St. John In His Own State

The temporalice peoplc in Kansas do not ueed any one t teil them about St. John. They know him. They haye liad unough of his leadership. Tliey umlerstand his egotlsm, his vaulting ambition, his treachery. The Kansas State Teniperance Union, which niet in Topeka on Wednesday, very natmally repwllated the partisan sehemes ol the man hu did his utmost to give over the country to Cleveland and Hemhicks with uil tliat these liamos imply. Mr. St. .John was present at the meeting and lieard gotM tliiiiffs which oh;1u to do liiin good. This, for instauce, trom the Piesldeat of the ', union, the llon. A. B. Campbell: I can not foibenr congratulutliiK the prohibiblUoulBU Qpon the lact that Mheu the Issue between the republiean and the democratie parilfs wan sharply defined in Kansas- the tonner represenling lw and onlw and loyality to the constitution as lile people minie it, the latter representing lawiewsness and crime and disloyalty to the constltution; liie Itormer repreaentlDt the home, the latter the saloon- tlie prohibltionisls almoit universally stand by the party In and through which they liad labored for success In the past, and iu and througti wliicti they inUüt i-easonably hope for siicce s in the future. Out of more tlian oue linndred thousand prohibition voters there were oiily lound 4,4:il willing to tlab the party oí protfreM and refonu and aësisl the mout currupt polillcal orgauizatiou in Ihisorany oltier land to ihe control of the nation. The man who h the republiean party ol Kansas to eugagr m the prohibitory inovemtnt dies BO to the Sieat iujury of prohiDition iu the state. He gives slieugth to the arm of the party that would strike a death-blow to the cause of prolnbitiou without a twlnge of couscleuce. That is just it. And it is that tiiat ha." so exaspeialed al! temperance republicana througliout the country agalnst !St. John, and especially in his own state. It is tiie ireachery of the latter, Ihe conspiiacy on the part of a few would-be leaders llke St. Johu, Finch, and others lo stal) in Ihe back the party of reform and progresa. TI iel r motive, constaiitly apparent in the campanil, and with mo.st uiutttently liastoafler tiie elclion avoued and boasted of by Mr. Finch and Mr. St. John, wa to destroy the republiean party. Guueati asassinated t" resident Gartield; those line gentianen atteinpted to HSSassiuate the party whioh (larlield stood for. The Temperance Union of Kansas represents a meu)beishi of over 100,000. a notable gain during the year. Tlie prohibltory luw is gald to be increasiugly favored by the people. However that may be, the republiian party, when the aineiidineiit had been subinitted to the people and adopted by tttani by an ovcrwhelmlng vote, aocepted in iroodfaith the voice of the popular verdict in that state. II believed, and still beliew, in the faithful adininistration of the lcyislation necessitated üv it. NV Mal next tor a tin rtl party? And wliat could be more appropri-it,. riem tbr fnrnvil fhvlaratioil made at this meeting to the effect that, as long ¦is the attitude of the two leadfng parties remaius unclianired, tliey are unalterably opposed to the fomiation or mainteiiauce ot' a (listii'.ct prohibitioD party, and cordially invited tliose who liad separuted frotn tlieiu to return and act with them in future? But it was this declaration wliich swept St. .John jlt' his pin and out to sea in a tempest of his owu gettin; up. His speech (o attemptrd defense of liimself was thoroughly uiieaudid and evasive, President Campbell, in reply, declaring it to be, in its accusations, an in puit to the conveution. II S'. John had really at heart the caose of temperauce as muoh as lie had in the late campaign, especial ly In New York state, the trluinph of Cleveland and Hendricks, and the resentful vindication of li is own personal ïmportance, the popular feellng toward hun would be very different f rom what it is. What good reason he eau lüive tor wanting to destioy the republican party In Kansas is more than any honest mind can eoinpreheud. The N. W. C. T. L'. will rue the dcy tliat it bean to coddle and niake a pet hero of siu-h a man and follow his illtiincil, ill-dipositioiied, and most malapropos leadership. The mistake has elosed a thousaud doors agalnst tliem whicli otlivi fr iau would have been open to them. All liglit-minded people re¦ iet this. It has been a terrible set-back to the canse of teiuperance. It has given an awtul blow to the caube of womnn suffia;e. Xo wonder Mrs. Li vermore said Wednesday in Harshey Hall that she lid not expeet to live to see tlie triumph of her cause. Too miich flattery is not good forone. History is full of examplesof the noblest enthusiasts in the best of causes gettiug thcir heads turned. The notion that we have nothifig to do with consccmences because t'orsooth we have avowed that we are "the conscientious" people lacks senst!. The doctrine that it is a conscientious thing to stand by and let matters !to froni bad to worse, expecting that evil will then reform ltself, is actrocious. And the facination ot' externalizet power, wlicn it takes possession of an enthuiastic brain, is apt to mislead. The Wonrin's Christian Temperanoe Union was dolng'a work in whicli all goot citiens, of whatever party or race 01 seclion, could but rejoice and bid it godspeed. Notliing could be more legitímate more womaiilv, or more Christian. Now look around and sce the mess which the 11 leadership of St John and a few others Ims made of it.