The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-09-06
THE DEADLY SHORT SPEECH.

The UEADL1 SHUht SfEECd'
On the question of poemics the Journal
is on record in favor of short speeches as
against the latter-day illusions of endless
wndmlls There's kill or cure business in
the brief, close, cutting logic of the short
speech 1t is also as effective OH the
wrong side of the subject as upon the right
when fired in that direction. The Demo-
Cratic candidate for the Iowa governorship
has delivered himself of one of these charac-
teristc speeches which threw his whole party
into fits AL over the State. HE hoped to
live to see a saloon on every hilltop in the
Commonwealth" These two lines did
the work of the entire campaign.
AS soon as the last word of this
significant declaration had dropped from the
speakers lips, the last faint hope of victory
for his party was gone. All the ingenuity
and resources of the invincble campaign
committee could not have so thoroughly
swept the enemy from the field as the enemy
himself has done in this two-line speech.
Another equally striking instance OF fatality
in brevity is the recent utterance of Judge
Hoadly that he is "the candidate of new
Democracy This knocked the fat in the
fire. and the prospect of Democratic triumph
went out with the blaze Not only that:
the little, apparently innocent one-liner,
threw the party into factions, and
upon ''every hilltop" they are setting each
O+I, bxyt ba he Of tba
boomerang has been compelled to retire for re-
pairs. Hamptons exhortation to his brethren
Ito consider what Lee and Jackson would
do, were they alive" was a powerful club
in the hands of Republicans in the struggle
of 1880. In fact, this arrogance, coming so
quickly and ittingly upon the heels of the
menace couched in the threat of 1873
electoral votes from the Solid South, played
conspicuous part in swapping the Democ-
racy. The political acumen in the heat and
stress of national battle is
quick to seize and uncover the
policy of these hapless declarations,
and the speakers who utter them are unwit-
ting prophets of their own calamity. On a
somewhat smaller scale the present Demo-
cratic candidate for mayor of this city has
entered the lists as manipulation of the
boomerang He would use the power and
influence of his office, if elected strictly in
the interests of his party-would prostitute
the dignity OF the executive of the city to
the baseness of partisan ends Republican
and independent taxpayers are notified in
advance that, so far as lies in the
power of the mayoralty, the revenues
paid for the welfare of the whole
city will be diverted into channels that all
flow in the direction of party ends This
speech is a daisy cutter and will most likely
destroy the prospects of success of the party
in whose behalf it was made. Not that the
sentiment expressed is not in harmony with
the Democratic party, for 1t is, exactly. 1t
frankly discloses their purposes in advance.
Are they not running all the benevolent and
other affairs of the State in the interest purely
of the party? Is there man sufficiently gull
lible as to suppose they would not do the same
as to this city? Figuratively speaking, the
average Democratic politician is double-bar-
relied, one for exclusive use in public and the
other when among. his political friends only.
But there seems to be a fatality about the
matter that leads to cock both barrels, then
they are certain to pull the wrong trigger
and down comes the game in their own
camp. party that is wrong is not likely to
be skillful in the use of right methods, and
the blunders of the Democracy are, after
all, matter of course.