Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 229, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 September 1912 — COL DURBIN AND DEEDS [ARTICLE]

COL DURBIN AND DEEDS

Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Has Fine Record Against Bad Legislation. From Peru Republican. A “progressive” candidate for the legislature in Madison county is loudly boosted by the “progressive" press because he finally voted against the Joss railway consolidation bill, after his attitude had been the occasion of much anxiety on the part of those opposing the measure. This same press might have the fairness, if there were any fairness in its make-up, to record the fact at the same time that it was a citizen of Madison county, the Republican candidate for governor of Indiana at this time who, as governor, vetoed this Joss railway consolidation bill after it had passed the Indiana legislature. Winfield T. Durbin has never gone about the land blowing about his patriotism and his progressiveness. In every' avenue of endeavor that has been opened to him he has simply gone ahead in a quiet, modest, effective way doing his duty as he saw It, making, of course, some mistakes, but fewer than nearly any man in public life in this state. Away back in the sixties when the mightiest war in history was on, when the greatest step in human progress in the whole history of the republic was being taken, and taken through fields of blood, Winfield T. Durbin, the boy of fifteen, shouldered a gun and marched away. He was too young for such service under the law of the land. His fellows wished to elect him a lieutenant, but his age made this impossible. He wasn’t a soldier for office then, any more than he has been a soldier for office since. He wanted to fight for the old flag. And he did It—“a grand young soldier.” as one of his company comrades now in the Soldiers’ Home at Marion put it the other day. Then wheii the Spanish-American war came on he was one of the first to offer his services to his state and his country. He was made a colonel of volunteers, and he was one of the best in the whole service. A business man of largo affairs, he was willing to make the financial sacrifice involved in abandoning his business that he might help his country take another great step in the human progress —the wiping of the blot of Spanish tyranny from the map of this hemisphere, the freeing of ten mfllloSs of people from the yoke of thralldom.

It is unnecessary for such a man to carry in front of himself a banner inscribed “I am a Progressive” or “I am a Patriot.” On such subjects actions speak louder than words. Not every man who can spin yards upon yards of beautiful phrases about progress and patriotism is either a progressive or a patriot When the hours come that test the fiber of men, we find who are patriots, who are the progressives. To talk about being patriotic and progressive in order that one may fasten himself to a public job is one thing—to go out on the field of battle, and offer one’s life for a patriotic and a progressive cause is quite another. And so the friends of Colonel Winfield T. Durbin smile when they hear politicians and the newspaper tools of politicians in this campaign compare the patriotism and progressive spirit of Winfield T. Durbin with that of either of his opponents for the governorship to his disadvantage. The friends of his two principal opponents for the governorship point to their speeches, the friends of Winfield Durbin point to his deeds, his deeds on the battlefield when he served his country and its progressive cause in two great wars, his deeds as governor, when he boldly vetoed a bill backed by the great Morgan interests and rammed through the legislature by the most powerful corporation lobby that ever infested a state capltol, when he stood for law and order during the riots at Evansville, with such courage and ability that the whole world rang woth his praises and Theodore Roosevelt, then president of the United States, did the unusual thing of writing him a public letter of enthusiastic commendation. In fact in every public act of this quiet, modest, efficient, firm, lovable man is evidenced the spirit and the ability that a patriotic and progressive people should be glad to command in their Service. In Winfieldf T. Durbin is embodied the progressiveness and patriotism of deeds rather than the mere profession of the agile mouth and nimble tongue. When he was a soldier, when he was governor, he did thing!, he did not stipply talk about doing things. He is no demagogue; he is no timeserver; he is no hypocrite preaching one thing and practicing another; he is a man among men. In a day of sham and shoddy,, bluster and pretense, this quiet, firm, courageous, capable man rings true. He will make no promise he can not fulfill; he will not pretend; he will not lie. The platform on which he stands is, indeed, “a contract with the people,” because 4t bears the signature of a candidate who in private and public life has always made good. a f "Upon a careful analysis of the situation it is quite evident that the proportion of voters to this movement is but a amalii minority and that the evidence of the primary in Michigan would be largely substantiated in this state if a vote were to be, taken. L. ■; ■: ,- r . '% T • # ,