Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 82, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 January 1915 — THE REAL ISSUE [ARTICLE]

THE REAL ISSUE

The issue that is presented to the,] present legislature is not one between the democrats and the republicans. Rather the quarrel is between the democrats of 1 ndiana,' thousands of whom voted for the republican Marion county, and the machine that would use the partv lor its own selfish purposes, Had it not been for that machine there is probably not an office in this county not today be filled by a democrat. But tor the arrogance oi the machine the. probability is that everj'" democratic candidate for congress wi uld have been elected last November. In’plain language, the party’s only formidable foes are those of its own household. The republicans, far from being distressed, are delighted with the present situation. The News has no other wish than to make both parties as responsive as possible to the public will. What the democrats have to decide, therefore, is whether their party shall be the party of the people or the party of the machine. On the answer to that question the political complexion of this state, may depend for a generation. , We desire to speak with the utmost kindness and charity, and yet with entire frankness. The people of this state are not going ip turn the government over to the men that now control—or are seeking to control the democratic party. And yet these men are, with a stupidity that is magnificent, seeking, to speak to and through the .legislature for the people of Indiana. We.doubt whether there has ever been in American politics a more splendid exhibition of impudence. No men have ever done more than these to weaken and discredit the democratic party. And yet they are today insisting that loyalty to the party consists-in loyalty to them. The democrats of Indiana ... are asked to accept party wreckers as the only party leaders’ And loyalty to party is interpreted as loyalty to the men whose devotion to the party is measured only by their ability to make it serve their selfish purposes. The question is Therefore, solely a party question. Indianapolis News.