Decatur Democrat, Volume 49, Number 49, Decatur, Adams County, 8 February 1906 — Page 7

| PUBLIC GRIFT H r John W. Kern Sounds a I I Rousing and Needed Note of Alarm. SK Ufiy Word “Graft” as Applied to I l th( Administration of State AsI fa re Is Clearly Defined. K, Through Maladministration, InHas Become the Very CanI ter of the Graft Belt. !■. the banquet preceding the midmeeting of the Indiana DemoEditorial association at the Hotel. Indianapolis, the Hon. W. Kern, speaking to the sub"Public Graft,” analyzed th® sitat present existing in the adof our state affairs and ia this connection a note of which is today echoing in every of the state, and to which the will do well to give heed. Mr. I Ke- a said: I Ladies and Gentlemen: !■ am here tonight by invitation of executive Committee oi the Demo- ■; moc Editorial association to address I ye on the subject of “Public Graft.” the word “graft” was defined and ten years ago, it pertained to tree and plant culture, or to I a Performance in surgery, by which I skin taken from one person Is transto the body of another. The scholars who compiled the Cenand Standard dictionaries, knew I of no other meaning and none other given in either of those authoritaI tive beoks. I Hike word as then defined and used, of little interest to the public at ■ft-?*. was rarely heard and by most not understood. | Mb..' within a very recent period—since the publication of these the use of the word has I brcLtne well nigh universal throughI Kt the United States. It is heard in every community between the I *eaas, and dull indeed Is the school who does not fully understand idea expressed by the word. in general use it no longer to rr%e culture, horticulture skin culture.- The word is now duty of a different kind and in a different field. ■We hear of “graft” in the postoffica I Ipartment, in the war department. I le interior department, and other deI |!ta nts of the federal government. The newspapers and magazines are I ill of articles on graft in state and I iUtiicipal governments, and neighbor I »<*. gossips are kept busy discussing 1 re alent grafts in the several I wnshlps and districts throughout the I ktloß. In fact there is an epidemic I f grist and grafting In every part of ou try, and we are tonight to I insider briefly its extent, its cause. | nd the remedy. It Is no more necessary that we I lould undertake to define this word that we should attempt to define well developed stink. ■ Everybody knows its existence, its character, its all pervadinfluence. ■We all understand that whenever a officer gets money to which MB* Is not entitled, that money is and that officer is a grafter. . I"> also understand that all money BBbtA'ned from the public by any man »$t of men through the operation of which they have caused to be in their own Interests, is also worse perhaps than the other for the reasons, first, that it is by the prostitution of laws to interests, and second, because Eahis species of graft is largely refor all other kinds, public private. ■l s eeems as though Indiana is at in the very center of the graft I came very near saying the center, but I omitted the word lest my language might be reas personal. I Our situation is deplorable. Never in the history of the state has W 1 * been so scandalously manand her fair name dishonored by ■o many faithloss public servants. If ißhe charges made by the present gov BBrnor against his fellow officials are and ts their counter charges have foundation in fact. I Ih 1902! the Republican party of in state convention, nomlng state ticket made up of men Bho were held up by the leaders of party as paragons of goodness wtedojn. The Masses of the peodid not know them, but acting the assurance of such leaders as Beveridge and Hanly, votfor them and elected them. I Two years later the Republican convention, controlled again by leaders, with words of fulsome endorsed the public acts of men. and holding them up as MJsitLf;:! public servants, again nomthem, this time by acclamation, appealed to the people to ratify unanimous endorsement. I Again did Beveridge and Fairbanks Hanly vouch for them, and aga'n the people, relying upon the word K*f these leaders, elect them to these Isgt. positions, the whole ticket from w *raor down being pledged to an and MenooslMJ administration

ot the state's affaire. Within a year from that time the air was laden with rumorg of official wrongdoing in every part of the state house. The auditor of state was driven out of office, charged with all manner of corrupt practices, and is now under indictment in the criminal court of Marion county. I am not giving any opinion as to his guilt or innocence, for I do not desire to utter a word bore or elsewhere that would create prejudice against him, for he has a right to a fair and impartial trial by an unprejudiced jury. My sole purpose tonight is to allow these Republican saints to give testimony against each other, and briefly review it. One charge against the state auditor is that he used the money of the state which came into his hands as his own, loaning it. and appropriating the interest collected to his own use, and speculating with it in various wildcat schemes, so that he was unable to make settlement with the state at the proper time. The late state auditor and his friends retort that it is true he did loan the state’s money to some extent, and that prior to the state con rention of 1904 he advanced for the benefit of Hon. J. Frank Hanly, who was a candidate before that convention for the office of governor something like S7OO or SBOO, which was used by Mr. Hanly’s friends, and was used by them in corupting certain delegates to the state convention from Marion county, who were supposedly friends of another candidate. Governor Hanly denies that he knew anything about the advancement or use of such money, but in a moment of weakness recognized the validity of the debt by paying it. Some time later the adjutant general of the state was charged by the governor with official wrongdoing and resigned his office—his friends claiming that the governor sought and accomplished his ruin, having no purpose to serve beyond his own glorification as a reformer. Remember that, as to the merits of these Republican contentions, I am expressing no opinion. lam only stating In the mildest sort of way the pleasant things they are saying of ejqji other. If you want the same things in profane and vitriolic form, you should invade the sacred precincts of the Columbia Club, some evening, and you will hear language on this subject of such character that no self-respecting Democrat could afford to repeat, it. Then came the case of the secretary of state —the man who had headed the Republican state ticket in 1902, and whose record had been so fulsomely endorsed in 1554. He, too, was charged by the governor with all sorts of crime? STM mjsdemeanors. and his resignation demanded. The official having mortgaged his salary in advance to make good an alleged shortage, respectfully declined to follow In the disastrous pathway marked out by his late fellow official the auditor of state, and continued in office. The governor, apparently distrusting his attorney general, a very able lawyer and estimable gentlem'an, proceeded to hire at public expense two of the ablest lawyers at the Indianapolis bar to represent the state in a proceeding brought in the Marion circuit court to remove the secretary of state from office. If the governor had examined the appropriation bill passed by the last legislature, he would have found the following Items: For salary atto-ney general...! 7,500 Assistant attorney general.. 2.400 Deputy attorney general. .. 2.000 Asst, deputy attorney general 1,800 Traveling deputy atty. gen... 1,800 Making a total 0f515,500 which the people of Indiana are paying for professional talent in this line. Regardless of all this, he made another cip into the public treasury in the name of reform and employed two of the highest-priced lawyers in the state to do the work which the taxpayers of Indiana are paying over $15,000 per annum to have done by the brilliant corps of lawyers who crowd the office of the attorney general. . .u In the argument of the case of the secretary of state, the governor was opposed by the most eminent Republican lawyer in Indiana—a man who had served with distinction in the cabinet, and who was the trusted friend and adviser of General Benjamin Harrison. This eminent Repub lican took occasion there to denounce the governor in the most unmeasured terms and assailed his action In that X as being unwarranted, selfish and hypocritical, and referred to the loan of the state’s money by Sherrick to the governor as Illustrative of his proposition. In the meantime other rumors affecting other state officials multiplied. The governor also distrusting the small army of clerks and assistants in the state auditor's office—the paid agents of the people —and claiming to be anxious to ascertain the truth as to the conduct of his fellow Republicans in office, employed two personal friends, with large compensation, to be paid by the people, to start out as special grand jurors and Republican malfeasance in the stateh°Soemany charges of corruption and wrongdoing have been made aga nst state offioials that it is now a matter of speculation evary morning as to what Republican official will have his head laid on the block on that particular day. Where the end will be no man dares attempt to foretell, but •Bough Is non* known that the state-

house at present, ts Republican authority Is to be trusted, Is a nest of official rottenness, which ought to be cleaned out by the people from basement to dome, at the very first opportunity. I will not pursue rumors on this occasion. I could not pursue Republican rumors without reflecting upon every department of the state government, not excepting the judiciary. These Republican rumors pertain to graft. The cry everywhere is graft, graft, graft. Some of the graft referred to is contemptible in its smallness, but it is nevertheless graft. These Republican officials who are charged with malfeasance are by way’ of retort upon the governor, quoting that passage of Scripture which advises the party of the first part to get the beam out of his own eye, so that he may see more clearly the mote in the eye of the party of the second part. I am not sure, however that they use the word “mote.” It might be what lawyers call a misnomer, for If the governor is right in his accusations. and his enemies are right in their insinuations, there are mighty few particles of wrongdoing about the statehouse of the mote order. But what is their retort upon the governor? For in considering this beautiful Republican riot, we must deal fairly and judicially with all the combatants. After pointing out the transaction in which he paid to Sherrick the S7OO or SBOO. which he says he didn’t owe, but which Sherrick says was to be used and was used in the bribery of delegates by the governor’s friends and for the governor’s benefit, they point to the following facts which I submit to you as disinterested Jurors. In 1893, Hon. Claude Matthews then being governor, the appropriation of money for the governor’s office by the state legislature w r as as follows: Governor’s salary $ 5,000 Salary of governor’s secretary. 1,800 Salary of governor’s clerk 1,000 Salary governor’s messenger.. 720 Governor’s office expenses 500 Governor’s civil conting’t fund 1,000 “ Military contingent fund, 2.000 Making a total 0f512,020 Tw’o years later an additional appropriation of S6OO per year was made for rent of the governor’s residence. In 1897, when James A. Mount was governor, the following appropriation ifor the governor's office was made: Governor’s salary $ 5,000 Salary of governor’s secretary. 1,800 Salary of governor’s clerk 860 Salary governor’s messenger.. 860 Governor’s office expenses 1,000 Rent of governor’s residence.. 50® Governor’s civil conting’t fund. 1.000 “ Military contingent fund, 2.00& Total ..,$13,120 In 1905 tho appropriation act, which was approved by Governor Hanly, appropriated the following amounts for the governor's office: Salary of governors 8,000 Rent of governor’s residence.. 1,800 Salary of governors secretary. 2,400 Salary of governor's clerk 1,200 Salary governor’s messenger.. 1.000 Governor's office expenses 1,000 Governor's civil and military contingent fund 10,000 Emergency contingent fund... 30,000 Total $55,400 The appropriation act of 1897. which gave to Governor Mount contingent funds of $3,000, provided that “no portion of these contingent funds shall be used for any purpose other than to execute the. civil and military laws ,r. the state tn any emergency not provided for. and no more of either of such funds shall be drawn or expended for the respective purposes for which they are severally appropriated than may be necessary. Similar restrictions as to the use of contingent funds were placed upon the appropriations made to Governor Matthews and Governor Durbin, but this appropriation act of 1905, giving to the governor the enormous amount of $40,000 as contingent funds Is without restriction of any kind. Governor Durbin was the first executive to receive an appropriation of an emergency contingent fund, but It was restricted "to meet accidents or other requirements in any of the penal, benevolent or reformatory institutions of the state.” Governor Hanly’s $30,000 Is absolutely at his disposal, and his Republican critics are stentoriously asking. Why? The public has not yet been informed as to the “contingent fund” out of which his high-priced lawyers are paid for doing the work of the attorney general, nor as to what fund is being drained by the employment of his personal friends either to investigate Republican officials or to travel about over the state, doing the work for which grand juries in the several counties are paid. The "why" of the Republican critics as to these contingent funds may or may not be pertinent, but the public would doubtless be glad to know why these "contingent funds” grew in amounts from $3,000 in the time of Matthews and Mount to $40,000 in the time of Hanly, and why it was found necessary to restrict men like Matthews and Mount in the exped iture of $3,000 while $40,000 Is voted to H»nly to scatter abroad at his own sweet will. Then there are very able Republicans who are pointing to that item of SI,BOO appropriated to the governor to pay his house rent. They are claiming that. S6OO per year v;as paid to Governors Mount and Matthews for this purpose, for the reason that the governor’s salary was fnadequate to enable the state’s chief eaeeutive to live Is befitting oomfort.

and that., Mount and Matthews, at a time when the rent demanded for bouses in Indianapolis was as high as now, had no trouble in living in a comfortable and dignified way with $5,000 salary and S6OO house rent. When the great warrior Durbin, fresh from the gory field of Jacksonville, entered the governor’s office, he brought the martial spirit with him, and it was too much to ask such a man to live as modestly as Claude Matthews. James A. Mount and his other humble predecessors had lived. So Governor Durbin signed a bill appropriating SI,BOO per year for the governor’s house rent, with the words added: “This appropriation to be available immediately.” But in 1903 a law was enacted increasing the governor’s salary to SB,OOO per year, and one of the chief arguments in favor of this increase was that the chief executive of a great state should have salary sufficient to pay his own house rent, wash bills and other household expenses, without requiring the legislature to engage in the very doubtful business of appropriating the people’s money for such purposes, for every schoolboy knows that the legislature has the same legal and moral right to appropriate money to pay the house rent of the secretary of state or any other state officer who accepts office on a stated salary, that it has to pay the house rent of the governor, and all will concede that the legislature could with the same propriety appropriate money to buy the governor’s shirts and boots, or to pay his laundry or grocery bills. Besides, Governor Hanly came into office as the original Poor Man’s Friend, and unstintingly advertised himself in the campaign as a child of poverty in such affecting language as to move his auditors to tears. “I have known, ’ he declared in tremulous accents at Fairmount, "what it is to be hungry for want of food, and what it is to be cold for want of proper clothing” and appealed for votes as a man altogether devoted to the humble and simple life. Yet he comes into office with a salary of SB,OOO per annum. $3,000 more than was received by Hendricks or Porter or Gray or even Durbin, and one of his first official acts is to sign a bill giving to himself SI,BOO per year, in addition, for the purpose of paying his house rent. I am not now quoting from any Republican critic. I am speaking for myself, and I unhesitatingly declare that every dollar taken out of the state treasury by Governor Hanly for house rent or for any other personal expenses, is graft and nothing but graft, and not only that, but graft of flie very worst type. I doq’t care Jiow gjuch he pays for house rent or for house repairs, neither do I care how much he pays his house servants. It matters not how much of the SI,BOO he turns back into the treasury. The fact that he turns back any of it. only emphasizes the proposition that he is entitled to none of it. The American public was shocked some years ago by a congressional enactment known as the salary grab. It was bad enough. God knows, but what would the American people think of a congressman who would vote himself, in addition to his salary. a sum of I money with which wagy his room rent and, board bills. Ts the governor with an SB,OOO salary is entitled to house rent additional, why la not the county clerk with a salary of $2,000 entitled to the same, and why should not the township trustee have a similar consideration? I have high personal regard for Governor Hanly. He has treated me with great courtesy and marked consideration I sincerely hope he may be able to expose and punish wrongdoing wherever he finds it, but in my judgment he will never become a very effective instrument of reform until he rids himself of every dollar of the people’s money which has come into his hands under the guise of house rent.” used by him In the payment of his personal expenses. It seems to be true, and it is a lamentable fact, that grafting has become so common that many public officials do.not recognize it when they see it. The words of Pope seem applicable here: "Vice is a monster of such hideous mien. That to be hated, needs but to be seen; But seen too oft—familiar with its face. We first endure, then pity, then embrace.” Under Republican methods and legislation. in Indiana and elsewhere, large sums of money not actually needed in the economical administration of public affairs are annually collected from the people, and the modern officeholder, with the money within hfs reach, does not hesitate to use it He regards It as a patriotic duty to see that but little. If any. Iles idle. me call your attention to the fact which to tax payers ought to be startling, that In 1896, the last year of Governor Matthews’s administration. the. total amount collected from rne people of Indiana as the general fund and disbursed as such in the administration of the state’s business, was $2,807,160.09. Only seven years later, in the year 1902, the total amount of the general fund collected and disbursed was $4,622,830.43. or an Increase of more than a million and a half dollars. This increase doubtless grew out of the increased valuation put upon the taxable property of the state without a corresponding decrease in the rate of taxation. Here was the money to be spent, and a noble army of Republican patriots raiConiinued on Sth Psge.

can get an orta fw measUy i astte W aur teas, anAoiw an® (eftswe KesMhnathe coflec roasters. They ottsafttUeft never useil suchsWes. Our mono cheakbut W good! % OnvijimvuHvstotfteitKlvesTartaßwqovAevs surpass aft Started, out sixteen nears aao to Ao ftve riqftttMg.auAweftate Aoneft.ftsa. i result ,we non' have tfte unsiness. We never commence to sell aoo Asm a netata tiorftooAtjUtvrtMftouv. qoofts ore VteiuQ to tfto ftooftle. We orders VorusanAUavethegooa nJillot ftouv netaUUovs wUrnMjs are Rvqra. AAAvessfovcataloq oj ftvemiums

J. D. HALE DEALER IN Seeds, H-ay, Wool, Oil Salt, Goal, Ume, Gernent Fei'tilizei’s. Office and retail store store southeast got ner of Second and Jefferson streets. 137” Your patronage solicited. 1

Pk n ■ *v imams’lndi”. n hi if- ■ ■I will cure Blind r Bleeding and Itching a B B Swl’iles. It absorbs the tumors. ” U J allays the itching at once, acts n B9l us a poultice, gives insta-.it re- ■ lief. Dr. Williams’lndian Pile OintE ment is prepared for Piles and Itching of the private parts. Every box is warranted. B 3 druggists, by mail on receipt of p«*ice. 59 cent# and $».oo. WILLIAMS MANUFACTURING CO.. F tops., Cleveland, Ohio. Nachtrieb & Fuelling.

T axative firomo Quinine iures a Cold in One Day, Grip in 2 Days onevery O. box- 25c J, Q. Neptune, D. D. 8. C. K. Neptune, D.D. 8 'Pnone 23. 'Phone 238. Neptune Brothers, DENTISTS.. Booms 1.2, 3,4, Spangler Building, Decatur, Indiar.a. Office Phone 207. Lady Attendant English, German and Swiss spoken. - _ ■ ■ | - - -4

FRED REP P‘E RT, Sale Crier and Auctioneer. DECATUR, - - - - - - INDIANA Speaks English, German, Swiss and Low German. DORE B, ERWIN, ATTORNEY AT LAW. OFFICE.—Corner Monroe and Second street General practitioner. No charge for consul tation AMOS P. BEATTY ATTORNEY AT LAW And Notary Public. Pension claims prose cuted. Odd Fellows building. 1 MERRYMAN & SUTTON. ATTORNEYS AT LAW, DECATUR. IND. Office—Nos. 1, 2,3, over Adams Co. Bank. We refer, by permission to Adams Co. Bank BCHURGER * SMITH, ATTORNEYS AT LAW. Notaries, Abstracters, Real Estate Agents. Money to Loan Deeds and Mortgages written on short notice. Office in Allison block second story, over Fristoe’s Smoke House, Decatur. Indiana LINN & PJATTON Carpenters, Contractors andißuilders Slate Roofers and Galvanized Gutters. Shop, Corner Rugg and Market Streets Linn & Patton ROY ARCHBOLD DENTIST I. O. O. F. BLOCK Phones — Office 164, residence’24s MANN & CHRISTEN, Architects. Are prepared to do any kind of work In their line. Persons contemplating building can save times, t rouble and money by consulting them. Office— MANN & CHRISTEN, i Bowers Block. Monroe st. Architect j Mortgage Loans? Money Loaned on favonUe terms, Low Rate of Interest. Privelege of partial payments, Abstracts of Title carefully prepared, F. M. [ Gos. Sacoqd aq<» .Madison Decatur. Indiana.

The Democrat SI.OO

$250,000.

$250,000't0 loan on improved farms at lowest rate of interest, we can place your loan at a lower rate of interest and less expense than any other Agency in he city. The Decatur Abstract & Loan Company Rooms 3 and 4, Studabaker Block

D. D. HELLER & SON, ATTORNEYS AT LAW, Offica over Blackburn &Christen‘Bdrug Notieeof ElectiFiir~ Notice is hereby Riven to the stockholders and lot owners of the Decatur Cemetery Association that there will be an election held at the office of J, H. Stone, in the City of Decatur. Indiana, on the 4th day ot January. 1906, at 7 o'clock p. in .. for the purpose of electing seven trustees for the Decatur Cemetery Association for the ensuing year J. 11. STONE. Secretary, Dec. 18, ’OS. 3t A Guaranteed Cure for Files. Itching. Blind, BleedingorProtudingPilesT Druggist’srefunmoney if PAZO OINTMENng fails to cure any case, no matter of How loon standing, in 6 to 14 days. First applicatias gives ease and rest. 50c. If your druggist han’t it rded postpaid by the Paris Medicine Co., St. Louis Mo TIMBER WANTED 5,000 cords Linn (Basswood) bolts. Can use trees 4 inches or larger. Buy standing timber or cut and ricked. Giles L. Smith7so W, Market St. Indianapolis. Ind ,

PARKER’S HAIR BALSAM Cleanses and benutif.es the hair. Promotes a luxuriant growth. Never Fails to Restore Gray It air Youthful Color. Cure* « a p <l.seasei, A pair fa..mg. sUc,andfl.(X)at Druggists

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auctioneer For Good Service See L. H. CAGE (Speaks German and English) Auctioneer and Sale Crier. Rates $4.03 Sales over SSOO 80c per SIOO. Le $ a address at Berne Witness Office, Berne, Ind