Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 53, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 October 1912 — KERN'S TRIBUTE TO SAMUEL M, RALSTON [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

KERN'S TRIBUTE TO SAMUEL M, RALSTON

•RYAN WIRES < SENATOR THAT HE IS COMINAfc TO INDIANA TO SPEAK FOR RALSTON. MR. BEVERIDGE’S PEANUTS Hl* Silly, False Charges Are Arousing th* Disgust of Sensible Citizens. Th* peanut methods that are being resorted to by Mr. Beveridge in his attack* on Mr. Ralston were handled Without gloves by Senator John \Y. Kern in a speech at Lebanon, the home of the Democratic nominee the other night. The attempt to create the impression that Ralston would be any man's tool or puppet if elected

probably caused the senator to speak with more feeling than he usually shows in assailing political opponents. That this cheap trick of Beveridge In resorting to petty personalities will react is already apparent In thqspeech of Senator Kern and in th* attitude of William Jennings Bryan, a warm personal friend of Ralston who ha? wired Senator Kern that he is com log Into Indiana to help his old friend and loyal supporter Samuel M. Rais ton. His telegram follows: “Mr. Bryan*s campaign speaking an ■•gements include three days’ tour of Indiana about third week in October. Me desires to place Indiana in the Wilson and Marshall column and Is especially interested in the election ol Mr. Ralston, and the entire Indiana Democratic ticket.” In hi* speech at Lebanon Senator Kern said:

“It 1b always pleasing to me to meet and greet the good people of the coun ty of Boone,- said Mr. Kern, “but it to especially a pleasure this year be «ause you have furnished to the Demo oracy Of Indiana its splendid oandldat* for governor in the person of Samuel M. Ralston. I shall waste little tims In this presenoe in speaking in eulogistic phrase of the fine qualities of the head and heart possessed by your distinguished neighbor and friend, foi •very man, woman and child in Lebanon is ready to testify whenever sailed upon that in every relation o| Use —in the heme circle, in his office hi court, in church, in society, as well as in the political arena, he is on* •f God’s own noblemen.” \ v Mr. Kern recalled when he first last Mr. Ralston, soon after the latter eame to Lebanon as a young man, Mr Ralston was full of determination then to make an honest effort to succeed and, seeing that he was a young mac of high ideals, Mr. Kerri said he en oeuraged him in his efforts. “He dis closed qualities then,” said the speak or, “that attracted me to him and aroused in me a great personal Interest in his career. The friendship formed that day has grown closer and more intimate down to the present hour. Since then I have seen him in his own home and in mine; I have ob served him in court many times in the trial of causes, and in his office adiis lng his clients, I have hearHl his voice •n the stump in many campaigns, and •at by his side in many councils. “A Man of Honor.” "Am a result I to recog Bise him as a man of honor, of clear personid character, possessing all the attributes and characteristics of a typical Christian gentleman and of an Ideal progressive American patriot. T have dome to love him as a brother. No more tndepondsat fearless man has Mitered the political lists la Indiana to a quarter of a oontury, sad this

Independence and fearlessness, gather with Ms high personal character and hla unselfish party servic*. brought to him the nomination for the high office of governor by the unanimous vote of more than one thousand live hundred of the best Democrats on earth, who composed the last Democratic state convention. * “If all the bosses on earth had opposed him, the result wOuld have been the same, for the great masses of the Democratic party In Indiana, from the lake to the river, had determined that the man who by reason of right living, good citizenship and long and distinguished party service, had earned the right to he governor of Indiana was Sam Ralston, and were prepared to sweep before them every possible opposition that might arise in any quarter." Not a Creature of the Bosses. ■When Mr. Ralston becomes governor of Indiana,” Mr. Kern continued, * “and brings to the discharge of the duties of that office the great qualities of head and heart which you know him to posessess, how contemptible will seem the cheap, disgraceful campaign falsehood of Beveridge and a few of his followers that Ralston in the candidate and creature of the bosses You need no information of the fa’sity of the charge, but when by his splendid admiration he gives the lie to the charge, the brazen hypocrites who Invented and peddled the slander will merit and receive the contempt of all good people, and especially of those who may have been deceived by these false and unfounded accusations. It Is bad enough for any man to peddle falsehoods, but inexcusable and aetroclous In a man who Insists upon having hi* meetings opened with prayer, and who leads in singing ‘Onward, Christian Soldiers,’ to the tune T Won’t Go Home Till Morning.’ '* The attacks of Beveridge, the most dictators! would-be boss that Indiana politics have ever known has aroused the people of Lebanon regardless of politics and the senator’s tribute to their fellow citizen was received with the greatest enthusiasm. In this connection the Rev. O. A. Carmichael, pastor of the First Presbyterian church recently said: “I think no one who knows Mr. Ralston could doubt his independent character * * If I were given a boss’s collar and told to find in Indiana a neck that it would fit, the law office i door at the head of the stairs in the Pioneer building (Ralston’s ofiice) would be the last place at which 1 should knock.

“There are other questions touch lng the higher life of the people more important than questions of state policy or questions of tariff. There is not a movement touching that Mgher life as it affects the public schools, the sanctity of the home, the efficiency of the church, the upbuilding of the Individual with which he ia not in the fullest and most enthuslastioal sympathy. We have played with some great moral questions Id tihls state; made issues of them when they seemed to furnish ’political oapital and have dropped them when political expediency dictated. When the people of the commonwealth awake, as awake they will, to the call of conscience and through their chosen representatives in the legislature demand an advance along the lines that shall conserve the home and the individual, if Mr. Ralston is in the governor’s chair that movement will find in him a staunch and loyal champion.”

Friend of the Schools. Another feature of Beveridge’s campaign of petty personal abuse is his assumption that hi* Third Term party is the ordained custodians of the public schools. Mr. Ralston has held no office hut that of school trustee in his home town and he is known among his neighbors as one of the most ardent friends of the schools. During his race for the nomination the school teachers of Lebanon, mostly women, took deep personal interest in hit success and were in the open, because of his well known attitude toward ths obligations of the state toward the schools and the teachers. Superintendent H. G. Brown, county superintendent and a Republican, said: “I should like to see Mr. Ralston governor of Indiana, because I beliete that in such a position his splendid intellectual ability, high moral character and his big, generous heart will render him a blessing to our entire state. “Especially would his election be a blessing to our public school system. During the three years he served as president of the Lebanon school board he took an active interest In the schools and the teachers and the pupils. He always favored every progressive measure and gave the school affairs the same c&reful thought and attention that has made him such a successful member of his profession. At the close of his term as a member ©f the board every teacher and school official believed him to be his friend."

KERN LAUDS RALSTON.