Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 99, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 March 1915 — Peterson Rivals Humorist George Ade. [ARTICLE]

Peterson Rivals Humorist George Ade.

.John B. Peterson, until March Ith the Tenth district congressman, had as a rival in the -last campaign Will 11. Ade. Now, Mr. Peterson, perhaps without expecting the public to see the joke, is rivaling Mr. Ade’s brother, George Ade, as a humorist. The joke lies in the fact that Mr. Peterson has been in Indianapolis TALKING FOR A PRIMARY LAW. Such laws are made so that the WILL OF THE PEOPLE—NOT THE BOSSES—MAY RULE. Just when Mr. Peterson became a. convert to such doctrine is not known here, but, presiimbly, it was after he went back to Washington last December, or since both Bryan and Kern made their declarations to the Indiana general assembly. ..'?■• '■ The voters did not show a very strong regard for Mr. Peterson in the election last fall —his vote being short of that of the previous campaign in every county in tho district.. ’ . - As for the right of the people to have a voice in the affairs, no public official ever showed less regard for the will of the people. and none ever was; a more alsoluto'slave of the will of tlie BOSSES than Peterson. .. 'We have yet to hear of a single community. in the district where ;■< [ergon I?J.mi—. OR f ABE.i) FOR—• the.desires of the voters of his party in making appointments, and if there is a single one we should like for the Alurphjr-Peterson-Gavit-Etc., ,;n.■!chihe ■ to? prodnee tlie • evidence. . In fact - , just the opposite is true. No effort was made to learn the desire of the voters, and the M urphy--I’et er son -G av i t -Sai nan s-e 1 e., ni achi n 0 look all appointments for either themselves or some of t heir inner (*ir< i of l;<.ss allies. Ami the aniusIrig feature es it all was that Mr. Peterson really deluded himself into believing rhat HE WAS - MAKING the appointments, ' when, in fact, he was but as wax in the hands of Murphy, Gayit? Saffians & Co.. ;>m: (hey MOLDED HI ■) TO TIIE'II OWN SWEET AyjLfj. If. he seemed to hesitate a trifle-there was that baii o ■•. nomination fotrovern. r." ?ml j >... erscm would fajJbor. if. lio?d not appear to have awakened YET to the fact that they were making a “dupe” of him, merely to accomplish their ends. He appears to really believe .that he MIGHT be nominated for governor. If he does he has forgotten to ? figure some things, among which are these; The democrats will nominate a -man who is known to be a democrat —not a man who will seek to run solely on the record of Woodrow AVilson, and the fact that hr- did not dare, vote against the administration. ■ >■■?<■' Not a man. who ;>?■ member of congress, came out in the public press and opposed the Wilson proposed currency reform, but “got in line” when he saw the likely fate of those who opposed such. legislation Not a man who for fifteen or eighteen years so completely deserted'his party that few of his closest friends know how he was voting. Not a man who for twenty years or more gave all his support to remiblican nepers—bpth Ills legal .business and subscriptions--contribut-ing not one cent to the support of the press of his party, but aiding and strengthing the enemy.

Not a man who. during fifteen or eighteen years of ignoring his party, REFUSED IN 1 896 .to contributt one cent to get AV, .J. Bryan to Crown Point (his home town ), leaving it to others, nearly every one of whom was less able financially, to raise the needed $l5O. Will he say he supported Bryan for president? Not a man whose practice as a corporation lawyer was the sole cause of his nomination for congress—the promoters hoping his past employment- by the steel companies, Standard Oil Co., and railroads would bring to the party the support which had invariably been against it. John B. Peterson asking a nomination from a democratic state convention ! When, pray, until he was being boosted for congress, had he taken enough interest in state politics to even attend a state convention? When, until he got into the ring for congress, had he shown sufficient interest in the life or death of the democratic party to attend even a county convention or take any part in party organization or campaigns? Is the democratic party of Indiana composed of men who will seriously consider a man who awoke from a political Van Winkle sleep of twenty years, when others aspire to the same nomination who have spent time, money and energy in keeping life in the party while he slept that perfect sleep of indifference as to whether the party lived or died?

Certainly not. ‘‘Peterson for governor” will continue to be a joke so long as he continues to not let enter his brain that he was duped into this by the bosses whose pliant tool he became and for whose fool flattery he was gullible enough to fall. The democrats will nominate a man who is a; vote getter-—not a vote loser.-—Lake County News.

Commenting on the above, the Kentland Democrat says: The above—coming from one of his party’s papers in his home, countl —and on the day of his retirement from the office of congressman to private life—has a tendency to make one feel sort o’ sorry for Mr. Peterson. Yes it does, really. In his first two campaigns for the congressional seat in 191(1 (when he failed of election) and in 1912, when he was elected—Mr. Peterson had the most hearty and untiring support of every democratic paper in the district, but in his third campaign (last year, by which time he had in so many instances demonstrated that he was a willing tool for a band of deceiving and selfishly aspiring party bosses, rather than a true and trustworthy servant of THE PEOPLE, whom he Was ejected to represent—-and thereby had made himself obnoxious to the rank and file of his party) he had the support of not to exceed two of the several papers of his party in the district, and the Lake County News' was one of these. It was soon after .his election and entrance to office that Peterson began “showing his hand”—distributing, as the “bosses” directed, the “spoils” that were at his command, and shamefully ignoring the honest and correct advice offered him by life-long loyal and worthy party supporters. These, and the party press—who in 1912 urged him to make his second race, And helped elect him—tried to steer him rightly,” for his own as v ell as the party’s best good, but he listened to the “bosses” only, doubtless thinking them able to again hoodwink , and herd the rank and file up to the polls and vote them in numbers sufficient to re-elect him. But the individual voter has grown to. vote more nearly as he thinks (rather than, as party heelers advise) than they did in former years, and the party press has come to stand more firmly as against, corrupt politics , and unworthy candidates than .they used to. So when Mr. Peterson and the “bosses” again name forward jn the last campaign they found that neither the people or their ever true friend, the party press, had any further use for them. The News-—niore for sake of many yea rs ’ hequ ain tan ee andsoc ial association of its editor and Air. Peterson, and for “slaying by . a home man”—-was one of the two of all the napers in the district that supported him, but; now “cuts loose” from hin, and tells “about him? things tii.a.t: were, no* known before outside of. county.. With the News' also again't b’m new, and the fact that future nominations for all state officers in this slate will be made by (tolevatbs of primary election instead of ‘‘boss selection", as heretofore: Air? PetersoiFs chances for gubernatorial honors are not very promising.