The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-03-11

derers. rs well as in LAYING new burdens
upon the people for the benefit of the
manufacturers.
Fec and Salary Reform aud 1.-THE
Sentinel"
The SENTINEL has been for weeks re-
ceiving or an average score OF COM
munice,ions a day on the fee and salary
question. IL has been manifestly impos-
sible TO print all, or any considerable
number of them, much az we should have
liked 10 accommodate the writer's. This fee
and salary question has been discussed in
al it's bearings As thoroughly as any ques-
ton ever presented TO the people of In
diana. THE SENTINEL has, during the last
six or eight months, literally devoted
hundreds of columns TO it. 1t has given
every shade OF opinion regarding it, as ex-
pressed in letters to the editor, in inter-
views, and in the editorials of the state
press, full and fair hearing. The office
holders, tie politicians, the farmers-all
classes OF the people-have had abundant
opportunity to make their views known
to the public through these columns.
And yet THE SENTINEL is constantly in re-
ceipt OF such notes as the following from
"a Farmer inclosing long letter in
favor OF an immediate taking effect of
Zee and salary bill;
Please publish this letter. u may hurt
YOU to do il. rs il is not in accord with
your way OF thinking You believe in
high salaries, many officers and large APP
preparations IL you can't consistently
publish il please return il to me. / remit
stamps.
Ii The SENTINEL were actuated by a
mere love OF applause instead of by better
motives it would find it a little disheart-
ening to be accused by member OF the
very class whose battles this journal has
been Sighting for years OF being in favorot
"high salaries, many officers and large ap-
preparations" No man knows better than
the writer OF this letter that The SENTINEL
has been a steadfast and consistent advo-
cate OF economy in goyernment-local,
state and national; OF moderate official
salaries; OF closely guarded appropriations.
There is no abuse in oflicialism, no matter
how strongly entrenched. which THF SEN
TINEL has not a,sailed. 1t has fought, and
is today fighting, very powerful corpora
tions in the interest OF the people. Two
years ago it attacked and broke down the
school book ring, which had been plumber
ing the people for so many years. IL
made the fight which resulted in the es-
adjustment of the Australian election
system, which gives the farmers and work
! ingmen = chance to express their honest
| sentiments at the polls, unawed by intimi-
dation, unfettered by espionage, and free
| from the menace OF doodle" THE SEN
TINEL has waged incessant war upon the
infamous system OF taxation, miscaIled
protection, which has impoverished the
agricultural classes and the wage-earners
of the country and built up the great
money power; it has fought against sub
sides, bounties, and jobs OF every de-
! scription in city and county, in state and
nation. 1t is in very little favor with the
ofTice-holders and the political bosses of any
! party; it is despised by the lobbyists; it is
cordially hated by every crank and every
bOoder and every coward in public lite.
| And now. forsooth, THE SENTINEL is told
by "a Farmer" that il is in favor OF thigh
salaries. many officers and large appropri-
atoms" and is accused by others of hav-
ing sold out" or been inundated by the
county officers.
On this fee and salary question The
| SENTINEL's course has been consistent
from the start. The SENTINEL has never
for one moment abandoned the position
it took at the very beginning of the
discussion. And yet it has not allowed
the county officers, or any OF them, TO
| dictate its policy, as none know better
than these gentlemen themselves. If the
officials had controlled THE SENTINEL it
would never have agitated the question
Of fee and salary reform at all; il would
never have opened its columns to the peo-
pie for the expression OF their views upon
the question in all its phases; it would
never have printed interviews and letters
and newspaper articles dissenting from
the views it had itself expressed. THE
SENTINEL, which is being roundly abused
by the fee and salary extremists because
it las been frank and fair and con-
sistent upon this question all the time, lis
bCAiiS Just &c
| with few honorable exceptions, because
it has not allowed them to dictate its poll
cy, and while treating them fairly, has not
surrendered it's columns into their keep
ing. Yet the great mass of fair-minded
people approve the course of The SENTI-
MEL, and notwithstanding all the criticism
which it is receiving, its hold
upon the favor of the reading
public is increasing every day. THE SEN
TINEL never had so many readers as il
has to-day. It will have more of them to-
morrow, however.
THE SENTINEL does not claim to have
originated the agitation for fee and salary
reform. That is an honor that does not
belong to it. The agitation began among
the people, and THE SENTINEL, recogniz-
ing the enormity of the evil sought to be
reformed and the justice of the demand
for It's abatement, entered into it with en-
thusiasm and vigor. The SENTINEL APP
preciated from the beginning the difficult
ties and perplexities which surrounded
the question and the magnitude of the
task Of reform. The question was not a
new one. II had been before the people,
at intervals. for years, and every effort to