Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 August 1898 — Page 4

m m DEMQGmi. F. L ÜBGOCX. EDITOR UD IWISM. Entered at the Post-office at Rensselaer, Ind. as second class matter. TERMS OF SIfBSCBIPTIOX: ONE YEAR.. SI.OO SIX MONTHS -....50c THREE MONTHS .....25c. Payable in Advance. Advertising rates made known on application OFFICE on Van Rensselaer Street, First Door North of Ellis ft Murray's Store.

Democratic State Ticket.

For Secretary of State. SAMUEL RALSTON, of Boone County. For Auditor of State, JOHN W. MINOR, of Boone Couuty, For Treasurer of State, HUGH DOUGHERTY, of Wells County, For Attorney General, JOHN G. M’NUTT, of Vigo County. For Clerk of Supreme Court, HENRY WARRUM, of Marion County. For Superintendent Public Instruction, W. B. SINCLAIR, of Starke County. For State Statistician, JAMES S. GUTHRIE, of Brown County. For State Geologist. EDWARD BAR RETT, of Hendricks County. For Judges Supreme Court, 2d District, LEONARD J. HACRNEY, of Shelby County. Third District, JAMES M'CABK, of Warren County. Fifth District, TIMOTHY E. HOWARD, of St. Joseph County. 1 : s* For Judges of Appellate Court. First District, EDWIN TAYLOR, of Vunderburgh County. Second District, C. J. KOLLMKYER, of Bartholomew County. Third District, EDGAR A. BROWN, of Muriou County. Fourth District, WILLIAM S. DIVEN, of Madison County. Fifth District, JOHANNES KOPELKE, of Lake County. For Congress, JOHN ROSS, of Tippecanoe County. For Representative, DAVID H. YEOMAN, of Jasper County. Prosecuting Attorney, :X)th Judicial District, IRA W. YEOMAN.

The County Ticket.

For County Clerk, JOHN F. MAJOR, of Carpenter Tp. For Couuty Auditor, GEORGE O. STEMBKL, of Wheatfleld Tp. For County Treasurer, MARION I. ADAMS, of Marion Tp, For County Sheriff. WILLIAM C. HUSTON, of Milroy Tp. For County Surveyor, DAVID E. GARRIOT, of Union Tp. For County Coroner, DR. P. J. POTHUISJE, of Carpenter Tp. Commiraloner Ist District, FRANK M. HERSHMAN, of Walker Tp. Commissioner 2nd District. LUCIUS STRONG, of Rensselaer.

The defenders of the Dingley monstrosity nre still having a great time in figuring a surplus out of a deficit. - .. ' We rise to ask if Abe Halleck had any hand in framing that economy plank in the republican state platform? Those little slats, called Venetian blinds, for the court house windows, only cost the county about $5.50 per window. Public office in Jasper county sa?4_ MK be a private snap, judging from tJ’° nmoun t of money most of the office/' 8 manage to extract from it. Did Abe Hailed reall y acce Pt that new court self? The minutes of ti.’ e mee ting at which it was accepted wou ld lead one to infer as much. The “official statement” of the cost of the new court house gave the cost of fire proof vault doors at $1,150. The records show that $1 ,195 was paid. We merely note this little item to show that said “statement” is unreliable. ♦ 1 - ' - The publication of the allowances made by the county commissioners appears to be run as a sort of continued story—there is no beginning and no ending. In the balance of the report of allowances for June, as published this week, we find that $505,76 was alloewd for work, etc., on the new court house, in addition to $1,050.25 to the Johnson Temp. Con. Co., bill for heating system. And that “official statement” was not given oat until June 22, too! The above

does not include severel hundred dollars for “merchandise for court bouse/’ and there are no doubt many articles under that head which properly belong to the cost of the building.

The democratic state convention declared in saver of an income tax and the election of United States senators by the people. The republican platform is silent on both subjects. The convention dared not antagonize these projects of justice and wisdom, and the bosses would not permit it to indorse them. But its silence regarding them is more eloquent than words.

Among other meaningless planks in the republican state platform—inserted solely to catch the rural vote —is the following gem: “Believing that there is need of reform in county and township government, and that a vast saving of the public money can be made by better methods, we favor early and thorough revision of the laws upon this subject, to the end that the people of Indiana may have the best and most economical management of local affairs.” Isn’t that a stunner? “Economical management of local affairs.” Economy is as distasteful to the republican party machine as water to the person of a hobo. Such sop will not catch the farmer vote this time, boys. They have been fooled too often by just such attractive phrases.

One thing that should be looked after more carefully by the board of county commissioners is the reports of the township trustees. Thousands of dollars are paid out every year in Jasper county for which no equivalent is rendered. A great many items of payments made will also bear a little investigation. In the service account of the trustees nearly double the number of days—and in some cases thrible—are alleged to have been put in that the duties of the office requires. All this adds to the tax burdens of the people, and should be stopped. Fifty dollars should pay for all necessary labor required of any township trustee in the county. Some of them get more than four times that sum. The more we see of the loose manner in which public affairs are conducted in Jasper county the less we marvel at the high taxes.

One of the best laws ever enacted by the legislature of the state is that requiring township trustees to publish an itemized statement of the receipts and expenditures of their office. The meaning of the law is very plain, and yet in the face of this some trustees insist on publishing nothing but the summaries, which amounts to nothing at all, and, so far as enlightening the taxpayers is concerned, might just as well remain undone. The intent of the law is for a full and complete itemized statement. This is not made in the summaries. Not long since, at a meeting of the trustees of the various townships of Jasper county, a republican trustee proposed that all the trustees decide to publish nothing but the summaries, and wanted a vote taken on the proposition. No vote, however, was taken. This shows the high regard (?) some of the trustees have for this really meritorious law. It is needless to add that the republican trustee above referred to publishes nothing but the summaries, himself. His constituency would like to see a full itemized report, but thus far none of them have had the backbone to compel him to make such a report. Cash buys more at Judy and The Lief Buggy Company than anywhere else. Valparaiso, Ind., July 27, 1898. Mb. Editor: Please announce tq the farmers of this Congressional District that I have a number of copies of the Agricultural Year Book of 1897, for distribution. I will send copies to those who desirq them until the supply is exhausted. Yours Truly, E. D. Crumpacker.

WHAT WAS INVOLVED

In That Supreme Court Decision. South Bend*Times: The sober second thought seems to be coming to certain Democratic papers in the state as to the decision of the supreme court in the township trustee case. Some of the more indiscreet ones made a mad rush to condemn Judge McCabe because he did not agree with his two Democratic associates in the reasons given for the decision. They seem to ignore the fact that he reached the same conclusion all the other judges did. The criticisms indulged in against the decision by those papers were mostly the result of misinformation or lack of information. But the wrong done to the court and especially to one member of it, and to the Democratic party, is less serious. The facts are briefly as follows: In 1893 the legislature passed an act postponing the time for electing township trustees and assessors from April to November, 1894, and requiring such elections every four years thereafter. The first election under that law was in November, 1894, when the Republican party carried the state by the largest majority that it ever did, being over 40,000. At that election the present township trustees and assessors were elected. The result gave the Republicans 630 of the township trustees of the state and the Democrats 376, only a little more than one-third of the whole number in the state. The legislature of 1897 passed an act again postponing the election of township trustees and assessors, this time from November, 1898, when the previous act mentioned required it to be held, to November, 1900. By operation of the hold-over clause of the constitution, the present trustees would continue to hold until their successors were elected and qualified. The Democratic state committee, conceiving that the overwhelming majority of Republican trustees in the state gave that party an urirfue advantage in the organization of election boards, as it really did, arrived at the conclusion that the election ought not to have been postponed the last time. This committee caused a suit to be begun in the Whitley circuit court to compel the proper officers to hold an election for township trustees in November, 1898, on the theory that the act of 1897 was 'unconstitutional, in that it extended the terms of the present trustees beyond four years, in violation of another clause of the constitution, and upon the further theory that it the act of 1897 was void it did not supersede and repeal the said act of 1893, and hence an election under it might be compelled to be held this fall.

The circuit judge, Hon. Joseph A. Adair, being a Democrat, held that there was no law in force by which such an election could be held in November, 1898. On appeal to the supreme court all ffve of its judges decided that the circuit judge correctly decided that no law is in force by which such an election can be held this fall and that his judgment must be affirmed. This is the pith and marrow of the supreme court decision in the celebrated township trustee case, about which the papers alluded to above have so unjustly criticised the action of Judge McCabe. They have constantly assuihed that his action in concurring with the two Republican judges and disagreeing with the two Democratic judges had the effect of defeating the object of the Democratic committee, namely: to compel such election this fall. This is absolutely untrue. And every lawyer, and every intelligent man in the state Will so say, if he will take the trouble to read the opinions in the case.

It is true that the minority opinion concurred in by both Judge McCabe’s Democratic associates reaches'the same conclusion that the other judges do on entirely different reasons, namely: that both the act of 1897 and that of 1893 were unconstitutional and void, and hence there could be no election under either, or in other words, because neither of them is a law. And consequently they hold that the only existing law under which such an election can beheld is a previous statute under which, no election can be held till 1902. Every lawyer and every intelligent person in the .state who will read the opinions in the case will agree that there was absolutely nothing Judge McCabe could have done in the case to prevent the defeat of the suit. It he had concurred in all the reasons assigned by his two Democratic associates for reaching the common conclusion every member

of the court reached, it could not hpve rescued the case horn defeat, and failure of the Democratic state committee to attain its object. These facts the Times asserts without fear of successful contradiction'. These facts being incontrovertible there is not the slightest justification for the censure which the papers mentioned have been bestowing on Judge McCabe, even if we. should concede that which is assumed in all these criticisms that a judge’s integrity and fitness for the exalted office he holds is to be measured by his subserviency to his party’s interest in his decisions. But there can be no more burning scandal on any political party than for it to demand of the. judges it elects to office that they decide all questions of law coming before them in favor of the party electing them, right or wrong. The Times emphatically denies that the Democratic party makes any such disgraceful demand of the judges it elects to office. The implied assumption in the criticisms mentioned that it does, has, or will make such a demand, we indignantly repudiate as wholly unworthy of any man calling himself a Democrat. And we deny the authority of such papers to speak for the Democratic party. Some of these papers mention as a circumstance against Judge McCabe that his son was one of the attorneys in the case employed on the side that succeeded. These gentlemen seem to be wholly uninformed as to the reason why it became necessary for Judge McCabe to participate in the decision. He has two sons who practice law before the supreme court, and in every other case he has declined to participate where either of them were concerned as counsel. But this case presented a constitutional question. It has been a wisely and long established principle of our jurisprudence and especially by the supreme court of Indiana, and the United States, that constitutional questions will not be passed upon without the presence and participation of all the members of the court. This wholesome rule required Judge McCabe to participate in the decision. And according to the more inconsiderate Democratic papers mentioned the only way he could escape criticism was to prostitute his judgment and violate his conscience by giving a different reason for the conclusion reached by all of them. This is puerile and pitiable. Some facts, however, have come to light since the decision that show that it is very fortunate for the Democratic party that Judge McCabe did not agree with the minority of the court in holding that the act of 1897 was unconstitutional and void. Had he done so, though it could not have changed the result as it now stands -as to the case, yet it would have made a majority holding the act of 1893 void. And if the act were void, the election of the present trustees under it would be equally void, and the appointing power could have filled every trustee’s office in the state.

The statute provides that the county auditor in each county, when the board of commissioners is not in regular session, shall fill such vacancies by appointment. Of the 92 counties in the state only 23 have Democratic auditors, namely: Adams, Allen, Brown, Clay, Crawford, DeKalb, Dubois, Franklin, Hancock, Jackson, Knox, Martin, Monroe, Owen, Perry, Posey, Putnam, Starke, Shelby, Switzerland, Sullivan, Wells and White. All the rest, 69 in number, have Republican auditors. Therefore, had Judge McCabe joined in the minority opinion and made it the prevailing opinion, the only Democratic township trustees we would have had in the state would have been the whole number in the 23 counties named above, which their Democratic auditors would have appointed, and that number is only 246 instead of 376 as it now is. And the Republican auditors would have appointed all the trustees in all the other 69 counties in the state, giving the Republicans 760 trustees instead of 630 as it is now. That holding would have decreased the Democratic trustees in the state 130 and increased the Republican trustees by the same number. The present majority of Republican trustees over the Democratic is 254, but if the minority opinion had prevailed the Republican majority would have been 514. This disastrous condition of affairs to the Democratic party would have been continued for the next four years had the minority opinion prevailed, jfn that event no Democratic County Superintendent could have been appointed in those 69 counties for the next four years. ' - These facts, however, could not change the conviction of the several members of the court, even

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had they been known to them before the decision was made. We have every reason to believe that each one of the judges was governed by his honest judgement and conviction as to the law. But it is none the less fortunate for the Democratic party that Judge McCabe’s convictions as to the reasons leading to the conclusion they all reached were as they were. Now, in the face of these facts, it” is incumbent on those papers that impliedly assume that a judge’s judicial action must promote the interests of his party or be condemned by it, to withdraw their criticisms and substitute therefor praises for J udge McCabe, otherwise they can have no claim to be classed as being especially solicitous for the welfare of the Democratic party. Their refusal to do so will be an implied admission that their object and aim is to defeat the Democratic state ticket.

Crumpacker Again.

Congressman Crumpacker says “he is for Hawaii now as it is American soil.” Why bless your soul, Ed, nine-tenths of the Republicans of the United States have been for it every since ex-president Harrison negotiated a treaty for its annexation and didn’t need a thump on the head to make them see the hole in the grindstone, either. —Lowell Tribune, (rep.) The postoffice organs print an explanation from Mr. Crumpacker concerning hiS vote upon the Hawaiian question. If he thought it right his vote needs no explanation. He shows his ignorance of the ReEublican platform which is as fol>ws: “The Hawaiian Islands should be controlled by the United States and no foreign power should be permitted to interfere with them.”—Fowler Leader, (rep.)

We have been an admirer of Judge Crumpacker and have considered him a man above the average ability. But we do wish he would either stop explaining his vote on the annexation resolutions or stop running for congress. To make a long story short he voted just the way the Republicans of the Tenth congressional district did not want him to vote, and the less he talks about the matter the better. It is common talk down in this part of his political vineyard that every time his explanation is read the voters get a little sicker. The best explanation he can make is that he made a mistake. Nobody cares anything about his personal views. Republicans have a way of thinking that their representative should represent them. If he keeps on explaining, and stands by nis two little postmasters and their papers down here who keep up a constant warfare on the party organization and the county ticket, not even the official record of John Ross will save him in Benton county. These are things we dislike to say, We desire to see this district have a Republican congressman. As Republicans we consider it our political duty to speak plainly. And there is much dissatisfaction with Crumpacker’s vote on the annexation of Hawaii. With Crumpacker’s course in congress previous to this vote we think most people are satisfied. For ourselves we find no fault with him about his _ recommendations for office. Whatever mistakes he has made in this line we think were caused by recommendations made to him. Butagthers, just as good Republicans as we are, do not agree with us. In this locality there are many Republicans that do not agree with Mr. Crumpacker on many questions, and will hot vote for him, and the earlier the

truth is told the better. A great many people consider William McKinley a bigger man than Thos. B. Reed.—Oxford Press, (rep.) Bring your job printing to The Democrat office. We appreciate your favors, do nothing but the best work and cbarg moderate prices. Type-writer paper, either blank or printed, at The Democrat office.

ELECTRIC FIRE ENGINE.

On* Recently Invented with Several Advantages Claimed for It An electric fire engine has recently been invented by a resident of Indianapolis that will do away, so it is claimed, with many of the objections attending the use of the existing fire extinguishers, says Electricity. The device consists of an annular reservoir of metal, supported on suitable wheels, which goes to make up the main frame of the wagon upon which the rest of the apparatus may be mounted. The reservoir when not in use is kept empty. It is provided with a number of openings with nipples to each of which may be attached a line of hose. The openings are all equipped with suitable valves, enabling at anv time a line of hose to be either attached or detached without in any way interfering with the operation of the engine. A large rotary pump is mounted upon the reservoir and forces water directly into the latter, supplying from it all the lines of hose which may be attached. The pump is operated through a set of gearwheels by an electric motor. The conducting wires are wound on a reel mounted near the motor in such a way as to enable them to be readily drawn off and attached to any suitable source of power, such as trolley wires, electric light wires or established stations that every city would be obliged to put in on adopting electric fire engines. The rotary pump is so arranged that it may draw its water supply either from a cistern, river or directly from the ordinary fire plugs. There are several advantages claimed by the inventor for the electric fire engine over the steamers now generally in use. It does away, in the first place, with the reciprocating pump, which is said to be inefficient, and enables the boiler to be discarded. Thus the weight of an electric fire engine is but 3,600 pounds, considerably less than that of the ordinary type of engine. Furthermore, a number of lines of hose can be successfully operated from the same reservoir in this new device, whereas at the most but two could be attached to the old form of fire extinguisher. On the other hand, there would seem to us to be one serious objection to the electric fire engine wnich it would prove difficult to overcome, or at least would take considerable time and missionary work to induce city, officials to see it in the proper light. A city in adopting this new device would have to make connections with either underground cables or overheadarires, so as to lead the current to, Bay, every hydrant or other accessible point where in case of a conflagration an engine could obtain a sufficient amount of current for the operating of the pump. In the case of a sparsely settled district, as, for instance, the outskirts of a city, this would undoubtedly prove an expensive undertaking. Another vital point which should not be overlooked in thin connection is the danger of a break eccuring somewhere in the electrio circuit, as frequently happens with both telegraph ana trolley wires during heavy storms. Were such an event to take place, and a fire to break out, the electric nre engine would be useless. Electricity unquestionably has its field of application, but we doubt whether the electric fire engine would prove a success under existing condi- ***