or parent having right to bring suit for damages sustained. Section 16 of this law provided punishment and penalty against "any person who shall directly or indirectly, keep or maintain, by himself or by associat- ing or combining with others, or who shall, in any manner, aid, assist or abet in keeping and maintaining any club room, or other place in which intoxicating liquor is received or kept for the purpose of use, gift, barter or sale as a beverage or for distribution or division among the members of any club or association by any means whatever."

It also made it unlawful to give away liquor, and for a person to become intoxicated, the fine was $5 or imprisonment in county jail from one to ten days. The passage of this strict prohibition law started the propagation of the temperance idea, although its effect upon the liquor traffic was not iminediately recognized. In different parts of the state vigorous prosecutions were instituted with ultimate good results. The prohibition policy had many enemies who believed the constitutional amendment a mistake. Among these was Gov. George W. Glick, who succeeded Gov. St. John in 1883. In his message to the legislature he dealt with the subject of prohibition and the operation of the law. (See Glick's Administration.) Mr. Glick seemed to think that whatever benefits might be derived from the prohibitory law could be obtained as easily under a local option law. Many reasons were given for the modi- fication of the law passed by the preceding legislature, but his message fell upon the ears of thoughtful men and the law was not changed. The state legislatures of later years, 1885, 1887, 1901, 1909, amended and sup- plemented the original enactment. After the first few years the people of the state became accustomed to the absence of dramshops and the ma- jority liked the freedom from open drinking enough to pursue the policy of the legislature of 1879.

In the early 'gos the Agora Magazine conducted a symposium on the condition of prohibition in Kansas, which had at that time been in effect over 10 years. The consensus of opinion was that the public sentiment was constantly increasing in its contempt for liquor traffic. Many men who voted against prohibition in 1880, after viewing the results of the law only partially enforced, were heartily convinced in 1890 that Kan- sas was far better off without open saloons. The churches, the State Temperance Union, and the Women's Christian Temperance Union have done and continue doing a great deal toward helping the movement for- ward. The work of the last named has been almost entirely educational in its relation to the prohibition law, and is a potent force in that line of work. But the most effective work has been done since 1900 by the offi- cers of the state. A movement toward enforcement of state laws be-

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came a policy of many politicians seeking office, and not only in Kansas, but elsewhere, a tendency toward cleanliness in political and municipal affairs has been much in evidence during the past decade. The power of public opinion has done much for prohibition, and it may be said that Kansas has at last reached the place where every intelligent person ad- mits that the liquor traffic in the main is outlawed and that public senti- ment, except in a few localities, is against the sale of alcohol as a beverage.

The real enforcement of the prohibition law began in about 1907. Prior to that time the officials were somewhat lax in their duties and many drug stores were practically dramshops. The county attorneys and attorney-general planned to make Kansas thoroughly "dry" and systematically closed up the places selling liquor. In 1909 the laws were revised and strengthened, a most important change being made in the withdrawal of the druggist's permits to sell liquor for medical, scientific and mechanical purposes, which was accomplished by repeal- ing sections 2452 and 2454 of the statutes of 1901 ; also by curtailing the physicians' liberty of prescribing liquor by repealing section 2453.

The statutes of 1909 give the prohibition laws as amended and im- proved, which make the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquor a misdemeanor, and fix the penalty of its unlawful sale a fine of not less than $200 or more than $500, and imprisonment for not less than 30 days nor more than 90. The law inflicts the same penalty for any per- son aiding or assisting in the manufacture of liquor and defines intoxi- cating liquors. It outlines the duties of the officials, the county attor- neys and attorney-general, in making investigations and proceedings, and decrees that no person is excused from testifying for fear of incrim- ination. It makes it the duty of police officers to notify the county attor- ney of violations of this law; and gives compensation for taking charge of persons intoxicated. The law provides that any one injured by an intoxicated person have action for damages ; a penalty for keeping and maintaining club rooms ; and further provides for shifts and devices to evade law, and for fines and costs by liens of real estate, for fees of offi- cers and witnesses, for punishment for drunkenness, for prosecution of such cases. It makes it unlawful to have liquor at the polls, or to sell or give liquor to inmates of soldiers' homes. All places in which intoxi- cants are manufactured or sold are declared to be nuisances, and de- crees penalties for maintaining the same. It allows a search to be made of any place against which a complaint is made and liquors to be seized and confiscated if found ; grants injunction to abate nuisances ; declares void leases of buildings used as common nuisance, and makes an owner of a building liable for the lease if it is maintained as a nuisance. It per- mits cities to pass ordinances prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors and regulates evidence in prosecutions for the unlawful sale of intoxicat- ing liquor.

Another law passed by the legislature of 1909 was "an act to prevent the drinking of intoxicating liquors on passenger trains in the state, to

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authorize conductors to make arrests therefor, and to provide penalties for the violation of this act,"

The enforcement of these laws makes Kansas a clean, comfortable state in which to live and rear children. It makes it more prosperous and reduces the criminal class and poverty. The statistics of several of the larger towns show a most encouraging small per cent. of poverty resulting from liquor. It cannot be said that there is absolutely no liquor traffic. There is some "boot-legging" or underhand selling, but the efforts necessary to procure intoxicants as a beverage reduces the number using them and creates an atmosphere of abstinence that helps an unnumbered majority to forego the use of it.

Protection, an incorporated city of the third class in Comanche coun- ty, is located in the township of the same name on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R., 10 miles southwest of Coldwater, the county seat. It has a bank, a weekly newspaper (the Post), a mill, a grain elevator, tele- graph and express offices, and an international money order postoffice. The population in 1910 was 390.

Protective Union .- When the constitutional amendment prohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors within the state was submitted to the people of Kansas, there were a number of citizens op- posed to its adoption. On Jan. 21, 1880, a number of these opponents met at Topeka and formed the "People's Grand Protective Union," with the following officers: President, T. W. Cochran; vice-presidents, M. Hoffman, M. Marcus, R. W. Ludington, J. Walruff, A. Weigand and John Trump ; recording secretary, L. W. Head; corresponding secretary, C. R. Jones; treasurer, C. Kreipe. The constitution adopted made the Grand Union the supreme authority in the state, with power to organ- ize local unions and make laws for their government, and to levy assess- ments against such unions for the benefit of the organization. The reso- lutions, which were unanimously adopted, set forth: "That the prohibi- tion amendment to the constitution of the State of Kansas, if adopted, would be a law, in its practical application, far beyond the public senti- ment of the people, and would be inoperative; that its adoption would take the whole subject of temperance out of the power of the legislature, leaving the people without a remedy; laws so stringent that they can- not be enforced, and destructive of all good, because it teaches men not to respect the restraining power of law. The laws now upon the statutes of the state are as stringent as can be enforced, and may be amended or repealed, as public interest and public sentiment shall demand. The amendment, if adopted, would do what no constitution in any state of this Union does; it would legalize the manufacture and sale of liquor, unrestrained by law, and the liquor once purchased, and in the hands of the purchaser, its use cannot be controlled-thereby offering a premium to falsehood, perjury and intemperance."

In April an active canvass was commenced among the brewers and distillers in other states for funds to defeat the amendment, but the work was barren of results, the amendment was ratified by the people at the polls, and the Protective Union passed out of existence.

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Protestant Episcopal Church .- The Episcopal church first arose in England as the result of the reformation movement and became the established church of state. The Episcopal church in America is the direct descendant of the Church of England. It has aimed to be the same in doctrine, discipline and worship as the mother church, and has departed no further than became necessary by the force of circumstances. The American church derived its orders, accepted the liturgy, creeds and articles of religion from the established church of Great Britain, and though of foreign origin is distinctly an American church, having de- veloped a life essentially its own in this country.

It was a part of the English plan of colonization to plant the estab- lished church of England in America and the first charter for a colony in America provided that the laws should not "be against the true Christian faith and religion now professed in the Church of England." The colony established under this charter was at Jamestown, and Vir- ginia became the early center of the Episcopal church. By 1720 there were 40 parishes in the colony, and when there was no resident rector in a parish the services were read by a lay reader. Maryland was founded as a palatinate and the Church of England established, but it was not established in New England, outside of Connecticut, until about the beginning of the 18th century.

The separation from England and the establishment of an Episcopal church for the United States started at a meeting of some clergymen at New Brunswick, N. J., in 1784, when resolutions were adopted that the American church should be independent "of all foreign authority, eccle- siastical and civil," owing to the changed conditions in the country. In 1785 the first authorized general convention met at Philadelphia, when thirteen states were represented and "The General Ecclesiastical Con- stitution of the Protestant Church in America" was completed.

The church had a national growth as the tide of emigration swept westward across the continent, and at the general convention of 1835 the first missionary bishop, Jackson Kemper, was elected. He became the apostle of all the great territory east of the Rocky mountains and labored heroically in establishing the church in the regions between the mountains and the Mississippi river.

Early in the territorial period, missionary work was started in Kan- sas, services being held by rectors from Weston, Mo., the best known being John McNary and two men by the name of Holmes and Irish. The first regular missionary to Kansas was Hiram Stone, who began services in Leavenworth in Nov., 1856, and on Dec. Io he organized St. Paul's church. This was the first parish in Kansas, and the following year the first Episcopal church in the state was erected at Leavenworth and consecrated by Bishop Kemper. In July, 1857, Charles M. Callo- way conducted the first services for St. Paul's church at Manhattan. The parish was organized in May, 1858, and N. O. Preston became the first rector. Bishop Kemper visited the parish in 1859 and during that year the church building was begun, but was not completed until 1867. (II-33)

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It was consecrated on May 13, 1870. At Wyandotte (now Kansas City) the Episcopal church was started in the spring of 1857 by Rodney S. Nash, of Lexington, Mo., who organized St. Paul's Episcopal parish, one of the pioneer parishes of the territory. Mr. Nash went east after the parish was organized and spent the summer gathering funds to erect a church. Charles Calloway also established the pioneer Epis- copal church of Douglas county at Lawrence in 1857. In 1858 Trinity parish was organized and a charter secured from the territorial legis- lature on Feb. 8, 1859. A small building was erected and consecrated in July. What is now known as Trinity church, Atchison, was organized in Oct., 1857, as St. Mary Magdalen's church, with only 5 members, under the leadership of L. R. Staudenmayer. Trinity church was incor- porated on Feb. 27, 1860, and the vestry consisted of the organizers of St. Mary Magdalen, with one added member, but no church was built for ten years. In 1857 Charles Calloway began the Episcopal church at To- peka as a mission. In 1860 the parish was organized with 12 communi- cants under the name of Grace Episcopal parish. St. Andrew's Epis- copal church of Fort Scott was partly organized in 1859 by three men, and a year later an organization was perfected under the superintend- ence of Charles Reynolds, of Lawrence. The first services were held in a government building. After the war J. M. Kedrick took charge of the parish as the first regular rector. The church at Junction City, Geary county, was organized in Dec., 1859, as the parish of St. John, but later became known as the Church of the Covenant. In 1860 a church building was erected, the first in the city, although it was not conse- crated until May 10, 1870. During the year 1870, St. Mark's church was established at Emporià, Lyon county, but the name was subse- quently changed to St. Andrew's. St. John's parish, of Girard, Craw- ford county, was organized on March 19, 1870, and the first sermon was preached on April 14 by A. Beattie. In April, 1870, the Episcopal church was established at Salina and the following year a house of worship was erected. On July 26, 1859, Bishop Kemper issued a call for the purpose of organizing the territory of Kansas into a diocese, and the first con- vention was held at St. Paul's church, Wyandotte, on Aug. 11 and 12. Shortly after the diocese was organized, Bishop Lee, of Iowa, took pro- visional charge and acted in that capacity for four years. In Dec., 1864, Thomas Hubbard Vail was consecrated bishop of Kansas and visited his new diocese in Jan., 1865.

According to the census of 1875 there were 36 Episcopal organizations in Kansas, with 22 church edifices and a total membership of 1,389. In 1886 the number of buildings had increased to 34 and the membership to 3,594. From this time there has been a gradual increase in both organizations and membership, and in 1906 the Episcopal church ranked ninth of all religious organizations with a membership of 6,459. With the great growth of organizations the state has been divided into two dioceses-Kansas and Salina. The cathedral city of the former is To- peka and of the latter Salina.

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Provo, an inland hamlet in the eastern part of Greenwood county, receives its mail by rural route from Neal, which is the nearest railroad station.

Public Lands .- By the act of Congress admitting Kansas into the Union, certain grants of the public domain were made to the new state for specific purposes. S. E. Hoffman, H. B. Denman and E. P. Ban- croft were appointed commissioners to select the state lands, and in Aug., 1861, they made showing that the aggregate of the 16th and 36th sections in each Congressional township of the state would amount to 800,292 acres, which lands were set apart by the act of admission for school purposes. Other lands included in the report of the commission were 46,080 acres for the support of the state university ; 6,400 acres to aid in the erection of public buildings; 46,080 acres with the 12 salt springs donated to the state by Congress; internal improvement lands, granted by the act of Sept. 4, 1841, aggregating 500,000 acres, and lands selected under the act of Feb. 26, 1859, authorizing settlers upon the school sections before surveys were made, to make up deficiencies where the section or township might be fractional, 60,988 acres. This report embraced in the aggregate 1,459,840 acres of land, to which the state was entitled under the provisions of the various acts of Congress relating to the subject. By the act of 1877 Congress granted the state 300,000 acres as an indemnity for school lands lost by Indian reservations.

The public lands might be divided into four classes: I-Lands owned by the general government; 2-Lands granted to the higher institutions of learning; 3-Common school lands: 4-Grants made to railroad companies. There were three ways of acquiring title to lands owned by the general government, viz: under the homestead act, by preëmption, and by taking what was known as a timber claim. Under the homestead act the settler was required to live upon his claim and cultivate it for five years, at the end of which time he could receive a patent or title. By preëmption, the settler who lived upon and improved his claim for one year was given the privilege of purchasing the land at $1.25 an acre. The settler who took a timber claim was required to plant I0 acres of timber, which should be done within four years, and only one timber claim was allowed in each section. In none of the three methods was the land taxable until the settler had complied with all the requirements of the law and secured his patent.

The grants of land for the purpose of aiding the construction of rail- roads were made by an act of Congress, approved March 3, 1863, the lands to be subject to the disposal of the legislature of Kansas. On Feb. 9, 1864, the governor approved an act accepting the grants. One section of the Congressional act provided that "actual and bona fide settlers under the provisions of the preemption and homestead laws of the United States, may, after due proof of settlement, improvement and cultivation, as now provided by law, purchase the same at the minimum price."

A number of settlers had already located upon some of the lands em-

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braced within the railroad land grants, and dissatisfaction arose among them when the railroad companies fixed the minimum price at double that asked by the government for public lands. This dissatisfaction was greatest with regard to the Cherokee Neutral Lands (See Neutral Lands) and the Osage ceded lands. The Osage ceded lands have been described as "covering Neosho and Labette counties, with a narrow strip surrounding them in Cherokee, Crawford, Bourbon, Wilson and Montgomery counties." By the treaty of 1825 the Osages ceded all their lands to the United States, except a strip 50 miles wide, the southern boundary of which coincided with the present southern boundary of Kansas. This, as well as subsequent treaties, was broken, and in Jan., 1867, the Indians ceded their lands to the United States, in trust, to be sold for cash to actual settlers. At the close of the Civil war there was a rush of settlers to the West, not much attention being paid to the land grants made to railroad companies by the act of March 3, 1863. The settlers refused to pay the railroad companies what they regarded as fancy prices, organized the Settlers' Protective Association (q. v.), and employed good lawyers to protect their interests. Suits were filed, and in Oct., 1875, the United States supreme court decided in favor of the settlers.

Notwithstanding the fact that the constitution of the state (Section 3, Article VI) provided that the 500,000 acres granted to the state by the act of 1841 should become a part of "a perpetual school fund," the legislature of 1866 gave the land to four railroad companies, the lands to be sold by an agent appointed by the governor. Prior to the passage of this act, W. W. H. Lawrence, secretary of state, in his report for the year ending on Dec. 31, 1864, gave a list of 495,551 acres of land which had been selected for the state under the provisions of the act of 1841. On Feb. 13, 1872, Atty .- Gen. A. W. Williams received notice that the general land office at Washington had patented to the state about 5,000 acres to supply the deficiency. Mr. Williams was requested to take part in the division of this 5,000 among the railroad companies. This he refused to do, and at the same time announced his intention of applying for an injunction to restrain the sale of any unsold portion of the 500,- 000 acres. He accordingly brought suit against R. D. Mobley, the state agent for the sale of the lands and obtained a temporary restraining order. The railroad companies declined to contest the case and the injunction was made perpetual. Thus a portion of the lands were re- gained for actual settlers under the preëmption and homestead laws, but it was a mere bagatelle when compared with the entire half million acres which rightfully belonged to the public school fund.

Peter McVicar, state superintendent of public instruction, instituted proceedings, before the action brought by Mr. Williams, to recover sec- tions 16 and 36 for the school fund. In his report for 1870 he says the supreme court "declined to give any decision on the main point involved, on the ground of alleged informalities in the presentation of the case." . On Jan. 20, 1874, the legislature adopted a resolution asking the attor-

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ney-general for his opinion as to the constitutionality of the law of Feb. 26, 1866, granting the 500,000 acres to the railroads. To the question Mr. Williams replied as follows: "I think the law of 1866 is unconsti- tutional, but have not time to enter into any elaborate argument to show why I think so. Nor is it necessary that I should, for I have already taken legal action in the matter." He then gives an account of the injunction proceedings against Mobley, and in answer to question as to whether the lands could be recovered, says: "If the law under which these lands were sold is unconstitutional, there has never been any valid sale, and the title is still in the state. Whether the state will ever assert its title against the innocent purchasers who bought under what they thought a valid law, and who hold the patent of the state therefor, is not for me to say ; but certainly no such claim will ever be asserted or prosecuted by me. Neither can the state, in my judgment, recover from the railroads the proceeds of the sales heretofore made, because such an action would have to be based upon the supposition that the law under which the sales were made was valid, and to recognize its validity would of course admit that the roads were legally entitled to such pro- ceeds."

Truly, a complicated state of affairs, but Mr. Williams' opinion was accepted as good law and the matter was allowed to pass quietly into history, the title of those who bought lands to the railroad companies being recognized as valid, even though the law under which the sales were made was unconstitutional. The state auditor's report for 1882 showed the sale of the state lands during the preceding 15 years to have been 450,763.88, for which was received $1,805,389.05, or a little over $4 an acre.

Public Libraries .- (See Libraries.)

Public School System .- Section 34 of the act organizing the territory of Kansas contains the following educational provision: "And be it further exacted, that when the lands in said territory shall be surveyed under the direction of the government of the United States, preparatory to bringing the same into market, sections numbered 16 and 36 in each township in said territory shall be, and the same are hereby reserved for the purpose of being applied to the schools in said territory and in the states and territories hereafter to be erected out of the same."

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Kansas; a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence, Volume II, Part 61

Author: Blackmar, Frank Wilson, 1854-1931, ed Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago, Standard publishing company Number of Pages: 960

Author: Blackmar, Frank Wilson, 1854-1931, ed
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Standard publishing company
Number of Pages: 960