Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 61, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1909 — ON HIS OWN TERMS [ARTICLE]

ON HIS OWN TERMS

Senator Will Wood Preparing to " Dominate Indiana Upper House MANY REPUBLICANS OBJECTING * “ ~. . I . The Star Part in the Deliberations of the Senate the Gentleman From Tip* pecanoe Proposes to Take Is Not at All Pleasing to Many Members of His Party, >* Indianapolis, Dec. 29.—When the members of the legislature meet next week the first matter to receive the!/ attention will be the organization of the two houses. Of course the Republicans will choose the officers of the senate, including a president pro tern, and the secrt-taries, sergeant-at-arms and the various subordinates. The present lieutenant governor, Hugh Th. Miller, will preside for four days, when he will be succeeded by Frank J. Hall, the new lieutenant governor. As stated before, it seems to be settled that Senator Will R. Wood of Lafayette will do the leading for the Republicans—or at least most of it. There are several other Republican senators who will not be happy unless they are allowed to be in the spotlight a part of the time. But if present plans do not miscarry Wood will do the heavy ground and lofty tumbling. There are many members of his party who will not take kindly to the starring of Mr. Wood, but that will make no difference. The Lafayette man has had a lot of experience—and variety of experiences—in legislative work and his Republicans brethren have learned that the only way to keep peace in the family is to let Wood run things on his side of the chamber And then the peace is usually on Mr. Wood’s own terms. On the Democratic side of the senate there are some strong men who will be able to handle any situation that may arise. Among the Democratic hold-over senators, Frank M Kistler of Lo—<»nd Evan P. burg of New Albany were conspicuous and forceful in the debates at the Inst session And there are others In the present body who were found tn b • wise in counsel at that time. Among the new senators on the Democratic side there are several who are expected to shew great capability: Of this number there are some who have had previous legislative service, such as McCullough of Anderson and Fleming of Fort Waytie. Tilden of Greencastle. Proctor of Elkhart, Harlan of Indianapolis, Long of Nashville, and yet others, are new members whom it is believed will develop strongly as opportunity occurs. Conditions in the senate are such that there are pretty sure to be many acute and highly interesting situations before the session ends. While the Republicans have a majority, the two parties are not so greatly apart in point of numbers that everything can be taken for granted. On the contrary, the Republican majority is so slender that a larger proportion of seats on that side of the chamber are likely to be more continuously occupied than at any session for years. This will be due more to fear of the minority than to any overwhelming desire on the part of the Republican members to earn their per diem.

In the house. where the .Democrats have a majority of twenty, the race for the speakership has attracted a good deal of attention. Seven men have been talked of in connection with this honor, vis., Thomas M. Honan of Seymour, James Garrard of "Vincennes, Harry G. Strickland of Greenfield, John B. Faulknor of Michigan City, Andrew J. Behymer of Elwood, John M. Smith of Portland and Peter L. Coble of Jasper. So far some of these men have not made an active canvass for support, but they all have been favorably .mentioned from time to time by their friends. Each of them has seen previous service in the house. The contest among the aggressive candidates has been unusually good-nat-ured. All of the aspirants are friends poltlcally and personally, and mean to remain so, no matter what the result of the speakership race may be. As everyone knows, the speaker of the house is an exceedingly important and powerful officer. Much of the success, of a session must be due to his wisdom and tact, and to his knowledge of the business under consideration and the processes of legislation. In selecting their presiding officer the Democratic members of the bouse when they meet in caucus next Wednesday night have no cbance to make a mistake considering the excellent material from which they are to make a choice. When it comes to work on the floor and in the committees the Democratic majority has no end of able and alert men to look after the people’s business. And when I say “the people's business," that is exactly what I mean. Every Democratic member of the legislature understands that his party has pledged itself to serve the people to the fullest extent of its power. That pledge is going to be carried out to the letter unless It is blocked in the senate. see People are wondering what Governor Hanly will say about the state’s finances when he reads his last message to the assembled legislators next week. In his inaugural address four years ago Governor Hanly severely criticised the administration of his predecessor, Governor Durbin, for anticipating the state’s revenues. He declared that the revenues for the then current (1905) fiscal year had already been anticipated to the extent of |529r--659, and he said that such a condition would so embarrass the treasury that money would have to be borrowed or the revenues of the next fiscal year be drawn on in advance.

From all this it was thought that Governor Hanly intended his administration to be economical. But what happened? Why, the Republican state officials just kept on anticipating the revenues until at the end of the fiscal year 1905 the counties had been compelled to advance >994,449. During the next fiscal year (1906) these ad> vances had risen to >1,245,500 And during the fiscal year 1908 these advances had grown, according to the state treasurer’s reportVto >1,772,823. Just how Governor Hanly is going to explain this serious "embarrassment” of the treasury during the last year of his administration is a matter that is claiming attention. There is no denying the fact that the state is desperately hard up and that the financial problem confronting Governor Marshall and the general assembly will be a difficult one to solve. If the treasury was embarrassed by the anticipation of the revenues that Governor Hanly found when he entered office, how much more serious must be the embarrassment now when the anticipation of the state's funds is almost double what it was then! i In order to tide over the trouble four years ago without borrowing money on the state's bonds, the Republican legislature, on Governor Hanly’s advice, diverted the 3-cent sinking fund levy into the general fund. In this year’s tax collections, however, the sinking fund levy must be credited to that fund, which will leave the general fund where it was before. With a largely increased general expense account and with large building projects on hand, it can be seen that it is going to take hard thinking to make ends meet. One does not like to say it, but the truth is that from a practical point of view the state government is in a condition of bankruptcy. There is no question about its credit, for in all this land there is none better, but it has been living beyond its means to such an extent that it has been able to pay its bills only by drawing on the future, the amount so drawn in advance during the year 1908 being nearly >2,000,000, as shown above. And who is responsible for this condition? Certainly not the Democrats, because they have not been in power tor twelve years. It would" have been a splendid thing for the taxpayers of Indiana if they had succeeded In their desire to give the Democratic party full control. That can be done at the next election, but until then the Democrats will be seriously handicapped. Governor Marshall and a Democratic house can do much, but it will not be possible for them to do all that should be done. The draining of the state treasury has® been terrific for years. ' Some of this draining has been open ■ and some more or less subterranean. ' Doubtless many leaks can be stopped. I but it will take time and careful engineering to reconstruct some of the channels through which the state’s money has raced from the treasury. So. far as their power goes, the Demo--1 crats will give a good account of their stewardship. On that point the people may rest easy • • • 1 Most persons now admit, in view of the unsatisfactory condition of state affairs, that it was exceedingly unfor- * tunate that the whole Democratic state

ticket was not elected by majorities so decisive that they coaid not be questioned. As the matter stands, those who failed to get commissions are continuing their preparations for a contest before the legislature. The state committee at a meeting last week resolved to aid the contestants by all the means at its disposal. Scarcely anyone doubts that on the honest vote of the state all of the Democratic candidates were elected and it seems to be a public duty to show up the rascality and rottenness that kept them from getting their commissions. The machinery provided by the statutes for deciding s* .te contests is not satisfac tory in som,e respects, but it 1s sufficient to accomplish its end provided that judicial fairness and not mefe partisan advantage shall control its management.

• e • When David Turple’s second term as United States senator expired on March 4. 1899, the Democrats of Indiana ceased to have representation tn the upper house of congress. But that matter is now to be remedied. The new legislature, being Democratic on joint ballot, will elect a Democrat to the seat in the now occupied by James A. Hemenway. Six men have been proposed as candidates for this high honor. These men are John W. Kern, Benjamin F. Shively, John E. Lamb, Gustavus V. Menzies, L. Ert Slack and Edward G. Hoffman. The two last mentioned, Slack and Hoffman, are both bright and capable young men still in their thirties, and with undoubtedly promising futures. The other four are men of maturer years, with a long record of creditable party service. No one, of course, can surely anticipate the action of the Democratic caucus. With such an array of candidates, to say nothing of some fine “dark horses” who can be thought of without much effort, it will be seen that the legislators are facing a somewhat trying situation. Under the circumstances it 1s naturally expected that general party sentiment will control the choice of a senator in the end. MILLARD F. COX.