Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 71, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 December 1914 — OPPOSITION TO THE MACHINE. [ARTICLE]

OPPOSITION TO THE MACHINE.

Severe Criticism of Attempts by Politicians to Minimize the Action of the Grand Jury.

Indianapolis, Dec. 9.—The indictment of thirteen men connected with the last session of the legislature, together with a grand jury report which scathingly arraigned the methods of the last session, has served to emphasize certain differences of opinion which have existed for a long time in regard to the management of the democratic party. It might be said that two widely divergent opinions are held, and those who profess to see into the future believe that the big fight for the control of the democratic party will be the next important step politically. Those who are now trying to minimize the indictments and are trying to ridicule the report made by the grand jury represent one side. Those who believe that the democratic party should be freed from the politicians who have been waxing fat by means of party manipulation, represent the other side. On one side are the machine men who care more about holding control of the party organization than they do about the welfare of the party itself; on the other side stand the men opposed to the machine.

The manner in which the present situation is now being handled by the machine politicians is not at all pleasing to the anti-machine men. They can see no hope for the party unless control is wrested from the men who are now trying to make a joke of what seems to be a very serious affair—men who are trying to settle the. whole matter of the legislative indictments in the hotel lobbies rather than in the courts in a regular and orderly way. In democratic circles generally, except among the bunch of machinists, severe criticism is heard of the manner in which the machinists are treating the situation. The recent talk to the effect that the governoi is expected to go to the front and in some way bring about the disposal of the cases in a great hurry, probably has caused the greatest surprise, especially when this development is coupled with the fact that the very men who are talking about having the governor do this are the men who are ridiculing not only the indictments, but also the report of the grand jury on legislative affairs.

One democrat, who has been' prominently connected with the democratic state organization, but who has not been in sympathy with the machinists, believes that the course that is now being pursued can only lead to democratic defeat. The only way to save the party, he says, is to take the organization out of the hands of the men who have been thoroughly discredited. “They are again talking about using the governor to dispose of these cases in -a hurry,” said this democrat. ‘‘Possibly they wish the cases disposed of quickly because some of the men who have been indicted or severely criticised in the grand jury report wish to have their hands free to work at the next session. “But whatever may be their motive they do not seem to hestitate about drawing the governor into the matter. They used the governor in the laet campaign. "They forced him to go on the stump and make a defense of one of the very men who has been indicted for legislative crookedness— Homer L. Cook, who was the speaker of the house. Although Cook himself did not make any defense that could be called a defense, c the governor, out over the state in speech after speech, went to the rescue of Cook. And during all this time democrats who were closely connected with the organization, were willing to admit that Cook would lose thousands 01 votes to the party. “The result of that election is still fresh in the minds of the public. The democrats go't through by a comparatively very small plurality

in the state and lost about everything else. They lost everything in Marion county, where Joseph E. Bell managed the campaign, Mr. Bell being one of the men who was designated by the grand jury as a political lobbyist. “It was the general understanding that the governor started this investigation. He even sent his own man, Mr. McCullough, to the grand jury room to act as special prosecutor. Most of the men on the grand jury were democrats. It was a democratic affair from start to finish. “The report of the grand jury showed how the money of the people had been squandered in the legislature; showed how bills were put on the statute books that never should have been there; showed how democratic politicians put scores of employes on the pay roll merely to buy popularity for themselves. And these men were put on the pay rolls at the expense of the people and in violation of the law. “I am inclined to think that the taxpayers of Indiana will be very glad to know of the things that were embodied in the grand jury report. And I believe, also, that no amount of ridicule by such men as Stephen B. Fleming will serve to turn the taxpaying public against the work of the grand jury. Mr. Fleming himself was designated by the grand jury as a man who was very liberal, not with . his own money, but with the money of the people. “For a long time the democrats have needed to clean house. The par, ty has been in the hands of the cheap politicians, who cared for nothing so long as they ’accomplished their selfish purposes. This has been the case in elections and primaries in Indianapolis. Fifteen men who served as election officials in the last county primaries were indicted by a grand jury that was made up entirely of democrats. Thirteen men who were connected with the last legislature have been indicted by a grand jury largely made up of demo crats. The governor of the state, who is a democrat, started this legislative investigation—or at least that has been the understanding all along. “It seems to me that the best play politically would be for the democrats to lake full credit for the work that has been done and carry it through. But instead of that a handful of politicians who pretend Ste-be the party are now ridiculing the

whole affair and are again talking about using the governor to dispose of the matter as quickly as possible and therefore with as little publicity as possible. "It has been an old theory among certain machine politicians that ‘what the people don’t know won’t hurt them.’ But in this case the people have found out a few things, and what they have found out is hurting them—and it’s . going to hurt the democratic party worse.” It is no secret among those who are in the know, that the talk that is now heard among the machinists about putting a Maxim silencer on the indictments and the report of the grand jury. Is not the first of the kind. It was some time ago that the report first got into circulation that certain men were to be indicted in connection with legislative affairs. And from that time on the politicians were busy. Various ways were devised to head off the indictments. One scheme was to find somebody to go before the grand jury and explain to the jurors that unless there was intent to commit a crime there could be no indictments, even though a crime had been committed. It was not regarded as strange that even the machinists could find no one'who had the nerve to appear before the jury and present this novel theory. This theory, or remedy, was advanced in spite of the fact that James E. McCullough, a ‘lawyer of known ability and a representative of the governor, was with the grant) jury all the time and was ready to explain any point of law that might be in doubt. The anti-machine democrats are wondering just how far the machinists will go in the present situation and how rapidly they are going to take the party into a ditch.

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