Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 53, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 September 1920 — HOOSIERS RALLY TO DEMOCRATIC ISSUES [ARTICLE]

HOOSIERS RALLY TO DEMOCRATIC ISSUES

Daily Accretions of strength Noted In Taggart and McCulloch Camps— Voters Impressed by Constructive State Platform. Indianapolis, Ind. — Democratic leaders and candidates, the election a little more than a month off, are looking forward with the utmost confidence to the results that will be written by the Hoosier voters of both sexes on November 2. Reports reaching state headquarters here from all parts of the state show beyond all doubt that the people are aroused over the issues of the campaign and that while the Democratic ranks are united as never before in the history of the party, the Republicans are badly divided. Constant assurances from leading Republicans as well as those listed among the ‘Tank and file” point to the fact that the league of nations will draw a huge so-called Republican and independent vote and that dissatisfaction with the Goodrich administration will add thousands of more votes to the Democratic standard this year.

Democrats Have the Issues.

" According to the expressions of unbiased political observers all the issues are on the Democratic side this year. The Republicans, they point out, have adopted a policy of negation in Indiana while their opponents are carrying the fight to them in all quarters. Thomas Taggart, the Democratic senatorial nominee, Is going Into every district, preaching the doctrine of a national business administration on which he is well fortified to speak by virtue of the wonderful .record he made while in the senate. Taggart Is urging the adoption of the League of Nations as exemplified by Governor CoX and daily accretions to his strength are manifest in all parts pt the' state. Dr. Carlton B. McCulloch, in contrast to the strange silence of his opponent, Warren T. McCray, Is battling on state issues. He"is assailing the Goodrich tax law at every turn, promising in v its stead a measure predicated on justice to all classes. IHe is exposing the criminal extravagance of the state highway commission and while pledging support to good roads, he is assuring the voters that he will divorce the department (from politics, such as it la now steeped in. Voters Are Impressed. The candidate created a wonderful impression, according to reports reaching here, when he advocated the appointment of a survey commission to investigate conditions at the state house and recommend the elimination of useless boards. With a monthfly payroll in excess of $200,000, his advocacy of a plan to reduce the terrific expense has added to his popularity. . , Dr. McCulloch is laying stress on the fact that Goodrich has bankerupted the state under his “business •administration” and contrasts that record with the one left by Governor •Ralston, who turned over a state free ,of debt and with more than $3,000,000 in the treasury to the Republicans. Platform is Constructive. On the other hand McCray refuses -to mention state issues aside, from [urging a budget system, which McCulloch first advocated in his primary campaign. McCray’s silence on the ♦■v question and bis failure to explain his activity in behalf of the Tuthlll-Klper measure in the special legislative session is causing an evident reaction in his own party. Peo-

—Wi in MT ii~ pre seeking relief from the oppressive administrative measures of Goodrich see no hope in McCray, because of his endorsement of the present administration, and they are turning in constantly increasing numbers to McCulloch. McCulloch is hitting hard at what he terms the evils of Goodrichism, but he is not waging a campaign of criticism. For every wrong that he points out he offers a cure. In fact old-time political observers declare that his platform is one of the most constructive ever presented in a state campaign. There must be something wrong with the Goodrich coal commission. Jesse Eschbach, head of the commission, says he first offered the directorship to a progressive, then a Democrat and finally a Republican. Ten out of nineteen of the districts are in charge of Democrats, he said. Probably the Republican leaders know that it is going to fail and want the burden to rest on Democrats. A prisoner up for pardon said that he had fled from the penal farm because of the poor food provided. Starving convicts is another brilliant page in the Goodrich history that was Indorsed by the Republican state convention. r - Senator Watson’s school of oratory is bearing fruit. Warren T. McCray follows in the senator’s footsteps In charging that wages are too high.

Right after the league of nations, as now constituted, had stopped two threatened wars. Senator Harding called it a “Gigantic fraud.”