The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-10-30
THE QUESTIONS AT ISSUE.


day it will be necessary to attend to the work
directly connected with the business of the
balloting, the rallying of voters, and such de-
tails as are necessary to getting out full
vote. It is time, therefore, to take review
of the campaign, in order to fair apprecia-
ton of the merits of the two great parties to
the contest and the issues on which they are
divided. ar p-9
1t is hard to say which is really the leading
issue, there being several of more than ordi.
nary importance. It must be admitted, how
ever, that the question of the gerrymander is
really the one at the bottom of all questions,
| for without free and fair election, in which
each mans vote is Of equal force and effect, it
were impossible for the people to make known
| their wishes. But there are reasons behind
the gerrymander that explain how it came
about that that outrage was perpetrated, and
| it were better to consider them first, in order
to get at the merits of thecase in the most &C.
cessible way. .7ass
| The gerrymander of the State Of Indiana
| was not done for the benefit of the Democratic
party as party, for, as has been repeatedly
shown, there was no party occasion for it.. In
casting about to discover just what it was
almost the first thing suggested is that the
| State treasury was found to be bankrupt,
and, when an investigation was attempted,
the men who voted for the gerrymander told
the Democratic Treasurer that he need not
reply to the question whether he had employed
the money of the State in any way contrary to
the law. In short, the men who planned and
consummated the gerrymander prevented in
! vestigation, after it had been shown that the
condition of the State treasury was very alarm
| ing It was the most natural thing in che
world that they should attempt to SC Fix the
| next Legislature that the real condition of the
States finances should be kept secret from
the people. To this end the State was so ger
rymandered as to make possible the return of
Democratic majority Of seventy in the Leg
islature, though the State should return a
Republican majority of thousands on the State
| ticket. This was done at time when the
party in control of the State treasury was in
the minority by thousands. This was one OF
the reasons why the gerrymander was planned
and consummated.
| Another and similar reason for 1t was the
fact that the management of the benevolent
institutions, under partisan control, was rotten
with corruption and abuse, as has been shown
by an impartial committee investigating the
same. In this instance as in the other, the
committee was met with fat refusal to al
low thorough and honest investigation.
| The only recourse left to that committee was
to appeal to the people to deliver the insane
| from the abuses heaped upon them, and the
public treasury from the drafts made upon it
| to paw for the fraudulent contracts laid bare
in the partial investigation that was possible
to the committee. Foreseeing this appeal,
the members of the Legislature that had pre-
vented investigation into the condition of the
State treasury took the same means to avoid
an exposure of the way the insane in the In
diana Hospital had been fed on the flesh Of
diseased and dying hogs, bought Of Demo
cratic favorite, and on grease butter sold the
managers at prices and on a contract tina
| called>for the best article of pure butter that
could be had. This was second reason for
the gerrynrander.
| On all three of these questions the Demo.
cratic press and its leaders have been silent,
| not daring to approve of the outrages prac-
ticed, and not being honest enough to confess
| them. The policy has been to refuse to dis
| cuss these things, well knowing that they
were too damnable to admit of honorable de-
! Tense or apology. So far from apologizing
| for them it seems to be the determination of
the Democratic party managers to stand by
them and to perpetuate them, though without
the courage to accept the issue before the
people. The Democratic campaign in this re-
spect has been thoroughly dishonorable and
cowardly. The challenge is again thrown out
that no Democrat of any pretensions to stand
| ing in the State will dare discuss these things
on their merits. They have not done SO, nor
| will they do so now.
| It remains for the people of Indiana to
| say what shall be done about these things.
Whether the treasury shall remain closed
book or shall be opened for the inspection Of
the public to discover if possible, what has
become of the hundreds of thousands of dol
lars borrowed by the people and on which in
terest is being paid, though it is no longer in
the hands of the State Treasurer. Is it to be
| the rule that the Treasurer of the State of In
| diana is to be backed up by partisan Legisla-
| ture and Endorsed in his refusal to tell what
has become of the funds that should be in the
vaults of the State, where alone it is safe from
| losse ~
It is for the voters of Indiana to pass on the
question whether the enormities perpetrated
on the insana of this State hv man lika ar -