Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 May 1900 — They Never Sleep. [ARTICLE]

They Never Sleep.

Indianapolis Press; The Press had occasion recently to mention the fact that the victory of B. F. Johnson over John B. Conner, in the Republioan State Convention, was a triumph for the forces pf local spoilsmen who fought the county and township reform laws so viciously in the lait Legislature. The thing was done at the fag-end. of the convention, when the delegates were tired out and many of them absent from the hall; and it is probable that but a small number of those present understood the significance of the matter. Such a time the spoilsmen and their backers, the contractors for bridges and supplies, found propituous for getting in their work. They had already accomplished much in the matter of the platform. It develops that the platform, as originally drafted by the “town meeting,” contained a most uncompromising plank on the subject of the reform laws, indorsing them and declaring against any amendments affecting the principles on which they were based. The language was changed by the Committee on Resolutions so as to leave an open door to amendments, while indorsing the laws. This change slipped through with very little knowledge of its significance on the part of either the committee or the convention. With these evidences of activity, there is no possible room to doubt that the old gang, which has fattened off the plunder from township and county contracts for years, is bending its energies toward the overthrow of the laws. They understand their business, and have, doubtless, been influential in legislative nominations in both parties. It behooves the people to exact from their candidates for the Legislature some ironclad pledges on this subject before election day.