Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 January 1913 — TIP THEIR HATS TO TOM TAGGART [ARTICLE]

TIP THEIR HATS TO TOM TAGGART

Wily Politician and Boss Gets Ovation When Democrats Hear Towne’s Eulogies. The democrats of Indiana furnished proof Wednesday night at the big Jackson dinner in Indianapolis that there is one party that intends to cling to the boss and the machine.

The banquet was given by the Old Hickory Club at the Murat Temple and something like a thousand democrats from all over Indiana were present. The principal speaker was Chas. A Towne, who made good as a politician in Minnesota and then went to New York to mix it up with the Tammany crowd and who seems to be getting away with it in good shape. He is a smooth orator and knows where to strike a responsive chord. He brought tidings of great joy from New York, where William Sulzer was elected governor, to the democrats of Indiana who had elected Samuel Ralston. Cheers followed. He brought greetings from the neighbors of Woodrow Wilson to the constituency of Thos. R. Marshall and was cheered again. But when he spoke of “my old pal,” Tom Taggart” the democrats went into an ecstacy of shouts that concontinued long and proved that Tom is the real idol.

It might be proper to speak of him as the “invisible” government, for his hand has been shown throughout the administration of Governor Marshall. It was Tom who planned so skillfully the defeat of county local option; it was Tom who nominated Samuel Ralston for governor with a pledge to the brewers of the state that there would be a further loosening of the strings of temperance; it was Tom who schemed the nomination of Marshall for vice-president and it is Tom who dictates legislation, hands out the jobs, and maintains, the machine that has become so powerful that even good men like Mr. Ralston must pay their respects to it or expect no reward. It is Tom, too, who has furnished the smooth bluff whenever any effort was made to Inquire into the gambling casinos at French Lick Springs. Tom came out in a denial that he has any interest in the gambling resorts and he made it so strong that his name has never been mentioned in connection with the joints since last summer. The bluff was so strong, too, that the joints have had a season of unrestrained prosperity. That power exists some place to keep them going is certain, for every effort that has been made, and there has been no sincere effort during Governor Marshall’s administration, has failed, and French Lick is said to be the widest open gambling resort in the United States. If it is not Taggart, who is it? It is a job that the ne wgovernor, who is reputec to be a man of clean life and good morals, should take up as soon as he is inaugurated. The fact that Taggart was so lustily cheered at the Jackson dinner is certain proof that the boss and the machine politician is still basking in the approval of the people, notwithstanding the great wave of criticism that swept over the country during the bast year. You nave to hand it to Tom. He gets away with the job and makes everybody like it