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This newspaper page contains 18 articles. Subscribers can read the full text of each article.
Newspaper
Kansas Agitator
Location
Garnett, Kansas, United States of America
Date
May 19, 1899
Page
4
A proofreading note reports the printer failed to update the date and number on the first page this week. The current page shows May 16 and issue number 52 while next week marks the Aerrator entering its tenth year.
The Agitator edition denounces exaggerated boom tales about Kansas prosperity and warns that mortgage debt is rising, citing Riley County’s $97 439 increase in 1898. It argues that true progress comes from steady farmers and workers, not speculative booms, and cautions against payoffs that conceal financial risk.
Kansas letters reveal that after Malolos fell General Funston went to hospital for an abscess while Lieutenant-Colonel Little commanded the regiment bravely. A Manila Freedom account and a mother’s letter corroborate Little’s leadership and valor amid disputed recall by Kansas Republicans.
The piece accuses Eugene Stanley of manipulating the board of regents to give Republicans control of the college. It recalls Col. William Jennings Bryan being invited to speak at commencement, canceled by the new board amid protests by Mrs. St John and Carl Vrooman. The author denounces Stanley and his committee as corrupt and one term governor.
Newspaper debate over Funston allegedly swimming a river to capture eighty Filipinos ends with the claim he did not wet his feet. It was a Lt. from Fort Scott and two privates who swam, used a raft, and Funston rode over on it. The note ends with a promotion for free State Agricultural College bulletins from Manhattan Kansas.
The Moline Plow Company refuses to join the plow trust citing concerns that trusts are wrong and that workers would lose employment if the firm joined.
Carr G W Lopp sends a photo of a 400 pound bust of Thomas Paine and announces a Paine memorial meeting in New Rochelle New York on the 22nd inst. The bust will be unveiled during the event.
The London Times endorses the action of Postmaster General Smith under McKinley orders in stealing pamphlets from the mails addressed by Atkinson Admiral Dewey and other American officers in the Philippines. The stance reflects strong approval of the controversial move.
A Republican farmer notes hogs suffer despite McKinley era claims. The Populist retorts that hogs are the only class thriving under McKinley’s administration, reflecting party rhetoric and agrarian tensions of the period.
An exchange debates records of bravery by Funston and those who aided his river crossing. It concludes the lieutenant and two soldiers who swam the river and built the raft deserve greater praise than Funston.
A Topeka mother pleads the home front as two local boys valiantly serve in the Philippines. She decries public fuss over funding Fred Funston’s sword, urging instead to use money to feed the starving woman at home.
State fair managers in Wichita plan to feature Funston and two soldiers who swam the river and captured eighty Filmpinos by a raft crossing in the Arkansas river. Since it is proven Funston did not swim but crossed on a raft, organizers should prepare a raft for his arrival and reenactment at the fair.
Senator Washburn of the Pillsbury Washburn Co returns to Minneapolis from New York and denounces consolidation. He predicts ultimate ruin from industrial amalgamation, warns that promoters profit while investors suffer, and fears a market crash and widespread losses as the nation nears prosperity restored.
Excerpts from letters cited by the Boston Evening Transcript and Chicago Inter-Ocean reflect distress over enemy executions and a harsh campaign in Manila. The text contrasts calls for mercy with orders to kill prisoners, noting ammunition shortages forced pursuit of 500 Filipino rebels and framing the conflict as a “missionary enterprise” to seize savages and spread the gospel of peace.
The Springfield Republican notes Roosevelt then assistant secretary of the navy sent a telegram to Commodore Dewey on February 25 1898 to prepare for armory operations in the Philippine islands two months before the war with Spain. The piece questions whether Roosevelt also sent the Maine to Havana, sparking the war.
In a stormy forecast, a Nonconformist letter warns that German Republicans may desert the Republican Party over imperial expansion. It predicts McKinley will evasively dodge conquest plans, temper his stance, and lean into liberty rhetoric to save the party amid rising anti imperial sentiment.
C P Huntington boasts that expansion fuels American commercial interests and vows to snatch opportunities, predicting Southern Pacific will build railroads in the Philippines within a few years if trends stay favorable, remarking on health at the end.
A critical note from the Nonconformist laments that only 375 of 1200 First Nebraska men who went to Manila can perform duty and accuses the administration of risking more deaths to save costs. It accuses the policy of deception, hypocrisy, and revenge against Nebraska for opposing imperialism.
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