The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-04-09
CURRENT PRESS COMMENT,

The same disposition which insists upon putting
the governmental machinery in order at Wash
ington insists also that it shall be put in order with
respect to dealing with criminals. An e~nergized pub
lie spirit which will instill some life and vigor into
our lawmakers and law interpreters and law-execu-
tors is what we want. That will act both through the
general and local governments.-St Louis Globe
Democrat.
The support that is being given to Mr.. Blaine's can
didacy is very obtrusive and very noisy. but its charac-
ter is very obvious, and if Mr.. Blaine is nominated
with the aid of the PENNSYLVANIA vote, the nomination
will be clearly understood to indicate that the "old
crowd which has been somewhat under a cloud for
several years past has gained its oldtime ascendaney,
delphia Chronicle-T Telegraph.
THE delegates should go to the national convention
~unhampered and untrammeled by a pledge. 1t is yet
nearly three months before it will be held, and there
may be such changes in the political situation within
that time as to make instructions exceedingly embar-
RAISING, and thus probably be a source Of discord.
The fact that public opinion has not crystalized with
sufficient definiteness upon any one is awarning against
binding the delegates by instructions. -Lafayette Jour
nal.
AMONG the political leaders of to day who have en-
joyed the advantages of a full or partial course of col
lIege training may be mentioned Blaine, Conkling,
Harlan, Hendricks, Edmunds, voorhees,, Butler,
Chandler, Morrill, and many others. With these facts
in view. one may be comparatively safe in verturing
the statement that so far from being a detriment to
the young politician, the discipline of four years in
college will be of immense practical value to him.
Minnesota Tribune.
AN immense and largely en- irreparable damage has
been done to the trade Of this country by the madness
that has ruled the speculative markets. This is made
manifest blythe DEAFNESS of bread at home, in the face
of enormous supplies and the stagnation in the ship
ping business. We cannot make money by boarding
our produce and shipping gold to pay our debts. The
true policy is to sell our produce for what it will bring
in fair competition with other countries, and hold on
to our gold. We must come to this level if we would
succeed.-Cincinnati Commercial Gazette.
AT present there is only a dim perception of the
enormous influence which Congress exerts on the
prosperity of the country. But it is plain that the
triaing of that body with such questions as the tariff
and the currency is likely sooner or later to attract
the attention and arouse the feelings of the people. In
the meantime the imperative duty of those whose
voice has any weight is to do all that thev can TO brins
the duty of the people home to them, and to remove
all obstacles-such as patronage-to the clear and ex-
plicit expression of the popular iudgment.-New York
Times.
THE New York Times points to the significant fact
that while the number of pounds of butter exported
from New York in 1888 was multiplied by three, the
quantity of oleomargarine openly exported as such
decreased by 200 600 pounds. Now, it is conceiya-
BILE that foreign countries may be willing to buy
American oleomargarine and butterine when offered
under their genuine names, but when they are branded
and sold as butter the inevitable result must be to
deal a blow at the American butter trade which it
will take a generation TO r~ecover.-Chicago Inter
Ocean,
If President Arthur really meditates the assertion
of a vigorous American policy on the isthmus in con-
nection with the Lesseps canal, or a canal through
Nicaragua, 1t is high time he was making it known.
Important changes are being prepared in that quarter
which will tear the Monroe doctrine to tatters, unless
we take steps for giving it vitality and force. When
Mr.. Blaine was Secretary of State, he desired to ex-
hibit an aggressive and defiant American policy in
Central and South America, and it is probable he will
signalize his candidacy for the Republican presi-
Dental nomination by a plain and strong reassertion
of his peculiar views on the subject.-St. Louis Re-
publican.
CERTAINLY there is nothing which appeals to senti.
ment in the custom itself of sealing up our dead to
rot in their own gases and dumping them in the
damp ground to slowly decay in foulest pollution.
The process of cremation is an entirely purifying one.
All that is corrupt is destroyed. The appliances are
such that even the smoke and odor are completely
consumed. The remains are pure and clean, and, in.
closed IN tasteful urns, can be preserved and cherished
in the household with no shudder of disgust, or they
may be entomed in vaults, immured in churches or
buried in cemeteries, with all the solemn and tender
ceremonies with which the. dead are now consigned to
the grave.-Louisville Oourier-Journal.
THE Pruden law prepares the way for average in
telligence in the trials of crime. Copies of marked
papers will not hereafter be sufficient to drive from
the court room all but the chosen few in the service
of the cause of crime. Now when we reduce the
criminal challenges from twenty-three to SIX, and cut
down the time it is necessary to keep a murderer after
his sentence for the ministrations of the bouquet
brigade, and put a hook in the nose of the Supreme
Court, so that it shall not spend its time in undoing
all that the inferior courts accomplish, we shall be
placed in business relations with our courts; and per.
haps after a few years we may improve them and the
bar also, so that reputable citizens may have fair
play.-Ciucinnati Commercial Gazette.