The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1891-11-26
THE THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATIONS OF
DEMOCRATIC GOVERNORS.

During the past year several Demo-
cratic Governors in the States where
there were elections the first of this
month have joined in the cry of calam-
ity. Governor Hill, of New York, has
not been so pronounced as some others,
unmixed evil and has tried to make the
people of New York believe that they
are victims to its exactions and that they
would be much better off if some other
system were in vogue. When it comes
to making a Thanksgiving proclamation
the Governor-Senator sets forth the
cause for thankfulness as follows:
The year now drawing to g close has gwen
the people many causes for contentmeDt
and thankfulDess. Prosperity and
peace nave prevailed generally. .
Fair employment has been given to labor.
Industry and commerce ave earned gener-
Gus returns and the wealth of the State has
been increased.
There is no evidence of calamity in the
above any more than there is in the ut
terance of the accidental Democratic
Governor of Pennsylvania, who enumer-
ates the topics of thankfulness as fol-
lows:
For the bountiful harvests which have
rewarded the labors of the hnsbandmen
of the State. for the content which folio VS.
plenty and for signs of prosperity which
are manifested on every hand.
"Signs of prosperity which are mani
tested on every hand" is not a condition
which "orranfo N Inp ,noitinp of <ha
revenue system, since with n which
bore heavily upon the ven of the
people. or with a financial system which
destroys confidence, such signs would
not appear. The next Democratic
Thanksgiving proclamation is that of
Governor Boies, of Iowa. During the
past year the Iowa Governor has spent
much of his time in the ranks of the ca
lamityites. In New York he declared
that the people of Iowa were in a very
deplOrable condition and were going
from bad to worse at a race-hOrse gait.
But he has been reelected and seems to
have stolen out of the den of the calam-
ityites in season to put the following in
his proclamation:
The past has been a year of great pros
perity with us. Nature In everything that
pertains to the welfare of our State has
been bountIful in the extreme. We have
boon favored with general health among
all our people and have been preserved
from public calamities of every kind.
And yet, up to ten days before Gov.
BOies wrote this proclamation embracing
the declaration that "the past has been
a ear of great prosperity with u.s." and
that call our people have been preserved
from public calamities of every kind"
he was making speeches deploring the
condition of the people under a tariff
system which robbed a large portion of
them. Governor Campbell has not so
much. apparently, to be thankful for as
has Governor Boies, unless he has come
to the conclusion that one should be
thankful not to be a Democratic Gov.
ernor in Ohio, where there are so many
mean Democrats as he has set forth.
But, whatever may be his personal feel
ings about the matter, when he under
takes to tel the people of Ohio why they
should be thankful, he says:
The people of Ohio have much to be
thankful for. The past year has brought
them many blessings: and they have not
been visited by plague, pestilence or fam
inc. They see around them evidences of
industry and thrift. The learned profess
sions. the t~radesman, the mechanic and tie
laborer have reason to rejoice with the
farmer that Divine Providence has given
him plenty, thus enabling him to best0w Of
his supply upon less fortunate countries.
While he was urging the people of
Ohio to re-elect him, he implOred the
farmers of that State to support the
Democratic policy because, under the
Republican policy, they were becoming
poorer and poorer as the years pass.
There could not well be a LESS fortu-
nate" country than Governor Campbell
made this Republic in his campaign
speeches.
In view of these remarkable changes
of opinion regarding the condition of
the country, n of the minor causes of
thankfulness to-day is that these repre-
sentatives of q great party have been re-
leased from the bondage of the calam-
ityites and are moved to admit that the
evidences of prosperity are On every
hand. They must be much happier
now, since trying to make people be-
lieve that they are the victims of calam-
ity must be n doleful vocation.