The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-10-12
TO-MORROW'S CONTEST,

S~ssS~~ " PA~1AOAhA VI PLAhOiPACo oNFOOo1AAS VIC
impartial enforcement of law to the end that
lit may be respected and order preserved; econ
omy in the administration of the citys affairs;
the levy of 800 tax on each saloon, and the
overthrow Of the political domination of the
arrogant Liquor League. The Democratic
party-or the Liquor League for it, for few
of the league succeeded in controlling the
nominating convention of that party
lis opposed to the enforcement
of laws regulating the traffic, and
hostile to the proposition to increase the sa-
loon tax to 800, and favors the repeal of the
existing tax Of $52 1t will be seen, there
fore, that even on the surface the issue is one
of business and morals. And under the SUI
per6cial showing the contrast is even start
ling By methods peculiar to them and by
influences as vicious as the slums Of the city
afford, the leaders Of the Liquor League sue
ceeded in controlling the Democratic conven-
ton, to the shame and dismay of such men of
eAANo Poi eo DCAAOfO AL SOou EOFCIAhSAt
and the control of the liquor traffic
by the city. The struggle then, is
not between the Republican and the Demo
cratic parties as political organizations, but be-
tween the Republican party and sef-respect-
ing Democrats that have allied themselves
with it for the time and the Liquor League,
which has temporarily secured control of the
Democratic organization.
National politics can have absolutely moth
ing to do with to-morrow's election. Vice
and lawlessness have arrayed themselves and
challenged a test Of strength. The
Liquor League has found man
who will serve it, for he has
already served it, as all the people know. The
plan is to elect him mayor, pledged, as he u.s.
to annul every law directed to the regulation
of saloons and the suppression of gambling
1t is understood between him and those be-
hind him, that he is to obey them rather than
his oath Of Office; if he shall be elected. the
police board will be reorganized, and some
thing even worse than the "higher law" that
scandalized the city when the metropolitan
police system was first inaugurated, will be
the rule. Liquor-selling and gambling will
run riot, and the officers of the
law will wink at the violations
perpetrated in the name of liberalism"
- -, ~ L. &c H. ~.
as party, but it is the well-defned and de-
fant intention of those who now have the
machinery of that party in this city in their
grasp. 1t is plain that no self-respecting
Democrat can come to the support of the man
so unworthily bearing the Democratic stamp
without the surrender of every principle of
honor. He cannot vote for Thomas Cottrell
without apologizing to the Liquor League and
indorsing it's schemes to secure control of the
city's affairs.
AS moral proposition, no man who be-
ieves in decent observance of the law can
afford to vote with the League. AS bust
ness one, it is even more impossible for he
cannot vote with the League without voting
to still allow the saloon men to retain in their
pockets the thousands of dollars that should
be paid the city for the purpose of defraying
the expenses incurred by the lawlessness of
their business. Everybody knows that the traffic
in intoxicating liquors is the most profitable
that can be followed; yet for years the men
engaged in it in this city have failed to pay
their just proportion of the taxes letting the
burden rest on men engaged in other branches
of trade and upon the working classes
Against this great injustice the Republican
party protests in a way that admits of no
doubt. If Mr.. Denny is elected the liquor
law will be enforced, just as the other laws
are. He will honor his oath, and the police
force will be instructed to execute the
law. If majority of the Coun-
Gil and Board Of Aldermen are
elected by the Republicans, the saloons will
be required to pay tax of 800 year instead
of the $50 now levied, and for the very good
reason that even at $100 the saloons will leave
a balance of expense against them Of about
$15, 900 year to be paid by other taxi payers
1t is impossible to conceive how any Demo
cratic citizen, not saturated with unreasoning
prejudice and not bound to the wheel Of the
Liquor League chariot scan vote otherwise
than for the Republican nominees. In this
way only can the arrogance of the league be
rebuked, and the city saved frem the danger
and humiliation attending its triumph. 1t is
not enough to not vote for Mr.. Cottrell.
That would be negative virtue. Every man
in the city with the city's good and the safety