Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 7 October 1927 — Page 1
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VOLUME VII—Number 38.
MUNCIE, INDIANA, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1927.
Price 5 Cents—$2.00 a Year
DEMOCRATS PUSSYFOOTED ON KLAN WL aKmstmmL ^ a .. a w _ »tre* » **** **-m vm. vnmxmr w «>«t. 9 svmeaimrmm**? mmmmm, M 1 PjirtV H8S Al All Tfllie^ I ; amefirahiv Failed
MISMANAGEMENT IN COUNTY INSTITUTIONS
Judge Tilliuan of State Tax Board Threat-Q p jppg QJY ens Investigation of County infirmary! cri FfTfAK! itiT a and Orphans’ Home; Republican Ma-j ^ LLL 0
chine, Run By Billy Williams Has Squan dered Peoples’ Money Right and Left,
Four Cities Lead In Race
< ora rail t eemen Breakfast With Pres. Coolidge.
Washington, Oat. fi,—Sentiment among Republican national committeemen as to the meeting place of the 192S national convention appears now to be divided among four cities: Cleveland, O.; San Francisco, Cal.; Minneapolis, Minn,
and Detroit, Mich.
Chairman Butler announced
When Mr. Tillman, of the state tax board, exploded al the tax hearing held Wednesday in the superior court room,, and declared that the county infirmary and the children’s home are both being grossly mismanaged, he merely gave audible expression of a thing already known here to most
people.
It developed at the hearing, according to Mr. Tillman, that it was costing Delaware county $500 a year for each
‘•-MM cared for at- the orphans’ home and that the expend!- wf ^SfatXThaTme'"^!™!!! t,tires at the infirmary were clear out of reason. jcommittee would meet here Dec. 6
“There is something wrong with the management of!—the day after Congress convenes
both of these institutions and I will recommend that the!~ to mal j e the fi ™ al selection. He ! state tax hoard send a representative to Muncie to make •; among themaSy 0 cureT^eki^g Te
an investigation,” was (he rather grim threat made by [gathering.
Juder* Tillman The chairman’s announcement
came after nearly a score of the
Postmaster Billy Williams serv- o _— —_ I national committeemen had been ed eight years as infirmary super-1 . j I ho guests of President. Coolidge intendent and it was during his the affairs of Delaware county!at a White House breakfast. Fifregime lhat the wild orgy of ex- hack on a business basis. jtoen committeemen, in addition to Iravaganee and nrobably worse, be-! The Post-Democrat has every [Chairman' Butler .attended, includ-
ing Secretary Roy O. West, of Illinois and Joseph B. Kealing of Indiana. They said afterwards that neither the meeting place of the convention nor any other political subject had been discussed. By choosing in December the Republicans will fix their meeting place just a month in advance of
Predicts Overthrow of Soviet In Russia New York. Oct. c.—Sir Henri
gan at that institution and contin- reason in the world to believe ues up to the present time under that the people made no mistake he management of his understudy, i in selecting these two men for Sherm Shroyer. i their county commissioners. It is One item in the county budget!now up to them to make good, which drew forth caustic comment They will have a free hand and by Mr. Tillman, was the proposed the priceless opportunity is their’s appropriation of $800 to pay the j to perform a service for their Selma packing company for can-: neighbors that will prove no mis-
ning vegetables raised last year take was made in entrusting them j •h 0 i^ em ocrats. The national comon eighty acres of land. with the job. ' mit i ee o.C that party is to gather He also wanted to know why; No man should be placed at the [in Washington January S to make the superintendent proposed to |head of an institution or county Their selection, spend a thousand dollars next year! department unless he is known to ; ■" 0 *
for fresh meat and a large sum for be thoroughly honest and qualified
fresh vegetables. ‘‘It’s extraOrdi-do fill .the place,
nary,” said he. Under the Billy Williams sysTho republican machine has item, which has wrecked the finanbeen in control here for a number joes of Delaware county and the of years and the pe^plo have oaki. «-itv ur MuniTtv and d}s^ra»-«‘<a--xwj che freight. They know that their discredited the party in power, the money is 4 being squandered right, various institutions and depart-
and left, jmonts are headed by men and wo-j w A De terdlng of London, direct-! It was exposures made by the nH '* w 'iose first allegiance is to j or general of the Royal Dutch Pe-j Post-Democrat concerning the'' li0 machine. troletim Company; who has been! county infirmnry. the Dearth moth-; If they have any loyalty left!recently engaged in a bitter contro-; od of management at the orphans’ i over, after extending themselves [ versy with the Standard Oil Comp ! home and the thievery of the liar-jin behalf of the gangsters who any of New York over control of; ry Hoffman cured gravel trust .gave them their jobs, they dagnan- Russian oil, predicted through his! that awakened the voters and! imously present it to the county. New York representative Wednes-j changed the political, complexion; Up until Judge Dearth ascended day that the soviet government; of Delaware county last fall. [to the bench, the orphans’ home! would be short lived. On the first of January the board! was kept out of politics, brt it will Sir Henri asserted that the sov-! of county commissioners will con-1 he .recalled that one of his very iot government, which has taken sist of two .democarts, Joseph j first acts was to discharge the over natural resources and indust-i Mann and Boh Acker, and one re- members of the hoard and replace ries, does not represent the Rus-'
publican leftover, ..John McCreery. | them by dependable political wor- sian people.
kers, Mrs.. Dill being one of. them.: —o-—-———
Mrs,. .Gamble, the efficient ma-
tron was at once discharged and! SAME OLD STO-RY IN her place was filled by a woman; THE SAME OLD WAY who had no experience in the man-age-ment of the orphans, hut whose j Battle Creek (Mich.) News,
family voted “right” on election
day. 1 :
Judge Dearth immediately; increased the salary of the matron [and a new position was created,
very heavy responsibility j that of “superintendent,” and the j Friday, it was disclosed Saturday upon the two democratic husband of the matron was given I evening, by former members,
members of tho board of county i the job.
commissioners, i They were both ! The county contracts
As soon as the democrats get In power there will he an immediate reorganization .of the personnel of the road department, and the coun-
ty infirmary.
The management of the orphans’ home vests in the circuit court, consequently difficulties may be encountered in correcting the conditions there described by Judge Tillman. .
A
rests
The local unit of the klan which has held a national charter for the last two years and was operated the two years previous to that as a provisional unit, was disbanded
| George Carr of O was so, grand
for sup-1 dragon, Milton Parrish, grand Kiig-
elected by very, l&fge majorities in ] plies for the court house, infirm- ranp, accompanied by other officials a county that is normally repuhli-[ ary, jail and orphans’ home are °t’ the organization, visited Battle
can by five or Six thousand. - [held almost exclusively by the The voters went to the polls de* i proprietor of small stores in the
Creek, Friday, and took possession; of records, the membership lists;
termined to wipe out a political I town of Selma, where Billy Wil-R™' 1 olher papers to formally sig-i system organized for tne purpose iliahts resides while serving as nd-L the end of the klan here. The of exploiting ' thU people for the postmaster of Muncie. j disbandment meeting was attended' benefit of designing and avaricious; A brother-in-law of Billy’s, H. R.jdy loool ofiiceis who turned over, politicians. 1 Theis, who has a drug store at Sel-D 1 . 1 data pertaining to the business j It was evident liy such a vote in 'ma, supplies all the drugs and dis- ;® 1 ,he local 1imt - alter what they
inf octants for the county. | termed In fact, the public affairs of the ! slon -
Delaware county that the people were thoroughly aroused. They, didn’t vote for Mr. Mann and Mr. Acker because they were democrats particularly, hut because they had pledged themselves if elected to eliminate graft and place.
an “acrimonious discus-
county are run by a gang of political highbinders who believe that a public fund is created for ihe. especial benefit of themselves,
(Continued to Base Three)
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A/V’ .NT'/ArUA
* T Y
MAY HAVE BEEN A TRUSTY
YouRgfMr. Anclresj feandit, yegg and alleged murderer, walked.away from the jail Monday night. Now that was very-imkind and inconsiderate of the young man. • • The police went .to considerable trouble to catch Andres add’hi-s ;two - cO m pan ions. This capture had been pointed to us; the due big achievement of the Muncie police idepartment, and it is almost asking too much to ask- the police to go out and catch him again, and even if they did, the probabilities are he wouldn’t stay caught; . . -it- -. . ' : ; • . The Sheriff and- his assistants have an .explanation. It is 'dlhiost as ejeau as, mud. v’ - If Judge Dearth was going to impeach him a .year or so ago foU-allowing Hump [Lee to go home and eat strawberry pie VVhaUs heg61hg. : fd do.about this?. Who knows? viyT : ;;\ v Maybe : Ydung Andres has ; just gone somewhere to attend'So'me*pie test and''will return soou- -
si:
At one time there were 2,800 klan members here, but that number wDs reduced considerably during the last several months and the or ganization which was disbanded Friday night had a membership of only about 20 per cent of that, remaining members said. Following difficulties inside the jmit the mem [bership fell off at such a rapid rate! that the national office sent a “re-[ [olaination agent” here to reinstate | [former members and seek new. He; |was not successful, former mem*; I hers say, because many thought the plan which involved additional fees was not according to the constitution of the klan. Many members dropped out when a dispute arose over operation of the Auditorium on Division street used for Man meetings. Two years ago James Schaefer was ousted from the office of Kleagle. ; The average life of a butterfly is j believed to be about a month, j A new fruit known as the citrangequat is the result of crossing the kumquat, with the citgrange, which itself is a cross between an ordinary orange and a Japanese
orange.
Marine animals contain zinc, and generally small amounts of copper jin'their bodies. Long distance aviators should know enough about astronomy to use the stars as guides, says a Cor- , ! nel professor.
1
Censoring the News There seems now to be a debate between the Muncie Press and Lie detective branch of the local police department concerning the question of the advisahilty of printing si tries concerning the frequent robberies which have been taking place here of late. The Press reporters are hired to get the news and write it. That’ their trade and it is a lardy decent line of work. The people buy papers to read the news gathered and writ! mi by these reporters. it is not the fmiction of the police department to constitute itself fts in censor for the community. Kicking reporters out of police headquarters because they ask for information is unwise. Judge Dearth discovered the hazard of attempting to suppress a newspaper. The police must learn that it is not for them to decide whait is news and what is not news. ' If a reporter is worth his salt he will get the news whether a policemen gives it to him or not. Considering the things th > daily newspapers have covered up here that would |e to the discredit of the police department it seems remarkable that the editors of these newspapers should continue to keep quiet after being treated to such contemptuous discourtesy. It does seem that it is about time for the Star and the Press to “take the lid off” completely and tell everything that is going on here in the city and county administration. It is their failure in the past to do that very thing that has bred the contempt which exposes their reporters to insult. The people here don’t know what a fine lot of young fellows these reporters are. Their editors should print the news these young men know and would like to write. If the newspapers here would adopt that policy, reporters would soon he respected, and we more than half susoect there would be fewer infractions of the law for file police to try to conceal from the public. Editors who pursue the policy of censoring their own news output, because of its effect on this or that group, should not he too harsh on others who seek to suppress news in order to grind their own axes. The Post-Democrat suggests that the daily newspaper here try the experiment of turning their reporters loose on a “tell it ah’’ edition. These boys know enough to turn Muncie upside down. It may he true that “what the people don’t know don’t hurt ’em,” but nevertheless they are willing to hear it. The reporters themselves are partly to blame for their low estate here. They are regarded here in about the same class as bell hops and messenger boys because the public knows that their own employers will not let them write as they want to. It is within their power to compel respect for themselves and their newspapers, but their editors must co-operate.
Party Has At All Times Lamentably Failed to Display Any Backbone and Declare Itself for Or Against, Although Members of the Party Expressed Themselves Against Order; Gilliom Wins Debate, But Is Mistaken Regarding Facts and Republican Party Is To Blame for Filthy
Mess In Indiana,
It will be recalled that the resolution failed for the lack of one vote, thus the blame for the failure of me democratic national convention to condemn the klan may fair-
ly he laid at the door of Indiana Citizens could judge their neigh-
<1 emoCraey,—s*--rrpr&seat-rtar
delegation.
In one sense of the word the controversy between Attorney General Arthur L. Gilliom and Democratic State Chairman Peters is doing much to clear the atmosphere in
Indiana,
Mr. Gilliom made only one mistake, and that was in finding an indictment against the democratic party because two southern democratic kluxers, Wizard Evans and Dragon Stephenson, came up to Indiana and took charge of the
Hoosier republican organization.
His argument falls flat there, but in other particulars he wins the debate. Several weeks ago the Post-Democrat stated 1 that it had received a letter from a prominent Indiana democrat who declared that Hoosier democracy, by trembling when the wizard roared, had sunk “to the level, in character and social standing, of an alley prostitute.” 'The Post-Democrat agreed with its friend but added to this characterization by insisting that the comparison was not entirely fair to the painted lady. It would' be much better if Chairman Peters would frankly agree with Mr. Gilliom when ihe latter declarer that the democratic party in Indiana allowed the goblins to spit in its eye without audible protest. Who has forgotten the sorry fig- Q ‘
ure cut by the democratic delega Lion to the Madison Square nation
al convention in 1924? Led by the “best minds” of the party, the Indiana delegation, with eyes turned hopefully in the direction of the “imperial palace,” voted unanimously against the resolution condemning the klan.
and the state of Indiana.
Ohed Kilgore was chairman of the democratic county central committee. At that early period in the klan’s history it was difficult to tell who belonged to the criminal society and who did riot. The members were under oath to keep their membership secret The klan penalty for revealing klan secrets was “death and dishonor,” accepting the
klan’s own ritual for it.
John W, Davis, democratic candidate for president, and Dr. Carlton B. McCulloch, democratic candidate for governor of Indiana,
were careful in their near-denun- . , ciations of the klan, to include in! or / iT an !- s :
theii’ charges attacks on “any other organizations seeking to discriminate against citizens of particular creeds, races or religions.” They also qualified in declaring their opposition to the klan. The word “if” was always used. “If” the klan discriminated against race and religion, then it was to be abominated, was the burden of their ora-
tor) .
Never in a single instance did the democratic candidate for governor or the democratic candidate for president come out openly, frankly and without equivocation
say:
“I Am Against the Ku Klux
Klan!”
When Dr. McCulloch spoke here Stephenson? the head of the repubIn the court room in the campaign; lican p ar t. y) began building the
/of 3924 the only issue was the klan/gp^Qi^
and he knew it, yet he did not,”’ even by inference, attack the organization, although he knew that
hors then ou7y~ by their actions. The Post-Democrat was the only newspaper in Indiana that concentrated its entire efforts toward the destruction of the klan. The attitude (of the people here as to whether their sympathies were for
Post-Democrat was
sufficient to identify them as being members of the klan or otherwise.
It developed that Kilgore was- a
member of the Man. Instead of throwing the democratic organization behind the Post-Democrat, Kilgore called the klan members of the demtocratic county central committee together and by a vote of those present at the meeting, read this newspaper out of the democrtaic party ,at the same time endorsing the “Delaware County Democrat,’ ’then unborn, as the ?‘of-
democratic newspaper .of
Delaware county.
Thus “supergovernment” manifested itself. The klan had secretly condemned the Post'-Democrat to death, and Kilgore, the democratic chairman, under orders from D- G.
a
eirt, Ed Jackson, and that his audience was not 'interested 3:n his lengthy discourse concerning state finances and the economic triumphs of former democratic, state admin-
istrations.
In those days supergovernment In Indiana was at its height. Not even the riow valiant Arthur GilHiom was heard to find fault with 'the new and terrible power behind the throne, which is now giving him so much concern. He was a candidate then, himself, and sat in the councils of HIS party, knowing full well that D. C. Stephenson wa.= its dominating figure and that Ste phenson’s filthy money was financing the republican campaign. In those days the politicians of both parties presented a sorry figure. Bidding for the klan vtote and jfor the favor of the grand dragon was not confined to either party. It simply turned out that the republicans outbid the democrats They bought the sorry mess. It is now the misfortune of Hoosier re publicanism that it must bear tbe blame for th© collapse of the Jack son administration, the Duvall fias co, the Dearth impeachment anc the discrediting of its two senatorr !and scores of public officials in all
[parts of the state.
I The political history of Delaware vainly trying to induce Mr. [county beginning with the campaign ! g 0 o’a successor, Auditor W.
of 1922 and from then to the finish [of the campaign of 1924 can scarceily bo pointed to with pride by Dela-
[ware county democracy.
The shadow of the klan hung [menacingly over Delaware county (democracy. In 1922, when the klan [first reared its ugly head in Muncie, the Post-Democrat issued its [challenge to the hooded, intolerant, oath-bound advance guard of the supergovernment which was sioon to succeed constitutional government in Muncie, Delaware county,
The new “democratic” newspaper was started and public officials were served with written notices from the democratic county central committee that the Post-Democrat had been officially repudiated and discovered as a democratic newspaper and (that the “Delaware County Democrat,’ being the only democratic newspaper in Delaware county, was entitled to legal advertising and that the Post-Demo-
crat was not.
The counity commissioners, all three republicans and Mansmen, under orders from the same source of command as the derriorcatic chairman, adopted a resolution instructing James P. Dragoo, then county auditor, to place all of Delaware county’s legal advertising in the “Delaware County Democrat,” the Man sheet that was masquerading in the livery of the democratic
party.
Mr. Dragoo is a republican, but he does not take orders from supers overnments. He runs his own yoat. He told Kilgore, the Man and ‘he commissioners to go to hell. The “Delaware County Democrat” existed precariously for eleven nonths and died an obscure death. During its existence it never received a dime’s worth of legal adnor did its successor, “The Muncie Democrat,” conducted by 'Parrott, of Eaton, a klansmau, which gasped its last a few weeks ago after
DraMax
Shafer, to run county advertisements in it. Mr. Shafer also a republican, is ruled by his own con-
science, not by a wizard.
The township trustees, however, for the greater part belonged to the Man. With but three exceptions they placed their business in the klan sheets and deprived the Postdemocrat of thousands of dollars worth of business it was justly en-
titled to.
The Post-Democrat stood to its (Continued to Page Three)
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