Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 June 1917 — GREATHOUSE PUTS FEAR IN HEARTS [ARTICLE]

GREATHOUSE PUTS FEAR IN HEARTS

Republican Machine Not a Bit Pleased With Him as State Chairman, SO THE NEWS ABUSES HIM Opposition Press Unwilling to Admit His Splendid Record at State House Which Has No Equal. By Willis S. Thompson. Indianapolis, June’ 20.—Charles A. Greathouse, when he was the unanimous choice of the democratic state central committee to serve as state chairman, told the audience of democratic workers who were present that he did not wish to make too many promises. He preferred to get to work and, if possible, let his deeds exceed his words. It is on this line that he is immediately .starting to put the organization into working shape. He will . inject some ginger into tilings. At the first meeting Which will be held as soon as headquarters can be equipped for action; the woman’s executive committee, which will consist of one woman from each of the thirteen districts, will meet with and become an important part of the state central committee. The present members of the committee will name the women. Chairman Greathouse proposes at once to have his committee in action by perfecting the working forces in every precinct in the state. He is especially able as an organizer, his ability in this line having been shown in the excellent results accomplished while he Was state superintendent of public instruction. Selection of candidates for delegates at large to the constitutional convention will receive attention, ah though no plan has been agreed upon. The sentiment of democrats seems to be that while politics should be kept as for as possible from the convention, it is the duty of an organization such as the state committee to do all that it can to be sure that the people are given a chance to vote for the biggest men in Indiana regardless of what their politics.

The Indianapolis News now refers to Charles A. Greathouse as a “wheel horse in the democratic machine.” That is because he has been made stbte chairman because the News used the word machine in an obnoxious sense, and because the towering republican machine presided over by Joe Kealing, Jim Hemenway, Tobe Hert and the Indianapolis News fears that the good work of Greathouse is going a long way to the undoing of “state government by Goodrich,” which, being interpreted, means “government by the Indianapolis News.” , Fault is now found with Mr. Greathouse because he twice became state superintendent of public instruction when the democratic state organization supported him. The News is greatly worried because there is an efficient democratic organization in Indiana, and because there is a man of the standing and ability of Mr. Greathouse at its head. The News now appears to be greatly dissatisfied with the fact that Mr. Greathouse was twice elected state superintendent of public instruction. The editor of the News should have the honesty to admit .now, as it has done in some careless moments in the past, that the administration of Superintendent Greathouse was the best that has ever been known in Indiana or in any other state in the Union. That under his administration the fame of Indiana spread to all the states, because of the Splendid and substantial progress made in all things relating to education. '• All the people of Indiana know this. Superintendent Greathouse was responsible for more advanced educational legislation than all the men combined who ever held the office before him, and he put all these progressive Jaws into successful operation. It will be a long time before any political party in Indiana finds another man of equal ability for the job. While he was superintendent politics was never the first consideration. It never took precedence over efficiency. The first act of his successor was to depose some of the ablest people in the department and to name in their stead persons of absolutely no experience or special qualification, other than that they are republicans. So all that can be found to say against Mr. Greathouse now is that when he was a candidate the democrats. voted for him. After the election of 1918 the same editors can say that not only democrats, but republic cans and independents followed the Greathouse lead in voting with democrats to oust the grip of Goodrich on the state government, a thing of which the people of the state have already tired. The same complaint is that which has for a long time been made against William H. O’Brien, that when he was a candidate for auditor of. state the democrats voted for him. Therefore he is a member of some mysterious and awful machine. Yet no man who held the office of auditor did a tenth part of what Mr. O’Brien accomplished for the people. As_the direct result of his work, the republican debt of three millions which he assumed was entirely wiped out, and the day James P. Goodrich became governor he found the state not owing one penny of debt; and aS governor he accepted from the democrats a net cash balance on hand of six millions. More power to any political organization, call if machine or what you will, that produces such public officials as William H. O’Brien and Charles A. Greathouse. And the Indianapolis News, which 1 continues to denounce them, keeps up its laudation of Tobe Hert and Joe Kealing as great statesmen.