Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 July 1900 — COUNTY PLATFORM. [ARTICLE]

COUNTY PLATFORM.

Whereas, Many counties of the state, by employing experts to examine the county records, have reclaimed thousands of dollars of fees and l>.i.lK which have been wrongfully and illegally'collected and held by county officials, and Whereas, Jasper county having been for years one of the very highest taxed counties of Indiana, and is at present burdened with one, if not the heaviest debts of any county of the state in proportion to populotion and wealth, and Whereas, our county commissioners refuse to grant the peoples’petition when they pray for an honestinvestigation- of the county records; therefore be it Resolved, by this con vention. that its candidates, today nominated pledge themselves, that if elected, to use all honorable, economical and reasr nable means to have the county records examined thatthe people may know the true condition of our county affairs; and -tffiffßef,T>eTf” Resolved, that as a party and as candidates we pron ise to encourage and practice the most rigid economy in county and township affairs, cousistenC w itLi p.ulilic._ good, ;uul.. wu invite all lovers of fair dealing and good local government, to join us in trying to bring about -theeonsumat+orr-of the i>leslge» here-m made. And further, in asking the support of all good citizens, we do it not for the sake of party triumph and party advantage but that a better order of thii gs may be brought about in our own county management. * * ♦

Tee sugnr trust is putting the screws to the people in good shape —only 16 pounds of sugar for a dollar now. _ y =zzr. The Official Apologist’s readers are still waiting to hear about who ordered that vault furniture for the recorder’s office. Really. Mr. McKinley, it is cruel to keep Neely in suspense any longer. Tell your hired men to put him out of his misery nnd have done with it. When you meet one of the ring defenders just ask him how about the Keener tp., gravel road funds and he will at once take a sneak down some dark alley. Carl Schurz says: “I don’t want to see the day when the American will be like his fellows in Europe, where every man as he goes to work carries one soldier on his hack.” The only question in the campaign this fall is the broad one of Republic or. Empire. Reside it all other questions sink to insignificance. The commonwealth that our fathers founded shall not be subverted.

The gold democrats are quietly stealing back into the old home in their stocking feet. They don’t care to attract any attention just now, but next year they will be proudly statinsz that they helped to elect Bryan. General McArthur's violent protest against sparing any of his troops for China and his request for reinforcements, does not look as though the “rebels” were tumbling over each other in their haste to accept “amnesty.” The German Americans will not submit to imperialism. They know what it means and by what insiduous steps it advances until its victims are powerless to throw it off. They did not leave their homes and come three thousand miles to aid in placing upon their necks the same yoke that they left behind. “More soldiers wanted,” is the cry from Manila, where 65,(KM) Americans have been trying for nearly two years to discharge the task for which Spain never employed more than 20,(MM). Are Americans worse fighters than Spaniards, or has t|ie adininistra’tion of things over there been shamefully mismanaged? Governor Beckum of Kentucky and John \V. Yerkes have be n named by the democrats and republicans respectively, as rival leaders in the race this fall. Yerkes is about the strongest man thatthe republicans have in the state and he will make a good race, but it is very doubtful whether the jieople of Kentucky will consent to place in power a party responsible for the crimes perpetrated by the republicans under Taylor.

The hot weather has come, and anything cool and calm is refreshing. Nothing could be more cool and calm than the Republican party’s claim to the responsibility for our national prosperity. The divine forces of nature which cause the rain to fall, the seed to sprout and the crops to grow on our side of the ocean, and which cause dearth of food in other lands, have nothing to do with it. The placid way in which Mr. McKinley and his advocates assume responsibility for the acts of Providence is calulated to make cold chills run down one’s spine on the hottest of July days.,—Life.

Senator Wellington, who sometime ago declared that he would not support McKinley for re-elec-tion, is still throwing nuts to the administration which it cannot or will not crack. The Senator said, while in Washington, a day or two ago; “If the situation in the Philippines is as favorable as the administration would have us believe, there is no reason why twelve or fifteen thousand men could not be sent from there to service in China. I think that would be America’s fair quota of the international force foi the relief of Pekin, and beyond the protection of American life and property, this country has no business to interfere with the affairs of the Chinese empire. American soldiers should never form a part of an army for the conquest of China. The European powers have sowed the wind and. axe now reaping the whirlwind. They have been looking for trouble in China for a long time, and now they have it. The tire they have kindled-is a hot one, and this government should look well to it that American troops are not used as a catspaw for the pulling out European chestnuts.”

It seems to be a little early in the campaign for Boss Hanna’s henchmen to be putting out fakes, but all the same they are doing it. Several men known to be close to Hanna have been filling up Washington newspaper men with stories about how worried the “old man” was because of the refusal of some of the heaviest contributors to his campaign fund four years ago to give a cent this year, and of his fear thatthe National Committee would hnve to skimp its campaign plans for lack of money. The object of these stories is to create the impression among the democrats that the republicans are going to be short of campaign money this year. It is, of course, absolute tommyrot. Hanna spent §8,000,000 four years ago, and he_ expects j to spend quite as much or more this year, and he knows just where to go to get it.» If his victims do not come down withour squeezing, he knows exactly how hard to sqeeze them to get what he wants. He must think the democrats are easily gulled indeed, if he thinks; it possible to make them believe I that the favored trusts which have I profited so largely by Hanna leg-; islation, will allow the Hanna Committee to lack money to buy another election. Apparently the crowd that formerly fattened off the loose system then in vogue of transacting county and township business, has progressed far enough in its campaign to dispense with secrecy and assume the offensive in the open. , A few days ago Representative A. I< ). Reser, who led the forces in I the last House opposed to the re- ; form bills, said to a reporter for j The Press: “Quite a number of members that bolted the Republican caucus I to vote against the bills have been i renominated. They will outnumber I the ones that voted for the bills. | The inefficiency and defects of the | laws have been demonstrated, and | when the time comes, something will be done.” Possibly there are a few defects I in the laws; it would be strange if there were not, but the men that ; fought them so viciously .in the | last session are not the ones to be I intrusted with their amendment. Mr. Reser is right on one point, 1 however, namely, that more of the opponents of the reform laws have been renominated than friends of the measures. The forces that I make for robbery of the public never sleep. There is “money in it” for then!, and they are tireless in their efforts to overthrow these laws because they hope to profit ! thereby. They have been looking closely after the nominations in the sure Republican and sure Democratic districts, confident that the tense drawing of party lines in a presidential campaign will do the rest. Public contractI ors and that sort of people have Ino partisanship that interferes 'with their business; it is a pity i that the people permit it to interI sere with the public business.1 Indianapolis Press.

The Court House Sewer editor says that many regretted that Marshall didn’t wipe up the earth with The Democrat man. Don’t doubt it in the least. Every rascal who has been robbing the taxpayers of Jasper county for years would be pleased if The Democrat man was even put out of the way for keeps. Thieves never like to be disturbed in their work of plunder, you know. But the Sewer man will never do anything of the kind himself. He has not the courage to face any man. The cowardly cur might beat some defenseless woman but he would never standup to a man, unless he were right sure there would be no danger to his own cowardly carcass.