Jasper County Democrat, Volume 18, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 May 1915 — A LITTLE MORE LIGHT NEEDED. [ARTICLE]

A LITTLE MORE LIGHT NEEDED.

Gum-Shoe Brown of L. & N. W. R. R., Should Come Forward With Information. The Republican says that “O. L. Brown, head of the Northwestern Indiana Traction Company, came from Lafayette today (Friday) on business.” Perhaps the above is partly true, we never see Mr. Brown any more, although it is peculiar how be can get in and out of town so frequently without one seeing him. When, he was apparently playing in the open and was denouncing, the voting of subsidies to build railroads, and saying that his company would not ask for any subsidies, Mr. Brown never neglected calling upon The Democrat when in Rensselaer. Now we never see him, since he has changed front and is asking for the very thing that he but recently so strongly denounced as iniquitous and, in his opinion, as unconstitutional, in that it took money by taxation from the pocket of the tax-

payer and gave It to a private corporation.

O. L. even says, so the Republican states, that The Democrat man is a liar when he says that he (Brown) ever made the statement to any one that his road would not ask for subsidies. And yet the fact that Brown did make such statement scores of times is vouched for, not only by The Democrat man, but by scores of reliable and truthful people in Rensselaer, Remington and Carpenter township. People whom Mr. Brown now seeks to avoid, seemingly, when he visits Jasper county and cohabits with the gifted editor of the Republican, he who was born with a “veil over his face” and is endowed with that rare accomplishment of second sight—seeing things just as well where they aren tas where they are—as witness all the fakes the Republican has sought to put over on its readers in the years gone by. But why does .Mr. Brown seek seclusion from his former acquaintahctsmnd 'bummesF'asso elates?' Why i.; it that we never hear' any more about his visits to Remington, where several officers of his company reside? Perhaps we should ■ use the past tense, and say “former officers” of his company, as we are informed t.b.at they have all or practically all got ton out, and they can no doubt tell the voters of Newton tp., who are asked to foolishly donate $16,000 to Brown’s road, more about him than we can. They can also tell you that The Democrat man told the truth when he said that Brown made the statement repeatedly that his company would not ask for subsidies. '

If- Mr. Brown is playing in the open .why does he not have something more to say about- his company? .. ; Who has taken the place of the Remington officers who quit? Who is the present president and vice-president of the company? Who is its treasurer? Who ar© the men composing its board of directors? Has there been a meeting of a legal number of the directors within the past six months or a year? If so, when and where was it held? Has the company complied with ail the requirements of. corporations in this and other respects? . Have you published or posted any notices of annual meeting or meetings of stockholders of your company to elect officers or for any other purpose since it was organized. If so, when and where? The Democrat doesn’t know anything, about any of these things, and >’ thinks that Mr. Brown should enlighten the people whose money he is asking for. If he is not gum-shoe-ing he certainly should have no objectionsto answering these questions fully and frankly. As The Democrat understands, Mr. Brown’s official tif-le is that of ‘manager'/’ and“ for the information of the 'public it would like to know who all the other officers are. The Republican displays its ignorance of Brown’s company when it calls it the “Northwestern Indiana Traction Company.” The official title of .the road as given in the petition asking for. subsidy elections is "The Lafayette and Northwestern Railroad Company.” Not a word about traction company. But this and other examples of ignorance on the part of the Republican can readily be excused when we remember that its splgan is “We Print Anything for Anybody,’’ and that Mr. Brown is a frequent caller at that office.