JOHN A.

MARTIN TRAVELS WEST,

AND COMPARES CALIFORNIA WITH KANSAS

Ernst F. Tonsing, Ph.D.

Thousand Oaks, California
June 23, 2004

By Governor Martin’s tenure from 1885-1889, Kansas was crisscrossed by

railroads, so many that the Great Bend Tribune had it that the number of railroads being
constructed in western Kansas “is only equalled [sic] by the number of street railways,
waterworks, electric lights, colleges and children to fill them. A town of 150 inhabitants
that hasn’t at least four trunk lines and all these other advantages is considered too
unimportant to put one the maps.”1 Gov. Martin was enthusiastic about railroads, and
even dedicated on of his speeches in Atchison, Kansas, to the meeting of the
“Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen.”2 He was also well acquainted with them. As
there was no governor’s mansion in Topeka, weekly, Martin would board the narrow-
gage cars in Atchison to travel to his office in the capital building, and would return to his
home on Fridays.3

In addition to his several rail trips east to attend meetings of the Grand Army of
the Republic, the National Disabled Veterans’ Homes, and various functions of the
National Board of the Republican Party, he also traveled west on one occasion. With his
energetic patronage of the veterans of the Civil War, he sought to have national homes
established throughout the country. The Los Angeles Times in 1887 related that:

Gov. Martin of Kansas, a member of the Board of Managers of the

Soldiers’ Home, was one of the “visiting statesmen” who recently came to
Los Angeles to view the country o’er and help select a site for a Pacific
branch home.4

Although only a thousand miles “as the crow flies” from the western boarder of Kansas,
because of mountains, high passes, and, perhaps, inclement weather, his November,
1887, trip to California would have taken five or six days.5 What other cities Martin
visited is not known, but San Francisco,6 Santa Barbara and San Diego were competing
1
The Annals of Kansas 1886-1925, Vol. 1, 1886-1910 (Topeka, Kansas: Kansas State Historical society,
1954), Dec. 3, 1886, p. 18.
2
John A. Martin, “Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen,” Addresses of Governor John A. Martin Delivered
in Kansas, ed. by Amos W. Wilder (Topeka, Kansas: Topeka Book Concern, 1888), pp. 155-8.
3
Recollections of Ruth Martin Tonsing, daughter of the Governor, related to Ernst F. Tonsing in the
1960’s.
4
Los Angeles Times, December 26, 1887. The subsequent quotations from the newspaper are from this
article.
5
An article in the Los Angeles newspaper anticipates that the tour of the Board will take place that
November. “Soldiers’ Home. Further Valuable Information About It.,” Los Angeles Times, August 24,
1887.
6
William Blanding, in a letter to A. M. Lawrence, Secretary Board of Trade, Los Angeles, “Soldiers’
Home,” Los Angeles Times, August 24, 1887.
for the institution to be placed there.7 Ultimately, the little community of Sawtelle,
between the towns of Los Angeles and Santa Monica, was selected by the committee for
the home, and Martin returned to Kansas.

I would be surprised if Martin had not traveled with his eyes open wide, yet, he
was not overwhelmed by what he saw. The substance of the article in the Los Angeles
Times was not his visit, but his remarks concerning the state:

Having finished his work, he has returned to the State of his home and
been interviewed in relation to the future of California. He entertains, it is
said, the conviction that Kansas will always be a greater State than
California. The prospects of the former will enormously exceed those of
the latter, according to his judgment, even when the resources of the
Pacific Coast are fully developed.8

Always a champion of his Kansas, Martin even saw the extremes of the climate in the
state as auspicious:

He regards the climate of Kansas as more healthful and invigorating than

that of California, and more favorable to the production of a vigorous and
energetic and aggressive race of men and women. He recognizes in the
remote extremes of heat and cold in Kansas a “beneficent influence” by
which weaklings are killed off or driven away, leaving the land in the
possession of those who are equal to its profitable occupation.

Thus culled, the population of Kansas had the potential of achieving greatness:

Gov. Martin thinks that in 100 years from now the Kansas will illustrate
the highest type of American citizenship, and that the equal of Kansas is
yet to be found among the sisterhood of States.

It was not that he was disenchanted by California:

He likes California, and thinks that the State has a great future. But he
loves Kansas, as becomes a man who helped to make that State, and in
return the State has prospered and honored him.

The author of the article grants Martin the right to his views,

We are quite willing to allow Gov. Martin his opinion, and do not care to
even controvert it; for it is honorable in a man to stand up for the home of
his adoption.

7
“The Soldiers’ Home—Los Angeles Wins,” Los Angeles Times, December 8, 1887.
8
“Kansas and Colorado,” Los Angeles Times, December 26, 1887. Contrary to the title, the article deals
only with Kansas and California. The subsequent quotations from the newspaper are from this article.
The writer, however, expresses reservations about his means of achieving excellence by
dislodging deficient members of the population:

But the heroic method which the governor favors for the killing off or
driving away of “weaklings” is notable, and his sang froid9 so complete as
to elicit admiration even from a “weakling.”

In the end, the correspondent writes that if Kansans like the excessive changes of weather
in the state, that is fine:

The “beneficent influence” of the extremes of heat and cold in Kansas is

good—very good—for those who like to be under its spell.

I think that I detect a certain bias here in reporting Governor John A. Martin’s words. I
suspect that the journalist preferred California’s hills to Kansas’ prairies, and the former
state’s palms and sun to the latter’s wintry wonders. I’m sure that he did not want to be
reminded of the West Coast’s Gold Rush derelicts, forest fires and earthquakes.

9
French, “Cold blood.”