What’s the Matter with Kansas?

First Published December 7, 1971It is worth pointing out that this column occurred decades before, and has nothing to do with, the book of the same name by Thomas Frank. - Editor By Don ShearonBeneath this headline, a famed Kansas editor of yesteryear, William Allen White, launched his Emporia Gazette on the path to national, even international, renown.Now, a latter-day Kansas newspaperman approaches substantially the same question, but in an entirely different context.While the late Editor White made it plain, albeit obliquely, that he held politicians accountable in large part for the Sun-flower State's woes, our present-day observer stated his case in defense of political practitioners.Writing in the Pictorial-Times, published at Topeka by former Fairburian Bert Carlyle, George Freeman had this to say: “We thought we had heard it all. Politicians get blamed for just about everything, from high taxes to the cost of dying.“But now we have received a letter from a reader who blames the politicians for the failure by both KU and K-State to make the bowl games.“Noting that Nebraska, to the north, Oklahoma, to the south and Iowa State and Colorado to the east and west respectively, all earned bowl berths, he charges Kansas' politicians with the blame.“’Kansas couldn't win the Pancake Derby,’ he writes. That may be, but we must finally defend the legislature. This is one time they had nothing to do with the tough times.“Now don't any of you legislators say we never backed you when the chips were down.”While our heart bleeds nary a drop for the outclassed Kansas gridmen, the Topeka newsman should be reminded that up here in Nebraska we have a fellow named Bob Devaney who is no political novice, as any cigarette smoker can testify. Coach Devaney's wizardry in the business of football scarcely overshadows his skill at handling legislators.

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