The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-10-21
EVOLUTION OF A GREAT ISSUE.


EVOLUTION OF A GREAT ISSUE.
The Exigencies OF the Republican Situa-
tion Demand That Somebody Should Be
Skinned
The status of the great h~ide-tanning
issue, upon which his excellency Gov
ernor j. B. Foraker appears to have
staked the fortunes of the Republican
party in this State, may now be defined
with more or less accuracy. AS the
question whether or not the cuticle of a
defunct convict was put to a utilitarian
purpose in the way of establishing a
new branch of the tanning industry
may affect the destin;es of the commons
wealth for veal or woe, it is important
to have the voters understand how this
is. We may, therefore, proceed to con-
slider MI. Foraker's momentous issue in
its various aspects.
1t first appears in the keynote speech
of Governor Foraker, wherein a crazy
horse thief swears he saw Democratic
officials cut strips of skin from the bodies
of the dead convicts and make canes of
them. Moreover his excellency had
seen one of the canes and il smelled un-
pleasantly. The officials accused de-
MED having embarked in this new in
dustry and the officials of the medical
colleges who received the mortal re-
mains of the convicts in question made
affidavit that they got them with their
hides intact. At this stage of the pro-
ceedings it appears therefore that no.
body was skinned unless in a certain
metaphorical sense it was Governor
Foraker himself.
The exigencies of the Republican sit
uation, however, demanded that
body should be skinned. The perpetuity
of the Republican party was made to
rest upon the proposition that Demo-
Gratis skin convicts. The Republican
party must be preserved. Therefore
Governor Foraker and his agents set to
work to demonstrate again that a con-
Wet was skinned and that a Democrat
skinned him. If he was skinned a
Democrat must have skinned him. The
convict was skinned. He had to be, Or
the Republican party could not get on.
Therefore a Democrat skinned him.
Therefore the Democratic party is in IA
o of skinning convicts. Therefore
the Republican party must prevail. OF
course. no intelligent voter can stand
out against this admirable logic.
As either no more convicts could be
induced to relate any more hide-tanning
stories, or, what is more probable than
that the author of this great issue per-
ceived some reprehensible disposition
in the public mind to scott at the test
mony of crazy convicts, an individual
| outside the walls was induced to con-
tribute to the development of the hide
tanning argument. This person was a
tanner. He made affidavit that some
body came to him and said he wanted a
human hide tanned. He never tanned
| the hide, never saw the hide and didn't
know who the man was who wanted it
tanned. The man said the hide was
that of Hartnett, the Cincinnati muir
derer, who was hanged.
Now it is worth while to pause here
and observe how admirably the hide
tanning issue has been brought to this
stage. AT the first it appeared that two
convicts were partly skinned and then
that nobody was skinned. 1t being nee
essary for the good of the Republican
party to have somebody skinned a man
is found who says that a man told him
that Hartnett, the Cincinnati murderer.
was skinned, and that he had the hide.
Whereas in the beginning the skinning
process was only partial, o the whole
hide is of. To be sure nobody saw the
hide, nobody tanned it, but obviously
the man who said he had it must have
beer a Democratic official, and if he was
a Democratic official he must have
skinned Hartnett, because the Rcpubl:
can theory is that Democrats skin con
victs and the Democratic party is ir
favor of encouraging the human hide
tanning industry. A man said he had s
human hide and that it was Hartnett':
hide. Necessarily this man was a Dem
ocratic official. and consequently mus
have skinned Hartnett, and conclusively
therefore, the Republican party must bt
glorifed.
But now come the medical college
officials making oath that they received
Hartnett's body with the whole hide OF
it. Is not this fact, some unreasonable
person may ask, fatal to Governor For
aker's great issuep Does not this state
ment knock the bottom out of it, so t.
speak?
Not at all. If Hartnett was no
skinned somebody else must have been
Some convict was skinned, because h,
had to be for the good of the Republi
can party. Therefore he was skinned
Therefore the Democratic Officials
skinned him. Therefore the Democrat,
party is respon sible for the skinn'ng O
convicts. ..Facts'' indeed! How cal
this admirable syllogism be affected b,
facts? 1t is quite independent of al
facts whatsoever. What are facts. any
how, when the Republican party has t,
have an issue? Shall the commonwealth
go to everlasting smash while unrea
sonable people assail the great Rcpub
lican hide-tanning issue, which alon,
can save it, with vulgar bubbles abou
facts?
No. Governor Foraker and his asso
ciates who have sprung this great issu
upon a patient and much-enduring pee
pie can afford to look with disdain upol
all that sort of thing. They are no
troubled about facts. They are not dis
mayed by denial or perplexed by in
consistency. Though nobody wa
skinned, it must nevertheless be tru
that they were Democratic official
who skinned him. Though the dea
convict went into the pickle vat of tn
medical college with his hide on it
8 still evident that the Democrats mus
have tanned it. All this must be be
cause the great hide-tanning issue upo
which the Republican party proposes t
save the State from ruin requires it t
be. In this proud position, and fort
fled by such Incompatible logic, Go,
ernor Foraker and his associates al
not assailed by any facts, doubts, d.
malls, contradictions or inconsistencie
, Observation-Disclosures Plain Dealer.
. ONE day toward the close of last viii
| ter's session of the Legislature, Hol
Seth Brown, the able and d;scernin
Republican member from Warren Coul