Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 July 1908 — EXUBERANT CAMPAIGNERS. [ARTICLE]

EXUBERANT CAMPAIGNERS.

It is full early yet in any campaign sense, but the exuberance of eager partisans is not to be checked. It may be by reflection or by the results of the “try out” if much of it is after the manner of the Njew York Globe and Advertiser, which prints a cartoon by Mr. Gillam labeled the “Real Issue.” This shows a workingman standing before a table on which is a loaf of bread bearing the words, “Election of Taft means a whole loaf.” By it Is a half loaf ticketed “Election of a Democrat means a half loaf,” while further on is the addition, “And possibly no loaf.” We wonder that such exuberance as this had not recalled President Harrison, saying “The gates of Castle Graden do not swing outward.” It would have been quite as appropriate in the face pf the hundreds of thousands of aliens who have gone through the outward swinging gates of Castle Garden.in recent months. Only the ‘ cipher day a thousand were left frantic on a pier at New York because the ship could hold no more! Of course, the “whole loaf” and the “full dinner pail” and the “three-story dinner bucket” of* Pig Iron Kelley, who was probably the father of the "prosperity” argument for the Republicans, have long been stock campaign cries. But really there are sometimes things that one would rather have le i said, such as the late George Du Maurier used to illustrate. Old habits are hard to break in parties as in men. But it has to be done sometimes. The Republicans once had the “bloody shirt” habit. After many struggles, in which some argued that “there was still another campaign in the bloody shirt,” it had to ge given up. A typical story of that time is of a spellbinder who “got a-going” in the customary manner and was exhibiting the ensanquined garment “for all it was worth,” when a mentor .at his elbow whispered that that was out of date; that we were reconciled. After a sputter over a glass of water the speaker continued, “And just to think, ladies and gentlemen, just to think, why, God bless us, all this time' we’ve been fighting our own brothers!” So the “full dinner pail” and the “whole loaf” and that sort* of thing will have to be explained away in a hurry in this campaign.

While our New York contemporary was making its exhibit, or "exhibition,” other New York papers were printing the report of a university settlement committee which says “the unemployed have entirely exhausted their savings, as it has been nearly nine months since the period of general unemployment set In,” and these people are now rapidly exhausting their credit, which is their last resource. The committee praises the small tradesmen who are feeding these people simply in the belief that they will be reimbursed in time. Many people in the Italian district are subsisting entirely on bread and herring. z The average grocery bill for a family has fallen tb $3 a week. There are numerous charges of 2 cents, while 25 cents is a large charge. Yet even at that sales are steadily decreasing and children in plenty are to be found who are almost literally half starved, having long had insufficient food. We commend the advice >of the Springfield Republican on this subject: These pitiful conditions exist when the Republicans are in possession of all branches of the Government and when their policies have prevailed for years; and the party ticket stands for a continuation of the existing regime. Under these circumstances one might suppose a decent respect for facts known to all the people would compel a retirement of the old full-loaf Republican, half-loaf Democratic campaign cry. It will only excite ridicule, and no party can afford to fall under popular ridicule when seeking a victory at the polls. It would seem, in short, that the “full loaf” will have to be relegated to the limbo that contains the “bloody shirt.” Perhaps the early exuberance on the subject will be valuable. But the campaign managers can not too soon get their working clothes on. Exuberance is a dangerous quality sometimes.—lndianapolis News (Rep.).