Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 69, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 December 1910 — PLATFORM PLEDGES [ARTICLE]

PLATFORM PLEDGES

Should be Carried Out Regardless of Any Petitions. While personally The Democrat would rather see the county option, law retained at least for a couple of years longer, to give it a more thorough test, we believe that platforms of political parties should be kept; that they should mean something more than “getting in on,” and we want to see the pledge of the democratic party in Indiana, to enact a township and city local option law. carried out by the coming legislature. The Anti-(Saloon League is having petitions circulated asking the coming legislature to repudiate this plank of the democratic platform, and in this we think the League is doing wrong. Whether the liquor question cut much figure in the results of the last election in this state or not we do not know, but the township and city option plank was in the democratic platform and a majority of the people voted that ticket knowing that this plank was a part of the platform principles of our party. Hence, in our opinion, it is wrong to ask the party, through its legislative members, to repudiate the promises made at the state convention—to be false to its pledges. We do not gee how anyone who voted the democratic ticket can consistently sign the petition, and we do not believe very many such people will do so. The democrats do not owe the AntiSaloon League anything. It has fought us tooth and nail and been in open alliance with the republican state organization. The democratic party, we believe, owes more to the people who voted its ticket than it does to tfyose who worked and connived to defeat it. > "The verdict of the people of the sfate as expressed at the polls vdas one of confidence that the plrty would do what it had promised to do in its platform. We want to see it make good, and so far as our county or legislative district is concerned, the change from county to township and city option would probably cut no figure whatever. The district is “dry” now —in theory, at least, — and will doubtless remain so after the change in unit is made, for it is not the intention nor never was to repeal the remonstrance law as it now stands.

■We do not believe these petitions will have very much weight with the coming legislature, and they should not, except where a legislator made his campaign against the repeal or modification of the county i option law. In such cases the lawmaker should, of course, stand by the open pledges he made to his people regardless. of the platform of his party or of party caucuses. The thing is, be true to your promises, and if you are a democrat, Mr. • Legislator, and openly promised your constituency that you would vote against any change in the option law, stand by your guns no matter what influence may be brought to bear upon you. But if you made your campaign on the democratic state plat-form you are in duty bound to vote according to the pledges of that platform, regardless of petitions asking you to do the contrary..