Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 71, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 December 1914 — THE LEGISLATIVE INDICTMENTS. [ARTICLE]

THE LEGISLATIVE INDICTMENTS.

li it is true, as the Marion county grand jury reports, that there is no ■ i.itute under which any one can be . I'osecuted lor signing or causing bills to be signed which have not been passed, it is a singular defect in the laws of the state. Eor, while it may be the case that this particular onense ha; not been brought to the attention ol the lawmakers, there should be mws against fraud and malfeasance in office that would apply to such cases. Thb jury found that bills not passed were put on the statute books by officers of the last legislature, but no indictments were brought for the reason’ above stated and because of the difficulty of fixing the blame with exactness. This failure to Identify the guilty men is a pity, for the offense against the people of the state in that matter was much more Serious than the waste of the taxpayers’ mdney, scandalous as that was. The two bills were salary-grabbing measures, but the fact that individuals ■can make laws in this ’ way is the .serious and significant thing, -since other than salary bills may be slipped through. " - However, Hie grand jury did a good job, not only in showing that at least one of the bills in question was crookedly .manipulated through the use of money, but in uncovering

the reckless and criminal squandering of public funds in needless salaries paid to superfluous legislative attaches —a sum more than $36,000 in all, for the sixty-day session. It is a disclosure that should have a wholesome effect, whether the indictments eventually result in convictions of the indicted persons or not; for a public sentiment will be created that will hereafter restrain presiding officers of House and Senate and other legislative leaders from the bold disregard of law indicated by the proceedings set forth, and from the free disposal of public money as if it were their own. It is not a new offense, this payment of party debts from the public treasury by the employment of a gang of supernumeraries about the legislature, with nothing to do but draw their salaries. All persons familiar with the operations of the general assembly know that this sort of abuse has long been practiced, but this circumstance only makes it the more objectionable’. Probably it was never so brazenly carried through as at the session of 1913, however. The democrats had not had so free a hand in a long time and were so reckless that they seem to have cast all discretion to the winds and overreached themselves.

But it is not a pleasant thing for the people of Indiana to know that indictments of so serious a character have been brought against their lieutenant-governor and the man who was speaker of the house and is now a state officer, to say nothing of eleven other prominent citizens. The grand jury arraignment shows a situation that reflects on the honor and good repute of the state. It is not a matter to be treated lightly, as certain Marion county officials and certain of the indicted men seem disposed to treat it. The good name of the' state calls for something more than a “whitewashing" trial, and it must occur to the leaders of the party directly involved that such a trial would be the worst sort of policy on political grounds and that the party can best be commended to the people by a prosecution that plainly means to get at the truth, no matter who is scotched.—-Indianapolis Star.

There is more catarrh in this section of the country than all other diseases put together, and until the last few years was supposed to be ihcurable. For a ‘great many years doctors pronounced it a local disease and prescribed local remedies, and by constantly failing to cure with local treatment, pronounced it incurable. Science has proven catarrh to be a constitutional disease, and therefore requires constitutional treatment. Hall’s Catarrh Cute, manufactured by F. J. Cheney & Co., Toledo, Ohio, is the only constitutional cure on the market. It is taken internally. It.acts directly on the blood and mucous surfaces of the system. They offer one hundred dollars for any case it fails to dure. Send for circulars and testimonials. Address: F. J. CHENEY & CO. Toledo,. Ohio. . Sold by druggists, 75c. Take Hall’s Family Pills for constipation.