Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 April 1887 — HOT SHOT IN THE SENATE. [ARTICLE]

HOT SHOT IN THE SENATE.

In the Indiana Senate on the 11th February the following remarkable and profitable running discussion occurred. Remarkable for the opposition manifested by the Republican members toward the proposition before the Senate —profitable in that it uncovered the methods of Harrison and his followers inthe last campaign, as well as exposed to public view the Radical Lie Factory in full operation turnout falshoods with which to gull the people in the next campaign. F ore warned—forearm ed. Th e proceedings published below should forewarn the people to such an extent that they will not invest in the productions of the “Lie Factory” of Harrison & Co.: Mr. Shively unanimous consent to introduce a resolution. It was granted and the resolution was read. It provides foi the appointment by the chair of a select committee of five who shall mves - tigate and report on the management of the Hospital for the Insane, the Blind Asylum and the Institute for Deaf and Dumb. The committee shall give speci 1 attention to inquiries whether wholesome food is furnished the inmates, whether the sanitary conditions are good, whether purchases of supplies have in all cases been honestly made, and whether the institutions are conducted in a generally humane manner. Mr. McDonald hoped the motion for the adoption of the resplution would pass unanimously, iind that the committee would goto the bottom of the matter and would report as to who had been lying, for some one manifestly ha# been. Mr. Huston was also anxious to know who had been lying. T e President— I thought Mr. 3uston had al "ays known who was lying. * # # # Senators Fowlor and Tharp spoke favorably to the motion. * # # * Mr. Thompson, of Marion, wished to know whether any specific chargos had be n brought against the managements of the various institutions. * * # * Mr. McClure said that the charges had been winded through the state until .he winds were sick of them. He did not doubt that the Insane Hospital had been as properly managed as was |possible for finite capacity, but he wanted the fact proved. President Smith asked Mr. Cox to take the chair, and he took the floor in support of the motion. He said: I think the committee should be appointed, and should be empowered with all the facilities necessary for a'thorough investigation. Not only should this be done in self-defense by the Democratic party, but it should be done in justice to the management of the Insane Hospital. The Democratic party is not the one to condone crime or fraud, something which can not be said of the Republican party. What is this Civil Service Committee ? God only knows what authority it has nr who created it, and I am sure God cares less about it than even we do. It’s report was made to fit the campaign. It was a partisan measure for partisan purposes. This Hon. W. D. Foulke—a man of great wealth and cunning, and possessed of many of the qualities which constitute crankism. He claims that he is not a partisan Republican, but be is the bitterest enemy the Democratic party has in this state. He began that investigation in the interest of Ben Harrison, and every word of the report was either based on false premises or was a deliberate falsehood. He makes grave chargee. One is that a trustee appropriated a draft for $65. He makes charges about cholera hogs and maggoty butter. Any man of

common sense knows that offense : will creep into the management of such an enormous institution which he would not allow in his own family. But from personal investigation I assert on this senate floor that the Indiana Hospital for the Insane is the b-st managed ‘nstitution of its kind on Cods green earth. The Republican party, by their management, dragged it to disgrace. The Democratic party has brought it out of its infamy. After the report wa6 made Senator Harrison reiterated its allegations on every possible occasion. He asserted on his character and on his position as United States senator that the charges were true. In my town he said that it was a race of diligence between the eln >l- - the knife as to which sho’d get the hogs. Dr. Fletcher has told me that he brought all his medical skill to bear in the matter, and was thoroughly convinced that the hogs were all dglit. An investigation committee has been appointed on the other side of the State H ousts For what purpose ? To make a partisan report. If the Republicans desired to make an honest report why was not a concurrent moti n introduced for a committee on which the Republican house and the Democratic senate should both be represented? Mr. Huston —My experience has been that each h< use appoints a epecial investigating committee of its own. Mr. Smith—l challenge the gentleman to name me one instance iu which a separate investigating committee has been appointed.— You would proceed on the principle of the pettyfogging country lawyers who depends on packed juries. Mr. Hus on—Not at all. Mr. Smith—The committee, at all events, was appointed by a partisan whose partisanship runs away with his judgment, if he has any judgment. They wanted a partisan committee before >hich they could introduce their Honorable Dudley Foulke, the great testimony-giver, and his band of civil service fana - ics. They need not have feared the treatment which they would have gotten from the majority here, for I assert that the minority in this house has been treated with greater consideration and fairness than the minority in the other house. In the Dickenson-Meagh-e v case the Democrats were allowed but thirty-five minutes in which to respond to the charges. In this house Mr McDonald was allowed t o days in which to prepare a defe’ - se and bring witnesses from his home. An attorney was allowed in the committee room and he prepared a minority report. Jason B. Brown insisted that Mr. McDonald take the stand : n his own behalf, bathe persistently refused. Mr. Johnson—ls this political haranguing and these bulldozing tactics arc to continue I want to take a hand. Mr. Smith —If the senator from Wayne wants to lock horns with me lam ready to meet hi .• on this floor, and wi -1 put the Republican senator f rom Henddcks in the chair for that purpose. The senator from Laport —I rise to a point of order. I think this political discussion out ot place Mr. Smith—What could be more in place than to attempt to throw light upon accusations which were made i l the last campaign. * * * * I say that the time is well spent. The peopl t want to know whether J ohn J. Cooper was a def miter. They want to know wheter W. D. Foulke wrote lies which Ben Harrison assiduously spread. They want to know whether $2 notes, hog cholera, maggoty butter took votes away from the Democrats. If the senator from Wayne wants to tabq a hand in discussing the e matters let him rise in his brilliancy and oratorical ability. I know his generous soul and — Mr. Johnson —You know him so well you had better write his biography. Mr. Smith- If I did write it I would write it full and complete and trut fully, and afW ou had read it, you would,from very shame sink into oblivion tint! insignificance never to rise again. lam for this resolution, and if the appointing power is placed with me I shall place on it the senator from Fayette, and he shall be responsible for the report he makes. The public needs this committee, for it nexis to know the truth, and it t an not know the truth from thj

committee appointed in the other house. Honest reports can not be bad from committees arranged in caucus, and I would ask the senator from Fayette if he does not know that that committee was ar ranged in caucus. Mr. Huston—As far as my knowledge goes there was no caucus on the subject. Mr. Smith—As far as his knowledge goes—but Mr. Huston has not known much since the great avalnuch came down the hillside last fall and struck him. If any charges were to be brought at all they should have been brought in a reputable orm and not in a disreputable sheet, of which I am told six copies are read in this city. I am surprised that senator Huston will claim that any charges are true wh ch were published m a paper th t at one time called Grant a drunkard and a dead-beat, that said Linco n’s head ought to be bumped against a stone wall, and had accu ed that gallant soldier and grand man, General Logan, of having been a conspirator against his country. I should like the resolution to be amended so as to show that Dudley Foulke and the Commercial Gazette made these charges. Civil service in the person of Foulke and the Commercial Gazette! The words burn on the tongue of an honest man. It is as absurd as for the Republicans to cry about revolutionary methods in the election of a United States Senator when, if they had been left unrestrained they v, ould have stolen the Senatorslnp. Mr. Huston —I insist that the gentleman uses unbecoming language when he accuses fellow members of the Legislature with an attempt to steal anything. Mr. Smith —I know I have talked plain, but I am sure the good will between you and me (looking at Mr. Huston) will rest and abide forever, although we will down you all along the line. Mr. Huston replied to Mr, S.’s speech, championing tlm Civil Service Committee, and admitted that Mr. Foulke had stumped the state for the Republican; said that charges were made against the President of the board, who resides in Indiana, and I should like to know why he never brought suit for libel or even denied them. Mr. Bailey—Does not the senator know that he did deny them? Mr. Hu.-ton —No, sir. Mr. Baily—Well, lie did, arc published the denial in an Indianapolis paper. As for not bringing a libel suit, he lmd doubtless observed in the 1884 campaign that libel suits are not profitable. % It was with a weary look that Mr. Huston entered the Statehouse elevator after the recess. To an inquiry as to the quality of hi* d’nner, he said: “I didn't need any dinner. I had a sufficicient repast this morning.” One A democratic speech had indeed been a sufficient repast for the Republicans, 1 ut ev ui three from the Other side were deemed an insufficient return.

The committee was appointed, made a searching investigation, but could find nothing in harmony wtth the falsehoods retailed over the the State by Ben Harrison, and spooned down the throats of Republicans hereabouts by their organs- ‘Republican’ and ‘Message.’ The s 'ate officers, Tuesday, thro’ Pierre Gray, son of the Governor, closed the state loan of $340,000 ■with Mohler & Co., of New York